Right after those words came out, Draven slapped Vespera hard across the face, knocking her whole body down onto the floor.

Vespera covered her swollen, red cheek, not even having time to react to what had happened.

“How dare you put on Violetta’s clothes? That outfit is what she wore the first day she met me. Do you really want to ruin my only memory? You heartless, crazy woman!”

Draven gritted his teeth, wishing he could immediately tear off Vespera’s dress.

Brielle, standing close by, looked at Vespera’s painful condition, and a moment of quiet satisfaction passed through her eyes.

She traded a look with the woman who had earlier brought Vespera to change clothes, and nodded.

Vespera quickly realized what was going on.

She pointed at Brielle in extreme anger. “It is her! She is the one who had someone set me up…”

Before she could finish speaking, Draven interrupted, his face full of disgust.

“Enough! You even want to push the blame onto Brielle? She knows nothing at all about Violetta!”

“I already spared you earlier because of Dad, but you keep provoking me. It looks like I no longer need to be kind to you.”

After he said that, he waved his hand behind him.

“Men, strip the outfit off her body! Make sure the dress stays fully undamaged. As for Vespera, handle her however you like!”

Vespera stared at him in shock. “Draven, are you insane? I am your wife. This is the Vaughn Corporation’s annual meeting. You want me here naked?”

Draven didn’t even look at her, only shouted impatiently, “Hurry up!”

The bodyguards who had been hesitating rushed forward right away.

Vespera struggled desperately, yet she was unable to break free from the arms and legs that were forcing her down.

She looked at Draven hopelessly, her voice broken as she yelled, “Draven! I told you it was not me. Tell them to stop, or I will hate you for the rest of my life!”

Draven stopped for a moment, then seemed to remember something and replied coldly, “Whatever.”

Upon saying this, the bodyguards worked even faster.

Vespera helplessly looked to those around her for help, but received only avoiding eyes and mocking looks.

Brielle watched everything happening in front of her with intense excitement, quietly shaping words toward Vespera.

“You lost. He won’t believe you.”

In the end, Vespera was stripped naked and pushed out of the annual meeting venue.

She curled up her body, trying to find some fabric to hide herself.

But she realized that her phone was broken during the struggle.

She could only wear the remaining underwear, shaking in the cold wind as she walked three kilometers back to the villa.

When Vespera reached home and got a new phone, she found that the internet was covered with leaked pictures of her.

Many people mocked her for having strange fetishes, saying Draven’s betrayal had driven her mentally unstable.

And everything that took place at the annual meeting was fully blocked by Draven, leaving only the best photos of him and Brielle.

Vespera shook as she shut off her phone, wrapping herself in the blanket while tears kept falling.

When she woke later and went downstairs, she saw Draven tossing a stack of very familiar pictures into the fire.

The second she clearly saw what the pictures were, she suddenly ran forward, ignoring the heat and trying to grab them, but she was strongly stopped by Draven.

“Draven, are you out of your mind? Why are you burning pictures of my mom?”

Vespera shouted with all her strength.

The pictures that Draven tossed into the fire were the last few images of Vespera’s mother still left in the world.

They even included family photos of the three of them, from childhood to adulthood.

After Draven burned them, the only things she had to remember her mother were completely gone.

Draven kept stopping Vespera until the pictures were fully burned into ashes, and only then did he let go.

Staring at the ashes on the floor, Vespera collapsed to the ground, tears pouring out and soaking the carpet.

Draven only watched her coldly and mocked, “You ruined the keepsake from the first time I met Violetta, so I burned your mother’s pictures. That is very fair.”

That was not fair at all!

Vespera wanted to shout, wanted to cry out, wanted to tell him everything Brielle had done.

Yet when she saw the mocking look on Draven’s face, she only tightly closed her eyes.

She understood that no matter what she said, Draven would never trust her.

Finding her response boring, Draven walked away after tossing out one last line.

“I am more generous than you are. New jewelry will be delivered to you later. You can keep selling it to help pay for your father’s hospital bills.”

Even after Draven’s footsteps slowly disappeared, his mocking voice still echoed inside Vespera’s head.

She gathered the ashes, set them inside a small box, and stayed awake through the entire night.

When the day came to go back to the old house, Vespera took the lesson from the annual meeting and didn’t wait for Draven again.

Instead, she went to the old house by herself.

Not long after Vespera arrived, the familiar sound of a car engine was heard.

Listening to two different sets of footsteps coming inside, Vespera didn’t need to turn around to know that Draven had brought Brielle with him.

Draven’s expression was the same as always, and when he greeted Octavian, he didn’t seem to think anything was wrong at all.

They were clearly husband and wife, yet he didn’t even look at Vespera.

Octavian was angry and pointed at Brielle as he said, “Today is the family gathering at the old house. Why did you bring this woman here? How do you expect people to see Vespera and Amethyst now?”

Draven glanced at Vespera, and when he saw that she showed no reaction at all, irritation rose in his heart. He raised his voice and replied, “You are the one who forced me to marry Vespera. The woman I truly like has always been Brielle! And besides…”

He pulled up a smile, took out a sheet of paper, and placed it in front of Octavian.

“Brielle is carrying my child. She has more qualifications than anyone else to stand here,” he said, each word clearly, while his eyes also moved toward Vespera as he spoke.

