I sighed and put my phone away.

Another person hurt by love. If there was anything I could do to help, I might as well.

Zac still had not responded to my messages or returned my calls.

Sally had already been cremated. I sent Zac one last message. 'I'll wait for you until the end of the day. If you don’t come by tonight, her ashes will be buried without you.'"

After all, it was the old family home, and keeping the deceased around too long just did not feel right.

Meanwhile, Zac’s relatives had already started gathering in small groups to play cards, with peanut shells scattered all over the floor.

I purposely sat far away from them. Noticing they were ignoring me and showing no intention of stirring up trouble, I sent the bodyguards at the door off in shifts to get some food.

The lingering smell of smoke in the house was giving me a headache.

I frowned, thinking of stepping outside for some fresh air, but then I heard a growing commotion approaching the door.

As I opened the door, I came face to face with Xena.

She had seven or eight people with her. She held a phone in one hand and gripped a stick in the other, looking fully prepared to cause trouble.

I was surprised. “Xena? What are you doing here?”

Xena was taken aback at first but then put her hands on her hips and shouted to the people behind her, "That's right, she's the mistress! Otherwise, how would she know my name?"

Before I could react, Xena slapped me across the face.

Having stayed up for days handling the funeral arrangements, I immediately saw stars and fell to the ground.

Seeing this, Xena screamed and lunged at me, grabbing my collar.

"My boyfriend isn’t even here yet, and you’re already pretending to be weak, you shameless woman!"

With that, she slapped me again, her sharp nails cutting the corner of my eye, causing blood to flow.

Not fully understanding what was happening and having been inexplicably beaten, my anger flared up. I got up and slapped Xena right back.

She held her face, staring at me in disbelief.

"You dare hit me? You, a lowly mistress, dare to hit the rightful woman?

"My boyfriend is the big boss of Quinn Corporation! And you, a country bumpkin living in this rural place, dare to seduce him, thinking you can climb your way up? Are you tired of living?"

Only then did I realize that her boyfriend was none other than my lawful husband, Zac.

At first, I thought she had mistaken me for someone else, but it turned out she had not.

Unfortunately for her, she was the shameless one she was talking about.

Given that we were in the middle of a funeral, I did not want to escalate things further, so I tried to calm her down.

“We’re in the middle of a funeral. It’s bad luck. You should leave now. We can sort this out after the funeral is over.”

Xena hesitated at my words, then looked up to take in the surroundings.

There was a memorial portrait hanging in the living room, and a small urn adorned with diamonds sat on the table, glinting in the light.

The relatives inside had stopped their card game and were watching the scene unfold with amused expressions.

Xena grew nervous, raising the stick defensively, "Don’t come near me! I’m just here to punish a mistress. This has nothing to do with you! If you touch me, I’ll call the police!"

The relatives remained still, their faces displaying a playful smile.

After a long while, Xena glanced at me. I was still lying on the ground, with no one offering to help. Suddenly, she realized something. She pointed at me and burst into laughter.

"Shameless woman, look at you! Even your own family won’t stand up for you. Who’s going to help you now? Watch me deliver justice today!"

Xena glanced at the memorial portrait and then at the gifts scattered around the room.

She sneered, "The person in the photo is your mother, right? And all these gifts on the floor are from my boyfriend, aren’t they?"

"Making money off the dead, do you have no shame? Your whole family of shameless people won’t get a dime from my boyfriend, not even in death!"

With that, Xena ordered her group to smash everything in the house to pieces.

It was only then that I noticed she had brought a large crowd with her. There were at least twenty or thirty people, all armed with sticks.

The memorial photo was knocked off the wall and landed face down on the floor, scattering shards of glass everywhere.

The expensive porcelain vases I had just bought for the old family home were worth tens of thousands of dollars. They toppled one by one, sending shards flying and cutting my legs.

I wanted to stop them, but when I glanced at the newly installed security camera on the wall, I swallowed my words.

