Recalling Peter's conversation with the technical director, I was acutely aware that beyond uncovering evidence of Lilly stealing my father’s core drug technology, there was another crucial task. I needed to find the surveillance footage from the day of the lab explosion. Whatever Lilly did in that lab that day led to the explosion and if I wanted to bring her to justice, the surveillance video was the key.

The moment I got home, I wasted no time. While Peter was in the shower, I secretly opened his computer. I tried Lilly’s birthday as the password. It worked.

Even though I already knew this marriage was a complete betrayal, seeing that he used her birthday as his password still sent a stabbing pain through my heart.

The background image on his screen was from Lilly’s 18th birthday party. Suppressing the bitterness rising in my throat, I quickly opened the cloud drive. Every file and every folder that flashed across my screen revolved around her. With trembling fingers, I opened them one by one.

Finally, in a hidden folder, I found a video with a strangely cryptic name. My instincts screamed at me—this was it. Without hesitation, I clicked play.

The footage showed Lilly entering the lab and deliberately tampering with the gas valve just before the explosion. So the surveillance cameras hadn’t malfunctioned that day after all. Someone had deliberately erased the footage to cover her tracks. If my suspicions before had left room for doubt, this video solidified my conviction—this marriage was nothing but a conspiracy.

Suddenly, a memory surfaced. Peter had once posted a single-word status online. I had asked him what he meant by guard. He had replied that he was guarding our marriage. Now, the truth was painfully clear. The one he was guarding was Lilly.

Swallowing back tears, I forced a bitter smile. I exported the footage, erased any traces of my access and logged out of the computer.

Then, I set a countdown on my phone—marking the launch date of the new drug. A constant reminder of my next step: exposing the theft of my father’s technology.

That night, I pretended to be asleep before he finished showering. I had no desire to engage in any more conversations with him. But sleep never came.

The next morning, he woke up and tenderly pulled me into his arms.

"You went to bed early last night. You’ve been so exhausted lately. Why don’t you take a few more days off and rest at home?" His gentle words masked his true intentions.

He wanted to bring Lilly back to the company—openly. I smiled faintly and replied, "Okay."

He was doing everything in his power to keep me from interfering with Lilly. This deception—it was time to end it.

The moment he stepped out of the house, I followed. As I reached the front entrance of the company, I overheard employees whispering.

"Does Director Moan know yet? General Manager Wilson actually brought Second Miss Moan to the company himself."

"Yeah and some people suspect that General Manager Moan's death in that lab explosion wasn’t an accident…"

Expressionless, I strode straight to the elevator and ascended to the top-floor office. Just outside the doorway, I heard a familiar voice from within.

"Lily, you’ve been working so hard in the lab."

"Not at all. It’s my lifelong dream to excel in pharmaceuticals. I should be thanking you. Without you, I wouldn’t have gotten the core technical data so smoothly. And if it weren’t for you, I probably would have—"

"It’s all in the past now. I believe what happened that day was an accident. By helping you, I’m also helping myself."

Then came Lilly’s laughter—sweet, yet filled with venom.

"Peter, I really didn’t mean for it to happen that day. If my sister found out you lied to her for me, she’d definitely make trouble for you, wouldn’t she?"

Even after taking everything from me—my father, my fiancé—she still played the innocent victim. She had destroyed my world and Peter, the man I once trusted, had pretended to be my savior. And now, this so-called lifeline was dragging me deeper into the abyss.

The moment I froze, his personal assistant called out to me from behind. The conversation inside came to an abrupt halt. The door swung open.

Peter’s eyes flickered the moment he saw me. "Jessie? What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to rest at home and not work? Lily just arrived. I haven't seen her in a long time. She just came over to take a look..."

"Jess, how have you been lately?" Lilly asked, feigning innocence and harmlessness.

Her eyes gleamed with vitality, her face flushed with color—there wasn't a trace of hardship from being detained at the institute.

I swallowed the anger burning inside me and forced a smile. "I just arrived. I’m used to working and I get bored when I’m idle. I thought I’d better come over. Why are you here too?"

Since marrying me, Peter’s office had been arranged next to mine for convenience in managing Moan's.

He must have expected me to be furious at Lilly’s presence because he hurriedly took my hand, attempting to explain: "Honey, since she regained her freedom, I let her come back to continue working on the new drug development to understand the situation..."

"Didn’t you just say yesterday that there was no evidence and it was all speculation? I believe you." I swallowed my pride, suppressing my true feelings.

This man was truly despicable—sacrificing his own marriage for his beloved white moonlight. And now, with her safe and sound, she was still pretending?

Hearing my words, the tension in his shoulders eased. Soon after, he rushed back to Wilson's with his assistant to deal with urgent matters. But before leaving, I caught the concern in his eyes. He even made a point to remind me to wait for him after work so he could pick me up.

"Ms. Jessie, you’re still such an idiot, hahaha..." As soon as Peter left, Lilly dropped her act and sneered at me.

Gone was the innocent, pure facade. What stood before me now was a woman filled with malice and arrogance.

"You should really thank your fiancé for giving me such a wonderful life," she taunted. "Even more, thank your dear husband for doing all the dirty work for me. Don’t tell me you actually thought Peter married you out of love? Hahaha... They love me!"

