“I’m not holding a grudge against Isabella Hughes—nor do I need to.”

“The truth is, my contract with the Hughes family has expired. I’ve fulfilled everything I promised you, and since Isabella despises me this much, staying here has no meaning at all…”

“How could it have no meaning?”

Margaret Hughes approached with her usual warm, practiced smile. She clasped my hand and said,

“Sophia, we know your greatest hope has always been to gain the Hughes family’s recognition, to truly become our daughter-in-law.”

“As long as you’re willing to stay, I promise you’ll be our only daughter-in-law. As long as you keep looking after Isabella, I’ll agree to anything you want as my daughter-in-law.”

“From now on, this household will be yours to command.”

Her voice was gentle, every word dripping with emotional manipulation.

She placed herself on a pedestal of virtue, stirring the crowd to criticize me in the name of morality.

It was what she did best.

I shook my head firmly.

“No, Mrs. Hughes. None of that is necessary. Fulfill the contract—let me go, as agreed.”

Her mask shattered instantly, her eyes turning cold as ice.

“The Hughes family is the city’s most powerful household. So many people beg to get in, yet you, ungrateful girl, don’t cherish it? Is it because I’ve spoiled you too much?”

Her words only made me laugh inside.

Their so-called kindness and indulgence had never been anything but using me as free labor.

So I ignored her and went upstairs to my room.

Closing the door behind me, I began packing.

All I could take away from this house fit into one small suitcase—mostly work documents and notes.

Copies of every contract I had negotiated for the Hughes family over three years, along with hundreds of pages of market analyses I’d written myself.

These should have been my achievements.

Now, they were just golden plaques the Hughes family flaunted as their own.

I heard soft footsteps outside the door.

Without looking back, I knew instantly it was Isabella.

She pushed the door open, that infuriating smile still plastered on her face.

Clicking her high heels, she walked straight up to me, arms folded as she looked down at me.

“You’re not seriously leaving, are you? Sophia, I thought you’d cry and beg to cling to our family.”

I lifted my gaze, meeting hers with my one uninjured eye.

“Don’t worry—I won’t cry.”

My tone was as calm as if I were commenting on the weather.

“I just want you to remember—every action you take will come with a price, sooner or later.”

Isabella sneered.

“Threatening me? Do you still think you’re Mrs. Hughes? Don’t forget—once you leave this family, you’ll be nothing.”

She ground out the last word through clenched teeth.

I didn’t argue, only placed the files neatly into my suitcase.

“Then wait and see.”

My composure seemed to rattle her. She stormed forward and kicked over a stack of documents at my feet.

Papers scattered across the floor, and she stomped down on them.

“You really want to take this garbage with you?”

I ignored her, calmly gathering the ones she hadn’t stepped on.

The more indifferent I was, the more agitated she became.

Whichever file I reached for, she deliberately stomped on.

But in switching feet, she lost her balance—

and fell hard to the floor.

Her face smashed against the sharp corner of a cabinet, splitting open into a deep gash that gushed blood.

I watched coldly, unmoved, and simply bent down to continue packing my things.

Just then, Margaret Hughes burst into the room, and Isabella seized the moment to shriek,

“Mom! I was kindly helping her pack, and this wretched woman tried to kill me!”

Without hesitation, Margaret rushed over and slapped me hard across the face.

The injured eye burst open again, blood spraying even more violently—splattering onto her face. But she acted as if she didn’t see it, hurling her fury at me instead.

“Sophia Carter, the Hughes family’s doors are not for you to enter at will, nor to leave at will! Staying here is your blessing—you should slave for us as repayment! You’re just as lowly as your indebted mother!”

“You think you can just walk away? We won’t stop you, but the storms outside aren’t something a woman like you can endure!”

I raised my head and locked eyes with her.

“Mrs. Hughes, the storms within this family are far greater than anything outside. Keep your so-called blessing for yourself.”

“The contract has ended. I have no obligation to shield you, your son, or your daughter any longer.”

Her face twisted with rage, her gaze sharp and venomous.

“You’ll regret this.”

The sound of my suitcase zipper closing rang loud in the silence.

“Whether I regret it or not—that’s my decision.”

Dragging my suitcase downstairs, I found Ethan Hughes standing at the doorway.

His brows furrowed deeply as he spoke.

“Sophia, you’ve lived with us for so long, surely there’s some bond between us. Besides, you have no family left in this world—where else could you go?”

I froze, my grip on the suitcase handle tightening until my knuckles whitened.

If they hadn’t deliberately delayed my mother’s treatment, if they hadn’t let her miss her best chance to survive, I wouldn’t be left alone today.

I fixed him with my one good eye, though blood streaked my cheek like crimson tears.

“It was you who destroyed my company. It was you who exploited my mother’s illness to force me back into the Hughes family.”

“I’ve spent three years repaying my mother’s debt. Now, we are even.”

“Ethan Hughes—it’s time you let me go.”

My resolve made his face twist, rage and hatred spilling out unchecked.

“Sophia Carter! If you walk out that door, never come back!”

I strode past him without pause, leaving behind only an icy reply:

“Don’t worry, Mr. Hughes. Once I’m gone, I won’t look back.”

Outside, the wind was sharp and cool, the night sky like a vast curtain shutting away the Hughes family’s lights.

I drew in a long breath and stepped down the stairs, suitcase trailing behind me.

Behind me, Ethan’s voice broke out, almost desperate.

“Sophia! Remember this! Once you leave the Hughes family, you’ll be nothing!”

And then Isabella’s voice, shrill and scornful:

“Brother, what are you doing? She’s just a blind, useless cripple—what’s there to miss?”

I didn’t turn back.

Only a faint, cold smile curved my lips.

Glancing at the suitcase in my hand, I whispered silently in my heart:

Ethan Hughes, Isabella Hughes—your ‘nothing’ will soon become the very thing your family fears the most.