"Xena, the things you’re smashing are worth over a million dollars. If you can afford to pay for the damages, go ahead and keep smashing."

Xena, thinking I was insulting her, suddenly went berserk and slapped me hard across the face.

"What’s with your attitude? What’s with your attitude? You’re spending my boyfriend’s money! I’ll smash it all! What are you going to do about it?"

She grabbed my hair and dragged me across the floor. My silk dress was torn apart by the porcelain shards, and the sound of fabric ripping filled my ears.

Instinctively, I covered my chest, but I noticed the crazed look in Xena’s eyes.

"This dress looks expensive too, doesn’t it? My boyfriend bought it, didn’t he? Take it off! Give me back everything my boyfriend bought you!"

Realizing something was terribly wrong, I desperately held onto my dress, trying to appeal to Xena’s conscience.

"Even if your boyfriend cheated, you should be taking it out on him, not on me!"

But Xena had already called over a few people to pin down my hands and feet, violently tearing at my clothes.

"If you hadn’t seduced Zac with that slutty body of yours, he wouldn’t have fallen for it! It’s all your fault! What did he do wrong?"

Just as she finished speaking, the last piece of clothing was ripped off me.

She laughed as she raised her phone, taking pictures while muttering, "Aren’t you such a tease? Let’s see what your family thinks when they see this. Let’s see what the internet has to say about you!"

Hearing this, the relatives who had been watching with amusement now wore lecherous smiles, and several people pulled out their phones to film me.

My head spun as a familiar feeling of dread washed over me.

Years ago, I had been in this exact situation. Sally had treated me the same way.

I never expected that, at her funeral, I would be humiliated like this again.

Just as I was about to close my eyes in despair, Ruby burst in with five bodyguards.

The bodyguards were all highly trained fighters, and in a few swift moves, they knocked down several people and surrounded me protectively.

Now the relatives began to stir.

"What are you guys doing, hogging all the fun? We haven’t had our fill yet!"

"Exactly, why do you get to watch, but we don’t? What kind of nonsense is that?"

One of the bodyguards, enraged by these words, backhanded a middle-aged man who had been spewing obscenities. The man clutched his stomach in pain, crying out as blood trickled down his face.

Seeing the brawl spreading to them, the crowd erupted, grabbing whatever they could find and charging in. In no time, the small room was packed with people, and chaos ensued.

Even the most professional bodyguards could not hold their own against so many. Zac’s relatives and the people Xena brought suddenly teamed up, fighting off the bodyguards to keep them from reaching me.

Xena crouched down next to me, a triumphant smile on her face.

"Oh, look at the queen bee with her bodyguards! Let me guess, you used Zac’s money to pay for them too?

"You really think you’re marrying into wealth? Have you lost your mind?"

My gaze swept past Xena and over the ugly, wicked faces around me, finally landing on the glittering urn.

I raised my hand and gave Xena a defiant smile.

"So what if you’re losing it? Zac still chooses to spend his money on me.

"See that urn? It cost eight hundred thousand dollars! Zac paid for it in full! If you’re so tough, go ahead and smash it!"

Xena looked in disbelief at the spot I was pointing to, then suddenly stood up.

"So that eight hundred thousand dollars really was spent by you, you shameless woman!

"And for what? A worthless funeral for your family? Why should my boyfriend pay for that?

"Does your family deserve something so nice? Do you deserve a single cent of my boyfriend’s money?"

Cursing as she went, Xena walked over to the table. She grabbed the custom-made urn and hurled it to the ground with all her might.

"I’m smashing it on behalf of my hubby! Your whole family can go to hell!"

The urn hit the ground and cracked open with countless fractures. The embedded diamonds scattered across the floor, and a cloud of ashes rose into the air, causing everyone to instinctively cover their mouths and noses.

The relatives who had been fighting immediately stopped, realizing they were in deep trouble if they stayed. They quickly scattered and fled in all directions.

Only Xena remained, still shouting curses.

