“Marcella, don't you worry!”

“When Stuart gets bored of you, come find me. I'll make sure you're well taken care of.”

“Get lost, don't you already have a wife at home?”

“Marcella, you should come to me instead. I'm single. If you could handle Stuart, I'm sure your bedroom skills can't be half bad.”

“Heh, let me get a taste too.”

In that moment, I was nothing more than an object on display, picked over by strangers. Powerless and seething with hatred.

“Stuart Gilbert. Lucinda Harding. Remember what you did here today.”

“Because when the time comes, I will repay you tenfold.”

“I will bring your precious families to ruin, and it will be because of you.”

The room erupted in sneering laughter the second the words left my mouth.

“You? Some country girl? What could you possibly do to bankrupt our families?”

Lucinda charged at me while I couldn't move and slapped me across the face.

Her nails dragged across my skin on purpose, tearing it open. My cheek burned.

“You slut. The thing I hate most is this face of yours, always luring men in.”

“And let me tell you something else!”

“After the bet's settled, I'm going to have them catch those cockroaches and shove them down your throat.”

“Disgusting women deserve disgusting food, don't you think?”

“Heh, and once you've had your fill, the boys can have their fun with you.”

I met her gloating stare with ice-cold eyes：“Careful. When the time comes, it might be you choking on cockroaches. And you they're passing around.”

“You bitch!” She struck my other cheek. By now, the foam in the tub had dissolved a little more.

Lucinda's smile turned sly. The men behind her grew even more restless.

“Damn, my ten million!”

“If I'd known Stuart loved Lucinda that much, I never would've taken that goddamn bet.”

“Marcella, you useless piece of trash. You cost me money. I'm going first to get my money's worth.”

Stuart stood there with a cigarette pinched between his fingers, a mocking curl at the corner of his lips.

“I haven't gotten bored of her yet and you're already talking like that?”

“Hahaha, then I'll ask Lucinda. You spoil her rotten. No way you can resist when she pouts.”

“Right, Lucinda?”

Lucinda, eager to twist the knife deeper, turned to Stuart with a coy smile.

“Stuart, just do this for me, won't you?”

“Today's wedding was fake, sure, but I'm still a little upset about it.”

“End things with Marcella. Right here, right now.”

“Fine, fine. Whatever you want.”

Did these two really believe that because they had powerful families behind them, they could control other people's fates?

That they could trample someone's dignity whenever and wherever they pleased?

My stepmother's family had taught me to be ruthless and decisive. But Stuart and Lucinda were teaching me something far worse: how to take revenge without mercy.

“Marcella, I did love you once. But your background only ever qualified you for this much.”

“So hating me is pointless. If you want to hate someone, hate the family you were born into.”

Someone stomped a cockroach flat, picked up the carcass, and flung it at my face.

They wanted to provoke me. Every time I flinched, every time I reacted, the foam shrank a little more.

My eyes were bloodshot as I stared at every single person who had humiliated me, burning each face into my memory.

“Your arrogance will cost you.”

“Ha! If you were someone with real power, maybe. But you? You're different.”

“What are you gonna do, beat me with your little fists in bed?”

“Hahaha!”

“Stuart's really something, huh? She stood by him from rock bottom all the way to the top, and this is what she gets!”

“So what? The Gilbert family isn't some nobody clan. You think they'd let a woman with zero background become the family matriarch?”

“Marcella, you're so naive.”

“With your looks and that little brain of yours, the best you could ever hope for in high society is being someone's dirty secret. You'll never be good enough for the real thing.”

“Whether I'm good enough isn't for a bunch of worthless trash like you to decide.”

“I'm warning you. Get out of this bathroom right now, or I will have every single one of you charged with sexual assault……”

“Ha! Press charges against us??”

“Marcella, this is Stuart Gilbert's world. Everything here runs on his word.”

“Even the cops give him respect. You were with him, weren't you? You should know that.”

I whipped around and glared at Stuart. He exhaled a stream of smoke, his eyes full of mockery.

Lucinda clapped her hands together with a laugh：“Country bumpkin through and through. Doesn't know the first thing about how our world works.”

I curled my lip into a cold smile：“So you so-called elites think your money and your connections give you the right to control people's lives? To trample someone's dignity whenever you feel like it?”

“Obviously. What else is power for?”

Those words dragged me back to my stepmother and her family.

They thought they'd won, that they could destroy the lives of everyone in the legitimate bloodline however they pleased.

I told them the game wasn't over. That anyone could still turn the tables.

They didn't believe me. Not until I came at them with a bloodied knife, closing in step by step. Only then did they understand that even someone they'd ground into the dirt could rise up and take everything back.

The reason I chose Stuart was never the Gilbert family's meager influence. It was him.

Because he had been genuine with me once, and people who sit at the top for too long crave nothing more than something real.

Now, I finally understood one truth.

Those who rule are destined to be alone.

When I said nothing, meeting their insults with nothing but cold defiance, Lucinda's expression soured.

She produced another jar.

“Seems like these bugs weren't enough to get a reaction out of you.”

“How about I give you something stronger?”

One of the men's eyes lit up and he stepped forward eagerly.

“Yeah, do it, do it!”

“Dump that on her and she'll be on her feet screaming in no time.”

“And I'll be right here with open arms, ready to catch her.”

The moment the words left his mouth, his face flushed red, as if something below the belt had already responded.

The other men licked their lips, mouths dry, staring at me without blinking.

“A piece like that, and Stuart's generous enough to let us have a turn. Damn, I've wanted to get my hands on her for a long time.”

“Marcella, listen up. Stuart doesn't want you anymore, but I do. Come with me.”

Before he even finished, he was already rushing toward me.

His eyes were full of filth. He let out a leering grin and reached for my body.

I swung my fist straight into his face：“Get away from me. Touch me again and I will kill you.”

I was the one who ruled both sides of the law, and I'd been reduced to this, letting every bottom-feeding nobody crawl over me? Fury tore through me as I locked eyes with Stuart：“You're really going to let your boys pass me around? For her?”

“Sure. That's what brotherhood is, right? Share the good times, share the bad.”

“Hahaha, well said!”

“Then I won't be showing you any mercy either.”

“Marcella, quit the tough act. What are you going to do to us, exactly?”

“She'll sell herself, that's what! Probably already slept her way to some big shot!”

The other men sneered：“What big shot? We're the big shots around here.”

“Hahaha, before you go looking for some big shot, how about you give us a good time first.”

The moment the words left her mouth, I lunged forward and snatched the jar from Lucinda's hands.

She pulled on gloves, popped the lid, and cockroaches spilled out like they'd been drugged into a frenzy.

My face went white. Bile surged up my throat.

“How about it, Marcella? Tell me you'll be my plaything and I'll call them off. Stop looking at Stuart. He already said he doesn't want you.”

“You've got no way out of this.”

The foam in the bathtub vanished all at once.

Every man in the room shoved forward, eyes wide, scrambling for a better look.

Lucinda raised her phone and aimed it straight at me：“The show's about to start.”

I curled my lips into a cold smile：“I told you. No matter the odds, even the lowest person alive can turn the tables and fight their way out.”

The second the words left my mouth, I shut my eyes. I grabbed the towel and hurled a wall of water at the crowd.

Then I launched out of the tub, kicked the nearest man flat on his back, ripped the coat off him, and threw it over my shoulders.

Every move was seamless, so fast that even Stuart couldn't react.

The instant my feet touched the floor, a squad of men in black stormed through the door.

They stood behind me like reapers, awaiting my command.

I let out a low, cold laugh：“I've already fought my way out. Now let's see if any of you can do the same.”