She laughed mockingly, her voice dripping with condescension. "Jessie, when people talk about someone being as dumb as a pig, they mean you!"

I couldn’t hold back my rage any longer. Before I knew it, my hand lashed out across her face.

Lilly’s expression flickered—first shock, then cunning. She glanced behind me, smirked, then dramatically clutched her face and collapsed to the floor.

"Jessie! Why did you hit Lily?" Peter’s furious voice rang out.

I turned in shock, watching as he rushed past me to scoop Lilly into his arms. Just a second ago, she had looked so smug and venomous, but now she had transformed into a fragile, pitiful creature.

So, he was still worried about his precious white moonlight being alone with me, afraid I’d bully her.

"Didn't you say the past was behind us? What are you doing hitting her? Saying one thing and doing another!" he snapped.

I clenched my jaw, my body trembling with anger.

"Apologize! Apologize to Lily! You shouldn't have hit her," he ordered.

I remained silent.

Lilly leaned weakly against him, tears welling in her eyes. "Peter, don’t blame her. She only believes what those executives say—that I caused the lab explosion. It’s not her fault..."

She sniffled, her voice pitiful. "Peter, I don’t want to make things difficult for you. From now on, don’t help me anymore. I’ll go back to Shawn’s. Charlie said I can return to work at his company."

With that, she turned as if to leave. Without hesitation, Peter followed her, not even sparing me a glance.

I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms. The physical pain was nothing compared to the searing agony in my heart.

Swallowing my grief, I forced myself to return to my office, locked the doors and windows and resumed examining yesterday’s evidence.

After an entire day at the office, I still had no concrete answers.

Something felt off—like a crucial piece of the puzzle was missing, leaving an unbearable itch in my heart. Just as I was about to shut my laptop for the night, my phone screen lit up like a firefly flickering in the darkness.

Another anonymous message. My heart pounded as I clicked to open it.

This... this was exactly the missing piece I had been searching for! With this new information combined with my previous findings, I finally had enough proof—Lilly had stolen my father’s core technology!

But who was sending me these messages? Friend or foe? My mind raced with possibilities, thoughts spinning like an overheated CPU on the verge of burning out. At that moment, my phone rang. Without hesitation, I answered, my palms damp with anxiety.

The voice on the other end left me stunned. Tears welled up, spilling over like broken beads from a snapped string.

It was Uncle Larry, my father’s trusted friend. My father had entrusted him with something important, long before any of this unfolded. So, he had always suspected my stepmother and stepsisters? Of course. My father was no fool—he had seen the signs all along.

He had taken precautions, knowing something might happen to him. That’s why he had left vital evidence with Uncle Larry—proof that Lilly had stolen his core technology. If anything happened to him, Uncle Larry was to expose the truth.

And the anonymous video from before? That had been Uncle Larry’s doing as well. He had hired a private detective to gather evidence. A lifesaver in the middle of a storm.

I glanced at the countdown on my phone screen. The product launch was in two days. I needed to act fast. Those two traitors would pay for what they had done.

Suppressing my excitement, I pulled up the divorce papers and retyped every word, deliberate and unwavering, as though carving an oath of vengeance into stone. I packed my things and headed home, preparing for the final battle.

Just then, a message arrived from Peter—the man who had been absent all day.

[Jessie, are you off work yet? Lily was really hurt by what you did to her, she cried so much today. You don’t have to apologize, though. As her husband, I’ve already done that for you and stayed by her side all day.]

[Also, I was too harsh on you earlier. Should I come home tonight and make it up to you? I bought your favorite wontons. I’ll bring them back.]

I let out a cold chuckle and deleted the message. After everything, he still had the audacity to act like this? Did he think I was a three-year-old child? He could take his damn wontons and feed them to Lilly. I sat in the living room, waiting. From night to dawn. From hope to disappointment. But he never came home.

Instead, a message arrived from the private detective. A photograph.

In a dimly lit bar, beneath the flickering neon lights, Lilly clung to Peter like a snake coiling around its prey. He gazed down at her with such tenderness, his eyes overflowing with affection so sickening it could make one gag. What a disgusting display of so-called love.

The next morning, I woke up and methodically packed my belongings. What needed to be taken, I took. What needed to be discarded, I threw away. It was like cleaning up the remnants of a battlefield—leaving nothing behind.

Then, I called him.

The phone rang for a long time before he finally picked up. "Jessie? What’s wrong? Oh, right, Lily got drunk last night. I was worried about her, so I stayed to make sure she was okay. I’ll be home soon—we can have breakfast together, alright?" His voice was hoarse, with a hint of guilt, as if he had any right to feel that way.

I stared down at the divorce papers in my hands and sneered. "Are you her husband or her lover? And where are my wontons? Did you eat them yourself?"

"No, Jessie, please, listen to me. Don’t be mad. It’s not just about you hitting her—she’s been so upset, she begged me to stay with her—"

I hung up before he could finish. Every word out of his mouth was like salt on an open wound.

I picked up my pen and signed the divorce papers in one smooth stroke. The tip of the pen scraped against the paper with a sharp swish—a sound that declared the end of this farcical marriage. Without a single glance back, I took my bags and walked out the door. This time, for good.