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.

The anger on Draven’s face suddenly stiffened, and a brief hint of doubt passed through his eyes.

Brielle, held in his arms, turned pale; her eyes became even more hateful

She reached a hand to her thigh and, while Draven was not paying attention, squeezed down hard.

Immediately, blood flowed out from beneath her body.

“Brother Draven! Hurry and take me to the hospital, I…”

Before she could finish speaking, Brielle fainted to the floor.

Draven’s face changed to panic. He didn’t look at Vespera again, turned around, and rushed Brielle to the hospital.

After Vespera finally finished taking care of her injuries, Draven came back to the villa full of anger.

He looked straight at Vespera, waved his hand, and spoke hoarsely, “Vespera, do you know that Brielle’s baby is gone?”

Vespera’s face stayed calm. “I already told you I did not push her, and besides, she did not even…”

“Enough! Even now, you’re still arguing! Would Brielle really hurt her own child just to frame you?”

Draven looked at Vespera in disappointment.

“I used to think that after all these years, you had changed. Now it looks like you were always that cruel woman. Just to marry me, you hired people to kidnap Violetta and cause her death. Now you want to use the same way to kill Brielle, too.”

“I, Draven, truly must have had terrible luck over many lives to get caught up with someone like you!”

After saying that, he waved his hand to signal the bodyguards to drag Vespera down to the basement.

Vespera’s injuries had not healed yet, and she had no energy at all to fight back.

She opened her lips, trying to speak, but Draven pulled out his phone and spoke in a cold voice.

“Cut off Vespera’s father’s ventilator.”

Vespera’s eyes widened in surprise. She shouted, “No! Draven, you can’t do this! I didn’t do it! I will hate you!”

Draven ignored her completely. While Vespera screamed, he slammed the basement door shut with force.

There was no light in the basement. Vespera was locked inside with no food and no water, not knowing if it was day or night.

Anxiety consumed her as she repeatedly slammed her broken body against the basement door, not stopping even when she was covered in wounds.

Yet no matter how hard she tried, the basement door stayed tightly closed.

Just when she believed she would die there, the basement door finally opened.

A timid voice came from the doorway, “Mom, are you inside?”

Vespera’s eyes widened as she roughly said, “Amethyst?”

Her daughter, messy and worn-looking, appeared before Vespera.

With the last bit of strength she still had, Vespera hugged her daughter, tears streaming down.

When Vespera regained consciousness again, she saw Octavian standing nearby, his face full of regret.

He slowly pushed a small urn toward her and apologized, “Vespera, I’m sorry. I never thought Draven would go this far. To make up for it, I’ve already transferred all the assets under his name to you, except the Vaughn Group.”

Vespera didn’t clearly hear anything he said. She only stared blankly at the urn.

After a short while, round tears rolled from her eyes.

She held the urn tightly in front of her and could no longer hold back her sobs.

When all matters ended, Vespera placed the paternity test, the surveillance footage from the day Brielle miscarried, and the facts she had investigated about Violetta’s death years ago together on the coffee table.

As for the divorce certificate, she entrusted Octavian to deliver it to Draven.

She lifted Amethyst up, slowly looked once more at the place that had once been her home, then turned away and left without hesitation.

That departing airplane would take her and Amethyst away to a new place.

She didn't leave here with her daughter to escape.

Once she has settled her daughter and returned, she is determined to make them pay!