Julie began seriously preparing for the divorce. Ever since, Samuel continued having wild affairs with Cynthia behind her back.

Perhaps Samuel thought Cynthia didn't have much time left. He wanted to make the most of it, so he seized every opportunity to pin her beneath him and take her over and over again.

Every time they had an affair, Cynthia would secretly record it and send it to Julie.

They didn't just hook up in the study. On their morning runs, they had sex in the park. Samuel even brought Cynthia to his office during work hours. In one of the videos Cynthia sent, she was on her knees under his desk, pleasuring him…

She looked nothing like someone who was dying.

No matter how rough Samuel got, she took it all and seemed to enjoy every second.

Julie did some digging in private. It turned out Cynthia never had lymphoma to begin with. That so-called illness was just a lie she made up so she could move into the Lloyd residence with a clean excuse.

The lie was so flimsy that Julie uncovered the truth with barely any effort. If Samuel had even bothered to check, there's no way he wouldn't have found out.

He simply didn't want to know. Because this way, he could keep fooling around with Cynthia without any guilt.

"Julie, you're unbelievably tolerant."

After sending so many explicit videos and getting no response, Cynthia finally lost her patience.

She came over to provoke Julie directly. "Sam's been on top of me every night. My legs are so sore I can barely stand. And you're just going to sit back and take it? What a spineless coward. You don't even have the guts to confront Sam.

"Are you that afraid he'll leave you? You pretend like nothing matters, but deep down, you're terrified, aren't you? Are you afraid that if you make a scene, Sam'll choose me and not you?"

Julie lifted her eyes and looked at Cynthia indifferently. "Are you so sure that Samuel would choose you?"

"Of course." Cynthia smiled smugly. "If you don't believe me, just wait and see."

As her words fell, a car suddenly sped toward them.

Samuel happened to be nearby. The moment he sensed something was wrong, he dropped everything in his hands and bolted straight for Cynthia.

"Cindy, watch out!" He tightly shielded Cynthia with his body.

Julie had no time to react. The car struck her head-on, sending her flying.

Before losing consciousness, the last image she saw was Samuel holding Cynthia tightly, using his body to shield her from all harm.

Blood and tears flowed together. As her consciousness faded, Julie suddenly remembered a moment from years ago.

Back when she and Samuel had gone skydiving together, there was one jump where their parachute failed to open. They were free-falling toward certain death.

In that moment, Samuel suddenly held her tightly, keeping her above him. No matter what they crashed into, he'd take the full impact first.

He had once used that same body to protect her with unwavering resolve. But now, he abandoned Julie and used that same body to shield another woman instead.

She didn't know how long she had been unconscious. In the darkness, Julie faintly heard Samuel's voice.

She struggled to open her eyes and saw him standing beside her hospital bed, holding her phone with a look of impatience.

"A divorce lawyer? You must've called the wrong number. Julie and I are perfectly fine. We're not getting a divorce. If anything happens to this marriage, it'll only be widowhood, not divorce!"

Samuel's expression was stormy when he hung up.

Julie closed her eyes tiredly and said, "You shouldn't answer my calls without my consent."

Realizing that Julie was awake, Samuel rushed over to her bedside and sat down. He grabbed her hand, panic etched in every line of his face.

"Julie, you're awake! Thank God! Do you have any idea how much blood you lost? I thought I was going to go crazy from how worried I was."

Julie stared at Samuel icily and didn't say a word.

Taking in her reaction, Samuel asked guiltily, "Julie, are you angry at me? Don't be angry. It's not as if I didn't want to save you. I just couldn't see you at all from where I was.

"I only realized you were there after I saved Cindy. I swear my heart was breaking at the time. If I had known you were there, I would have saved you first!"

Julie suddenly realized that she could no longer tell if Samuel was telling her the truth or lying to her. It was such a terrible realization. They had shared a bed for five years. Samuel was supposed to be the person closest to her, the person she could trust the most.

However, when she looked at him now, all she saw was a stranger. She had loved Samuel deeply once, but her image of him had been ruined and could no longer be restored to what it once was.

"I'm tired," Julie muttered.

She closed her eyes again. She wasn't bothered enough to spare Samuel another glance.