Octavian widened his eyes, yet he still carefully accepted the report from Draven’s hand.

After confirming it was real, he looked at Vespera with a complicated expression, sighed, and silently agreed to let Brielle remain.

Extreme joy instantly appeared on Brielle’s face.

Vespera endured the burning ache in her eyes and forced all her feelings down.

Seeing that Vespera still showed no response, Draven grew even more upset. He ground his teeth, pulled out a ring, and slid it onto Brielle’s finger.

He turned toward Vespera on purpose and intentionally spoke out loud, “Brielle, this ring stands for the role of Mrs. Vaughn. From today on, no one is allowed to act out of line in front of you.”

Vespera stiffened and finally lifted her head to look.

The ring on Brielle’s finger was the special sign passed down in the Vaughn family for a hundred years, traditionally meant only for Mrs. Vaughn.

After seven years of marriage, she had never once truly seen this ring, yet now it was worn so easily on Brielle’s hand.

The bitterness in her eyes could no longer be held inside. Vespera rose from her seat and forced back the tears that were about to spill.

“Dad, I’m a bit uncomfortable. I’ll go upstairs first.”

After saying this, she rushed upstairs without waiting for Octavian to reply.

Watching Vespera’s back, Draven suddenly felt uneasy for a brief moment.

But he quickly controlled his emotions.

A woman like Vespera would do anything to marry him; how could she truly choose to leave?

With that thought, his heart quickly calmed.

Octavian looked straight at him and placed a document into his hand.

Draven was still caught up in the feelings from before, and with no suspicion toward his father, he signed it straight away without looking.

Octavian sighed and shook his head.

Before Vespera left, Octavian passed the document to her behind Draven’s back and said with deep guilt, “Vespera, I’m sorry. Maybe I should not have allowed you to marry Draven back then. If I had not, things wouldn’t have ended up like this.”

Vespera accepted the document, and a relaxed smile finally showed on her face.

“Dad, back then, none of us knew things would turn out this way. It’s not your fault.”

After saying that, she placed the signed divorce agreement into her bag and walked out of the old house with relaxed steps.

Octavian watched Vespera’s retreating figure, and, for some reason, sensed that Draven would deeply regret it.

After Vespera returned to the villa, she gathered all her belongings and moved her father to the place that had already been set up earlier.

The doctor told her that in two days, her daughter would wake up, and for now, it was better not to move her around.

Vespera, who had planned to leave that same day, could only lie low again.

Still, the next day, Brielle showed up alone in front of her.

She exaggeratedly supported her barely visible belly, her face full of pride.

“Vespera, I will give you one day to move out of here. Brother Draven rewarded me for getting pregnant with his child and already transferred this villa under my name. Now, I am the female owner here.”

Vespera stood up and looked coldly at Brielle, whose face was full of challenge, and mocked, “When he transferred this villa into your name, did he get my consent? As long as I don’t agree, that transfer contract will never take effect.”

She looked at Brielle and said each word clearly, “After all, I’m still Draven’s legal wife.”

Brielle immediately turned red with anger. She jumped to her feet, charged toward Vespera, and raised her hand to slap her.

“What are you acting so proud for? Brother Draven will divorce you sooner or later. The one he loves is me!”

“You don’t know, do you? Back then, your father was the one Brother Draven ran over and left in a coma. If I hadn’t shown kindness and let you off, your father would have been dead long ago!”

“Now that I think about it, your father and that bastard you gave birth to should all just die!”

Her face was full of hate, and when she spoke about Draven hurting Vespera’s father, the look on her face turned pleased again.

Vespera stopped the hand coming at her, and after hearing those words, she suddenly shoved Brielle hard onto the floor.

Brielle screamed in pain and quickly grabbed her injured hand.

Vespera looked at her reaction, frowned, and spoke firmly, “Brielle, you’re not pregnant at all.”

If Brielle were truly pregnant, no matter what happened, her first reaction would have been to protect her belly.

But earlier, she didn’t even look at her own belly.

Brielle froze for a moment, then slowly got up from the floor, lifted her hand to brush through her hair, and mocked, “Yes, I’m not pregnant. So what? You want to go tell Draven? He won’t believe you. He doesn’t care about you at all. Even the bastard you gave birth to could easily choose not to save.”

After hearing this, Vespera clenched her hand hard, her face full of hatred.

Seizing the moment when Vespera was stunned, Brielle caught her hand and directly fell toward the staircase beside them!

Vespera was immediately scared. “Brielle! What are you exactly trying to do?”

Brielle softly laughed, showing no fear of the pain that was about to happen.

“Vespera, you blocked my way, and your bastard child also blocked the path of my future baby. Now you push me down the stairs, and I lose the baby, guess whether that child of yours still lying in the hospital will be killed by Brother Draven?”

She laughed madly after saying that.

With a loud crash, both of them fell heavily to the ground.

Even though the stairs were not high, Vespera still groaned in pain.

She clearly heard the sound of bones breaking inside her body.

On the other hand, Brielle, because Vespera took part in the fall for her, did not suffer serious harm.

The next moment, she rolled to the side and cried out in pain.

Urgent footsteps suddenly sounded from the villa entrance.