By the time Madeline walked out of the hotel, her legs still felt unsteady. Nathan hadn't shown her any mercy the night before, and she had barely gotten any rest.

After taking a cab back to her rented apartment, she found her best friend, Vivian White, already waiting outside.

The second Vivian spotted her, she hurried over.

"Madeline! Where were you? I spent the whole night trying to find you. And Julian, that bastard... he had to be behind this. He wanted everyone at the engagement party to laugh at you. Who else would've had the nerve to put that video on the screen? If he didn't want to marry you, he could've said it directly. It's not like you're begging to marry into the Clarke family. What was the point of all that?"

For a long while, Vivian continued cursing Julian. Throughout it all, Madeline remained silent. Eventually, Vivian stopped talking. Concern appeared on her face as she looked at her friend.

"Madeline, are you okay?"

Exhaustion covered every part of Madeline's face as she leaned back against the sofa. After hearing Vivian's question, she slowly raised her eyes.

"I'm okay. Julian never wanted to marry a woman whose family had already fallen apart. Everything about him changed after my family went bankrupt. What I didn't expect was for him to use something so shameless just to make me end the engagement myself."

"So what do we do now? Are we really going to let him walk away from this?" Vivian asked angrily.

"Of course not." Madeline lifted her gaze. "The engagement is over, but everything he owes me and everything he owes my family will be returned."

Taking a seat beside her, Vivian stared at the ceiling. "And how exactly are you planning to do that? What do we even have left that can help us stand against Julian?"

Once the Reed family lost everything, nearly everyone around Madeline disappeared. Vivian was the only close friend who never left her side. Under those circumstances, what could Madeline possibly use to challenge Julian directly?

While Vivian continued worrying about it, Madeline finally spoke. "I'm going to use Nathan Spencer."

Vivian's eyes widened immediately.

A moment later, Madeline added, "I spent the night with him."

Vivian could only stare at her in shock.

"You did what? Nathan... Nathan Spencer?" she asked, stumbling over the name. "The Spencer family's only heir?"

"Yes."

"Have you lost your mind?" Vivian snapped.

"No." Madeline rested against the sofa, and her eyes turned cold. "Julian values his name and position more than anything else. Nathan is the only man he doesn't have the nerve to offend. If I stay with Nathan, Julian will lose the very thing he tried so hard to keep, which is his pride. Anyone else might bring trouble later, but Nathan is not the same. More than that, he can help me with much more than getting revenge."

Madeline was not taking a risk. She was choosing the only way out after every other road had been blocked.

She had thought about going to Nathan before, but the right chance had never come. Last night's engagement party finally gave her that chance.

Vivian was speechless after hearing all of it. A long moment passed before she found her voice again. "Don't act on impulse. Nathan isn't the kind of man you can handle. He isn't like Julian..."

Nathan was the only heir of the Spencer family, and a huge family fortune would one day belong to him. Even though he had worked in medicine for the past few years, everyone understood that the Spencer family's business would eventually fall into his hands. He was completely different from someone spoiled like Julian.

Vivian only feared that Madeline was stepping into a situation she would not be able to escape.

Still, Madeline did not waver. Her tone became even colder.

"I don't need to handle Nathan. We are only using each other."

Madeline understood her own situation better than anyone. Right now, she had nothing left. She had no family standing, no protection, and no one she could depend on. If she failed to gain Nathan's protection, Julian would only trample over her even harder.

Concern still filled Vivian's face. "Are you really going to gamble with yourself like this?"

"This isn't a gamble," Madeline replied in a steady voice. "This is how I survive."

She needed to find a way to remain at Nathan's side, and she needed him to fall for her. Only then could she uncover the truth about how the Reed family had been ruined.