It was obvious that Samuel had more to say, but after seeing Julie close her eyes, he could only sigh lightly. "Rest up. I need to go back to the company to handle some business. I'll come back to your side soon."

Soon after Samuel left, Julie received yet another video from Cynthia that was clearly meant to provoke her.

In the video, Cynthia was clinging to Samuel's arm. Her face was glowing with joy as she asked, "Sam, are you really going to leave all of the Lloyd family's assets to Luke and Anna?"

"That's right," Samuel answered in a low voice. "I've already told my lawyer to prepare the documents. I'll sign the papers in front of all the guests and media during the banquet. I'll also publicly announce that Luke and Anna are the sole heirs of my assets.

"Luke will inherit Lloyd Corporation, while Anna will inherit more than half of my properties. She'll also inherit all the precious jewelry that belongs to my mother and Julie currently."

Each piece of jewelry was worth tens of millions of dollars. If one were to calculate their total worth, they would be worth a fortune.

Cynthia couldn't suppress the gleeful expression that bloomed on her face. She quickly schooled her features before asking, "Will Julie agree to that? Luke and Anna aren't her biological children, after all. What if she gets pregnant and has a child in the future?"

"Julie will never have a child," Samuel declared, his tone firm. "Luke and Anna will be her only children. She has no other option. I won't allow her to give birth to any other children. She will have to raise Luke and Anna as if they're her own flesh and blood.

"Cindy, I can't marry you, and I can't give you my entire heart. But I can promise you that all of my wealth will belong to our children."

Samuel grabbed Cynthia's hand as he made his promise. "Julie has my heart, but you and our children will have all of my assets."

The video ended there. Julie gripped her phone tightly. She was exerting so much force that her knuckles had turned white. Not only did Samuel remove her uterus, but he was also planning to force her to raise his bastard children with another woman.

So, this was Samuel's so-called "love" for her.

Julie breathed in deeply before calling her divorce lawyer. "Have you prepared the divorce agreement? I want you to send it to Samuel now. He's hosting a banquet, and he's planning to announce to everyone that the Lloyd family's assets will be inherited by that pair of illegitimate children.

"It should be simple enough for you to find out where the banquet is being hosted. I want you to rush over there now. You have to ensure that he signs the divorce agreement before he makes his announcement.

"He can give his half of the assets to whoever he wants. As for my half of the assets, I'd rather dump them into the ocean than let those two children have them!"

After Julie disconnected the call, she received a message from the professional disappearing-service group. "Ms. Stamford, all the preparations have been completed. You can leave any time you want."

A smile stretched across Julie's tired face. She sent the group her location. It didn't even take 30 minutes for the group to send a few people to pick her up.

With the disappearing-service group accompanying her, Julie boarded the plane that would fly her out of the country. Before the plane took off, she sent Samuel all the videos that Cynthia had sent to her.

Her final message to him read, "No need to apologize. I won't forgive you."

She tossed her phone into the trash after sending the message. She then resolutely boarded the plane.

…

Meanwhile, the Lloyd family's banquet was officially underway.

It was an extravagant and luxurious affair. Nearly everyone in the upper-class society was in attendance. A large number of reporters had also shown up, equipped with recording cameras. They were waiting for Samuel to make his big announcement.

"I'd like to thank everyone here for making time to attend Lloyd Corporation's banquet," Samuel said in a low voice. "I invited everyone here because I have an important announcement to make.

"I'm sure that some of the media have already caught wind of what I'm about to say. Some time ago, my wife, Julie, and I adopted a pair of fraternal twins. I've always believed that adopted children are no different from my own flesh and blood.

"I'm here today to announce to the media and the whole world that all of the assets that belong to Lloyd Corporation will be transferred to—"

Before Samuel could finish his sentence, Julie's lawyer darted forward and yelled, "Mr. Lloyd! I am Ms. Julie Stamford's divorce lawyer. Your wife has asked me to inform you that she is divorcing you. This is the divorce agreement. Please sign it!"

"Ms. Brightshield, these are the details of the death-faking service you requested. Your time of death will be three days after your baby's one-month birthday celebration. The cause of death will be drowning in the river. The fake deaths will be for you and your baby. Please confirm these details," the man said.

