Florence abruptly hit the brakes. She seemed apologetic as she handed me 200 dollars and asked me to get out of the car.

“Ty, you should take a cab to visit Maria. You should also use the money to get her a fruit basket. I’ll visit later. When Isaiah gets mad, it takes some effort to get him out of his mood. I’ll have to deal with him for days.”

Isaiah stood outside the car, and his expression was dark.

Florence hurriedly got out of the car to defuse his temper.

I stood to one side in the cold breeze as Isaiah started to throw kicks and punches at the car.

“This is such an awful and ugly car. Who knows how old it even is? I’m not getting in!”

Florence tried to comfort him softly. She said, “I think it’s old and ugly too. I’ll sell it off, so you won’t have to look at it.”

After saying that, Florence immediately made a call to her company to get someone to deal with the car.

She must have forgotten that she had wanted to own her own car back in the year she started the company.

Back in the day, I did my very best while entertaining clients and working so that I could help her fulfill her dream. I had gotten health issues from all the alcohol I was forced to drink.

When we went to collect the car, she hugged me and danced around. “Honey, I won’t ever let you down!”

As I watched the car I bought get towed away, I felt my heart clench in agony.

Florence did not even take a second look at me. She and Isaiah got into another car and left.

I grimaced before calling a number I had blocked five years ago.

The call was answered instantly. “Send me your location. I’ll go back to the country and see you immediately.”

…

At the hospital, I headed up to my mother’s ward.

She lay in the bed, attached to a respirator.

I put the fruit basket on the table and forced myself to smile. “Mom, Flo bought you this. She’ll be here in a bit.”

Mom could tell that I was not happy, so she said, “Tell her not to come. She’s so busy with work; she should rest well after she finishes up. I’ll be fine. Flo’s a nice girl. You two should be happy together. Don’t get into a tiff because of me.”

The phone rang, and I picked it up. Florence’s voice came through the line.

“Ty, it’ll be a while before I can get there.”

Suddenly, I could hear some withheld moans from her end of the line. “Don’t mess around, Isaiah.”

I quickly hung up. The room was quiet, and only the noise from the medical equipment remained.

As I expected, Florence did not come by at all that night.

The next morning, I wiped Mom’s face. After washing up, I went to Florence’s law firm, ready to grab the divorce agreement from the stack of other papers.

What I did not expect was to be stopped at the door. The security personnel there refused to let me in.

The security guard laughed when he saw me. “Why, isn’t this Mr. Schultz, who tried to badmouth Mr. Jordan out of jealousy? Ms. Hanson really is quite magnanimous. She only fired you instead of having your reputation as a lawyer ruined. You can still find work.”

I did not bother to respond to this.

I looked at the security guard and said, “Let me in. I’ll leave after I pick up my things.”

“I’m sorry. I only take orders from Ms. Hanson and Mr. Jordan.”

Despite his apology, it was clear that the security felt nothing but disdain for me.

I was about to say something when there came the sudden rumble of a motorcycle engine starting up.

A car sped past, and I got caught in its path and was dragged several hundred yards.

I felt my insides rearrange themselves, and my body was one huge bruise.

I spat out a mouthful of blood. I yelled angrily at Isaiah as he languidly stopped the car.

“Have you gone mad, Isaiah? You were going so fast! Aren’t you afraid of killing someone? Why didn’t you stop when you realized I was caught with you?”

Isaiah looked at me condescendingly. “It’s not my fault that I’m special to Florence. Of course, I can go that fast. Besides, you’re still alive, aren’t you?”

Ignoring the pain, I forced myself upright. However, it seemed that my clothes had been torn from where the car had caught me. Half my body was on display.

Isaiah burst into laughter. This got many of the law firm’s staff to come over and see what poor shape I was in.

I tried my best to get the tattered remains of my clothes to cover up the important bits. “Enough! Shouldn’t you call the police?”

Right then, Florence came over, frantically pushing aside her nosy staff and jogging toward me.

She took off her coat and placed it over me, helping to hide my exposed body.

When she saw that I was injured, she looked somewhat guilty. She asked in confusion, “What happened, Ty? How did you get hurt?”

The staff hurriedly avoided Florence’s gaze. None of them dared to say a word.

Isaiah said in a sad tone, “I saw Tyson sneaking around, so I thought he wanted to steal the dashcam footage from my accident with Mrs. Schultz. That’s why I accidentally went too fast. I didn’t think that would get Tyson hurt. He was cursing me out for it just now.”

Florence quickly started to comfort him, but she also turned to shoot a glare at me.

