Hunter’s eyes brightened right away, but Dakota looked taken aback.

Letting out a cold laugh, she said, “Changing your plan now? Trying to use feelings to manipulate me?”

“Too bad, it doesn’t work on me.”

“I’ll repeat myself, let Hunter go!”

I stayed silent. The next moment, Dakota grabbed a wine bottle from the table and slammed it against my head.

Blood ran down my face as I turned toward Dakota in shock, but her eyes were only on Hunter.

“Hunter, are you okay?”

Hunter acted as if he’d passed out, keeping his eyes shut and saying nothing.

Dakota grew frantic and tried to take him to the hospital.

“Dakota!” I caught her hand, pointing at the blood dripping from my forehead.

“I’m the one who should be in the hospital, don’t you think?”

“Besides, Hunter still hasn’t said where Hiro is; he’s just a child….”

Angrily, Dakota yanked my hand away. The back of my head hit the tea table hard, and more blood poured out, soaking through my white shirt.

No trace of pain or concern showed in Dakota’s eyes; instead, she kept yelling at me.

“Erwan! Haven’t you made enough of a mess? Didn’t you hide Hiro yourself?”

“And now Hunter’s already passed out, what more do you want?”

“If anything happens to Hunter, I’ll never forgive you!”

She lifted Hunter from the floor and rushed out, never noticing that I was already blacking out from blood loss.

A few minutes later, she came back.

When I thought Dakota had changed her mind and was coming to take me to the hospital, she instead locked the private room door.

“Hunter’s hurt badly. To stop you from causing more problems while he’s being treated, I’ll lock you in here for now.”

She even bent down and brushed her hand against my face.

“Don’t worry, Erwan. Even if you’re old and dull, the one I love most is still you.”

“If you behave and stop going after Hunter, when I’ve had my fun, we’ll still be a family.”

Dakota walked out, and my phone rang.

A message from an unknown number popped up.

[Erwan, don’t think you’ll ever find your little brat!]

[Dakota and her inheritance are mine alone.]

[Soon, I’ll send you and your son to hell to meet each other again!]

Inheritance? What inheritance could Dakota even have?

Seven years earlier, the Montague family had gone bankrupt, and her father came to beg me for help.

He said if I agreed to save their family, he’d marry his daughter to me.

I hadn’t planned to get involved, but when I saw Dakota’s picture, I instantly knew she was the same girl who had rescued me outside the pass years ago.

Like I’d lost my mind, I agreed to the marriage. I not only married Dakota but also invested three billion to bring the failing Montague Group.

To thank me, her father handed me half of the company’s shares.

The Montague Group, aside from its name, had nothing left to do with the Montague family, so what inheritance could Dakota possibly have?

Before I could make sense of it, a child’s crying suddenly came from behind the partition.

“Daddy, Mommy, where are you? It’s so dark… Hiro is scared…”

Right away, I knew it was my son’s voice.

I ran toward the sound, but a Molotov cocktail suddenly flew through the air vent.

The bottle set the sofa on fire, and in seconds, the whole room was burning.

I emptied the last of the bottled water over myself and rushed through the partition without hesitation, only to see a videotape playing on repeat.

In the video, Dakota was seen carrying my son and shoving him into Hunter’s trunk.

The two took him to an unknown basement and tortured him in every way they could.

My son’s tiny body was curled up, his voice cracked as he kept crying out, “Mommy.”

But no one answered.

Pain tore through me. I grabbed the tape, ready to leave, but the door was already locked and chained from the outside.

The air vent was sealed tight, too.

As the fire spread, I fought with everything I had. I broke the glass and looked down at the people below.

“Everyone, I, Erwan Carrington, have never begged anyone before.”

“My wife’s lover framed me, and I’m about to die in this fire. Before I go, I have one last wish: please help me find my son who was taken by human traffickers!”

…

Hunter lay in the hospital’s VIP ward. His swollen cheek had been treated with ice packs.

When he saw the news that the room I was in had burned to ashes, he grinned so wide he couldn’t close his mouth.

Dakota walked over too.

“What’s going on? You seem happy.”

Hunter quickly hid his phone under the pillow and clung to Dakota’s arm playfully.

“Nothing.”

“Dakota, our 100-day celebration was ruined. Why don’t we keep it going somewhere else?”

“How about a road trip? Just the two of us, it’ll be special and romantic!”

Hunter looked eager, and Dakota agreed right away. “Alright, we’ll go anywhere you like.”

Excitement got the better of Hunter, and he blurted out, “I want you to divorce him, okay?”

The affection that had filled Dakota’s face vanished as she pushed him away. “No. I told you from the start I won’t divorce Erwan.”

“If you keep this up, I’ll have to end things between us.”

Hunter hadn’t expected her to reject him so firmly and quickly backed down.

“I was only teasing. I just wanted to know how much I matter to you.”

“I understand you can’t leave Erwan. It’s fine, being with you is enough for me, even if I don’t have a name or title.”

Only after that did Dakota relax and start planning the trip. Hunter’s face, unseen by Dakota, suddenly turned cold.

It was lucky he had taken care of things with me beforehand. Now, once that kid was gone, nothing would stand in his way.

Even if Dakota learned the truth, her feelings for him would keep her quiet. Then he could marry her easily.

He pulled out his phone, typed a message, and sent it off. After that, he and Dakota got into the car.

During the drive, the two picked the first stop for their trip together.

Just as their car was leaving Portland, countless vehicles suddenly rushed in from all sides and blocked their path.

The driver slammed the brakes, and Hunter’s head hit the windshield hard.

Seething, he instinctively wound down the window and cursed.

“Damn! Are you crazy? Don’t you see this is the Carrington family’s car? You blind dogs dare to block us!”

“Get out of the way or you’ll ruin Dakota and my trip, none of you will survive to answer for it!”

In the next moment, a pair of large hands grabbed his collar and hauled him out through the window onto the ground.

Men and women of every age closed in around him, their eyes red, and shouted, “No human trafficker leaves Portland alive!”

“You’re headed to either the police or the crematorium!”