Candace patted her baby, Jamie Hamilton's back as he slept in her arms. She penned her signature on the document. She had finally decided to let go of the relationship that had failed to bear any fruit despite the years of blood, sweat, and tears she had sacrificed.

Everyone in Bloomingville knew that Candace was Shawn's most ardent admirer. She had been infatuated with him for eight years and had stuck to him like a leech until she became "Mrs. Hamilton".

What the public didn't know was that Shawn had given Candace his mother's diamond ring when he was five years old, promising to marry her when they were older.

When he was 15, he had tattooed their initials on his chest, right above his heart. He had been wholly serious when he declared, "Candy, I want our love to last forever. I never want to be apart from you."

When he was 18, he had risked his life and rushed into a pillar of blazing flames to save her. A beam had fallen on him, smashing the back of his head. He needed emergency surgery, and the doctor had warned them that there was a chance he might lose his memories after the procedure.

Before the surgery, Shawn had removed the silver necklace he had worn since he was a child and looped it around Candace's neck. "Even death can't separate us, Candy, what more a little bout of amnesia? Wait for me. I'll definitely remember you. Don't take off this necklace. It'll be the key to our reunion!"

When Shawn woke up, he had forgotten all of his memories before he turned 16. Worst of all, he had mistaken Yelena Chapman, who harbored one-sided feelings for him, for his girlfriend.

For the past eight years, Candace had done everything she could to jog Shawn's memory, but her efforts had all been in vain. Shawn ended up despising her even more because Lucia Lopez, his mother, had insisted that he marry Candace.

When she had been on the brink of death after suffering through a difficult labor, all Shawn had to say was, "Inform me when Candace is dead. She can vacate the title of 'Mrs. Hamilton' for Yelena."

Those words extinguished the last embers of love Candace had for Shawn. Thus, she took Jamie with her to a death-faking service provider with the intention to disappear from his world. She never wanted to see him ever again.

When Candace left the office, the big screen above a nearby shopping mall was broadcasting an interview that featured Shawn.

His hand was interlocked with Yelena's, and his eyes were warm when he said, "Yelena's son, Nathan, is only three years old. He's at an age where he needs a father's love. That's why we don't have any plans to have a child for the time being. We don't want to hurt his feelings."

Shawn's answers elicited shrill screams from the passersby who had also stopped to watch the broadcast.

"The icy president of a company is ignoring his own flesh and blood to treasure the child of his divorced first love. You can tell how devoted he is to Yelena. I'm so envious!"

"Mr. Hamilton has been in love with her since he was 16! Even though Yelena abandoned him when he lost his vision, he never gave up on his feelings for her. It took three years for his efforts to bear fruit. Such an affectionate and devoted man is a rarity in the world!"

"Did that lovestruck fool, Candace, really think that she could win Mr. Hamilton's heart just because she took care of him for three years while he was blind? Shawn and Yelena's love is the real deal!"

"Who knows how Candace schemed her way into becoming 'Mrs. Hamilton'. She thought that she could win back Mr. Hamilton's heart by risking her life and giving birth to his son, but he's never properly looked at her even once! She's just stuck in her own deluded daydreams!"

"I've never seen such a shameless woman in my life. Shawn and Yelena are a match made in Heaven. Candace knew that Mr. Hamilton only had Yelena in his heart, but she refused to relinquish the position of his wife. Her head must be filled with nothing but despicable thoughts!"

Candace felt as if her heart was being pierced over and over again by the crowd's ruthless criticisms. She was in so much pain that she could barely breathe.

Jamie's crying snapped her out of her thoughts. She ignored what the crowd had to say and hurried into the shopping mall, searching for a nursing room where she could feed Jamie.

Unfortunately, she ran into Shawn and Yelena at the toy store on the first floor. It looked like they were buying a toy for Nathan Havok, Yelena's son.

Shawn was patiently picking out a suitable toy for Nathan. His usually icy expression had been replaced by amusement. But when he spotted Candace, the smile on his face melted away in an instant.

"Don't you have anything better to do than look into my whereabouts and tearfully beg me to return home?" he hissed coldly.