“Tyson, can’t you be more understanding about this? Isaiah didn’t do this on purpose, so why did you scold him? Besides, Maria’s accident was so long ago, and she’s been paralyzed for a while. Why are you still so mad about it?

“If you really think I didn’t do a good job handling this and want to get justice for her, you can tell me that directly. You don’t have to use such despicable methods to get what you want! I really never expected this of you, Tyson!”

I gave up on trying to defend myself. The injuries only hurt more after I witnessed Florence’s display of apathy and judgment.

This was all such a joke. As long as Isaiah was present, I was at fault for everything. What was the point of trying to get justice?

I laughed self-deprecatingly before speaking up. “I’m not looking for justice or anything. I only want a divorce.”

Florence looked at me disapprovingly. She was about to say something when Isaiah cried out. “Tyson, how could you scratch my car in revenge? Florence bought it for me!”

There was indeed a scratch on the luxury car near the window. It was from where my clothes had been caught. My buttons had scratched the paint.

I explained subconsciously, “I didn’t do that on purpose.”

Before I could react, I felt a sharp sting on my face. Florence had slapped me.

I could taste blood in my mouth as I looked up in disbelief.

I could not believe Florence had hit me because of an almost invisible scratch.

Worse, this was the car that caused my injuries and Mom’s paralysis in that accident.

My voice was hoarse and shaky as I said, “Am I really worth less than this scratch, Florence?”

Florence’s gaze shifted away. However, then, she got even more insistent. “Well, who asked you to scratch Isaiah’s car? Don’t you know I gave it to him for his birthday?

“Even if you’re jealous, you shouldn’t damage his gift! I’ll forgive you this time, but if it happens again, I’ll sue you for property damage.”

The two-faced Isaiah came over to try to help me stand. When Florence was not looking, he whispered in my ear, “I hit your mother on purpose. She deserved it.”

Rage welled up in me as my vision blurred. I inhaled deeply and rushed up to punch Isaiah.

Isaiah cried out piteously and fell to the ground, sobbing.

“Isaiah!” Florence shoved me away in her anger. “Why did you hit Isaiah, Tyson? Have I been too nice to you?”

I had just been injured and thus fell to the ground at the shove. My head hit the hard ground, and I felt the world spin.

The coat and my tattered clothes fell away.

Meanwhile, Florence worriedly caressed Isaiah’s eye, which was darkening from my punch. She kissed the area and cooed, “It’ll be fine with a kiss, Isaiah.”

Isaiah wrenched out of Florence’s hold and ran over to a wall. He wore an aggrieved expression.

“Since Tyson hates me so much and doesn’t like that I’m in your way, I might as well die!”

Florence was shocked by this and quickly said, “Oh, Isaiah, Tyson’s nothing compared to you. Come back!”

Isaiah was unyielding. “Well, do you love Tyson or me more?”

Florence hesitated for a second before answering as I expected. “Of course, I love you more, Isaiah.”

As she was terrified of making Isaiah angry, Florence turned toward me and demanded, “Apologize to Isaiah now, Tyson!”

My ears rang, and I could not tell if my heart or my injuries hurt more.

Even as I kept feeling worse, I said to Florence, “Flo, take me to the hospital.”

Florence’s eyebrows shot up. “You hurt Isaiah, but you dare to ask me to take you to the hospital?”

“Forget it, Flo. I’ll stop being mad at Tyson for your sake, but I want you to come with me on a vacation!”

Florence looked at Isaiah as if he hung the moon. “You’re too kind, Isaiah. Alright. Let’s go on a vacation.”

I could barely gather the strength to speak as blood kept filling my mouth. My consciousness was fading.

However, Florence held onto Isaiah as they both left. They did not even turn back to look at me.

In the end, a kind passerby helped me call an ambulance.

When the doctor saw my injuries, his expression turned grave. “Goodness, the patient is in bad condition. He’s hurt in many places and needs surgery, stat! Where’s his next of kin? We need his next of kin to sign for consent!”

The passerby held up my phone and called one of the speed dial numbers.

“Hello, are you Mr. Schultz’s wife? Your husband is in terrible condition, and the hospital needs you to sign for surgical consent. You need to get over here quickly!”

Florence was annoyed by this. “How can you be so shameless, Tyson? Are you trying to pull one over on me by pretending to be hurt? I’m on vacation with Isaiah right now. I don’t have the time for your little tricks!”

After that, she hung up.

Lost in a daze, I could vaguely hear a commotion break out. An anxious voice said, “I’ll sign. I’m his fiancee! I’ll take responsibility for everything. Please do your best and use the best equipment to make sure my fiance recovers!”