"You shameless woman, I curse you to die a miserable death just like your mother! You won't even have an urn to hold your ashes!"

"Who’s not going to die a good death?"

Just as Xena was cursing me with all her might, Zac arrived.

He stepped into the room with a frown, his every movement showing the irritation of someone forced into a situation he did not want to be in.

"Layla, don’t tell me you made up some excuse just to see me. Didn’t my mother-in-law pass away a long time ago?"

Before he could finish, Xena's sweet, clingy voice chimed in.

She brushed the dust off her hands and rushed over to cling to Zac’s arm, burying her head in his suit.

"Mr. Quinn, what took you so long? This country bumpkin nearly bullied me to death!"

At the words "country bumpkin," Zac’s brows furrowed slightly, and he instinctively glanced at me.

Seeing that Zac was not paying me any attention, Xena snuggled closer to him, pouting, "Baby, I won’t hold your past with her against you. Just make sure she pays back that eight hundred thousand dollars so you can buy me a nice little apartment near the office. What do you say?"

While Xena was still daydreaming, I had already changed my clothes and was ready to leave.

Hearing the mention of eight hundred thousand dollars, Zac suddenly remembered the situation and grabbed my arm. "What’s going on here? Who died? And what’s this about eight hundred thousand dollars?"

I looked at the memorial photo Xena had knocked to the floor and smirked.

He clearly had not realized this was his own mother’s funeral.

Although Sally had been shamelessly squatting in this house, I was the one who had purchased it outright and Zac knew it. That’s why he naturally assumed the funeral was for one of my relatives.

He even started to scold me, as if I had taken over his mother’s house.

"And did you get my mom’s permission to hold a funeral here? Why would you do something so unlucky…"

"She chose it herself before she passed away, insisting on a custom-made urn. The urn alone cost eight hundred thousand dollars."

I interrupted Zac, deliberately ignoring his question and instead answered the one he asked earlier.

Without thinking, Zac accused me, "Don’t you have your own money? Why did you have to use mine?

"If you hadn’t used my card, none of this would’ve happened."

I understood what Zac meant. If I had not charged his card, Xena would not have seen it, and she would not have come here to cause trouble.

I got beaten up, mistaken for the other woman and humiliated. Yet it was still my fault?

I looked at Xena, then at Zac, and finally spoke.

"So, you didn’t tell her you’re already married?

"You also didn’t tell her that I’m your legal wife and she’s the mistress?"

Xena was stunned, her eyes darting between me and Zac. "How is that possible?

"How could a woman from the countryside like you be married to Mr. Quinn? You must be crazy!"

Zac remained silent.

Xena pushed him, panicking, "What’s going on? Hubby, say something!"

Finally, Zac lost his patience. He shoved Xena’s hand away and stood up, but his anger was directed at me.

"Can you stop? Do we have to do this right now?

"All this talk about mistresses. It’s too unpleasant. How do you expect Xena to save face if this gets out?"

Zac glanced around the room, finally noticing the pile of ashes that used to be an urn on the floor.

He paused, giving Xena a questioning look. Hesitantly, she explained what had happened.

He pulled Xena into his arms, soothing her, and lightly tapped her nose. "Xena might have gone too far this time, but I’ll give you some money to make up for it. But if you dare to spread rumors about her, don’t blame me for being harsh."

With that, Zac wrapped his arm around Xena and started to leave.

I stopped them in their tracks. "Aren’t you going to ask whose funeral this is?"

Zac frowned as if barely containing his frustration with me.

"We might still be married, but we’ve been done emotionally for a long time. Do I really need to spell that out for you? So, no matter who died in your family, I’m not obligated to pay or to show up in person.

"I’ve already been more than generous. Don’t push your luck, Layla."

I let out a cold laugh, forcing myself to ignore the pain coursing through my body. I walked over, picked up the fallen memorial photo, and threw it in front of Zac.

"Take a good look. Whose funeral is this?

"And whose urn did your little girlfriend smash to pieces?"