"Choose someone else!"

"As long as you don't marry Samantha into our Browne Family, the Browne Family will be yours to lead. All the shares of the Browne Corporation under my name will be transferred to you and you will officially become the patriatch of the Browne Family!"

Nathan looked very embarrassed at what he just heard.

In the end, he knelt down in front of me and begged sadly, "Aunt Daphne, please help me. Both Samantha and I truly love each other. I just can't live without her."

When I saw Nathan kneeling and begging so pitifully, I let out a helpless sigh and said, "You really love her, but can you be sure that she also truly loves you?"

"Does she love you as a person or does she love the wealth and status of our Browne Family?"

I shook my head and said, "Forget it. If you are so determined to marry her, then I won't stop you."

"But don't expect me to agree to bless your marriage."

I felt truly disappointed with Nathan at that moment. After all, I had planned to transfer all my shares of the Browne Corporation to him after he married a good and well-matched woman from a respectable family. Then, I would quietly return to the Catholic church where I had grown up.

But now, it seemed like I would have to stay in the Browne Family for a longer time than I expected.

A few days quickly passed by. Soon enough, the company's annual meeting was held with a huge success. This year's annual meeting was much grander than in previous years. Besides the company's senior executives, many of our business partners also attended the event.

When both Samantha and I entered the venue at the same time, many people gave us strange looks and I could hear them whispering among themselves

"The most important thing in today's annual meeting is about who will get the position of sales manager. I wonder if it will be Daphne or Samantha!"

"I don't get it. It's just a sales manager position. It's not like it's a super high position in the company. Why is everyone treating it like such a big deal?"

"You don't understand. This sales manager position is very important. Samantha needs it to prove her ability to everyone and Daphne can use it as a stepping stone to enter the higher ranks of the company's leadership."

"I also heard from someone in upper management that whoever becomes the sales manager has a good chance of becoming the company's vice president in two years …

"Samantha should have a great chance. After all, she has been the sales champion of the company for five years in a row. It would seem unfair not to give her the promotion."

"But don't forget about Daphne. She has been a dark horse. Her performance this year alone almost matches all of Samantha’s results from the past few years combined."

"In the end, it all depends on who the company's senior executives like more!"

While everyone was talking, Samantha looked at me arrogantly, showing off a very confident look on her face. It was as if she had already won. Still, there was a deep jealousy and hatred beneath her eyes like she wanted to eat me alive at the same time.

As time passed, one of the company's vice presidents, who looked a little drunk and had a red face, finally went on stage. He then looked around the audience. And then, with a big smile on his face, announced that Samantha would become the new manager of the sales department.

The people in the crowd had mixed reactions.

Some people clapped politely, while the others whispered quietly to each other.

"Samantha really got the position!"

"She has enough qualifications. Most importantly, don't forget that she is Nathan's girlfriend. I heard they are getting engaged very soon. The company's senior executives probably didn't want to cause any trouble for her right now."

"It's such a shame for Daphne. Honestly, I think her ability is much stronger than Samantha's."

"Samantha has been the sales champion for a few years, but it's only because Nathan helped her behind the scenes. But Daphne is the one who truly used her own skills to bring in so many major partners to the company."

"Even if she's talented, it doesn't matter. Without a strong backer, she can't compete with someone like Samantha."

Samantha walked onto the stage like a proud woman.

Initially, she said a few polite words to thank everyone.

However, she suddenly turned to me.

With a fake smile on her face, she then said, "Daphne, I know you must feel very upset right now. But there is nothing you can do. Your ability is not as good as mine, your qualifications are not as good as mine and the position of sales manager was never going to be yours."

"Work harder and maybe I will give you more chances to prove yourself in the future."

Even though her words sounded like encouragement, I knew very well that she was actually mocking me and warning me. Now that she had become the sales manager, she would definitely find ways to make my life difficult. She surely had already been planning how to target me from now on.

However, what she did not know was that I had no plans to stay in the company any longer after today.

Since I was a small child, I had grown up with my adoptive father in the Catholic church in Tuscany.

If my parents, along with my eldest brother and sister-in-law, had not died, I would have never left the church and returned to the Browne Family. In the year I had worked at the company, I had already grown tired of all the fights and schemes.

After today, I planned to make sure the company wasn’t being unfair. I could see that Samantha was very ambitious. Not to mention, she always tried to build her own little group inside the company.

If she really married Nathan in the future, she wasn’t supposed to be allowed to continue working at the company.

I left the annual meeting early as i did not want to stay any longer. But just after I walked out, a van suddenly drove toward me at high speed and stopped not far from where I was standing. Before I could react, several strong men rushed out. towards me.

After that, those men shoved me roughly into a sack and threw me into the back of the van. I wanted to fight back, but I held myself back. I knew that if I really used my strength, I could easily break their bones and even kill them.

Ever since I was young, following my adoptive father, I had not only learned how to see through people’s intentions but also how to defend myself.

If I truly got angry, these men would not have been able to walk away unharmed. Eventually, I decided to endure it for now and see what they wanted to do. The moment I was kidnapped, I already had a guess about who was behind it. There was no one else it could be except Samantha.

What I could not understand was why she needed to kidnap me when she had just gotten promoted to sales manager today and had so much to celebrate. Why would she still be so anxious to deal with me?

The men locked me up in an old, dilapidated warehouse. They took off the sack from my head, but my hands and feet were tightly tied to a chair with ropes. I waited quietly as the sun went down and night came.

Finally, Samantha appeared, smelling of strong alcohol and staggering as she walked toward me.

Without saying a word, she slapped me hard across the face.

She let out a cruel and twisted smile as she said, "Daphne, I have hated you for a long time. I warned you many times, but you kept pretending not to understand."

"Did you really think I couldn’t do anything to you? I was planning to wait until after I married Nathan to deal with you, but I just couldn’t hold it in anymore."

She laughed coldly and continued, "I have to admit, you are good at business. If you stayed in the company, Nathan might not want to fire a golden goose like you. So I have no choice but to destroy you first!"

I looked at her without any fear.

My voice was calm and light when I said in response, "Just because I am better than you at work, you become this jealous and want to destroy me?"

Hearing my words, Samantha’s face twisted in anger. She grabbed a handful of my hair and slapped me again. This time, her slaps were even harder than her previous ones.

As she gritted her teeth, she screamed, "If you were only good at work and made more money for the company, I wouldn’t hate you so much! But you dared to seduce Nathan! That, I can never forgive!"

She stared at me with hatred and shouted, "Someone saw you going to the Browne Family’s old mansion yesterday. Was Nathan the one who took you there?"

"Both Nathan and I have been in love for several years, but he has never taken me to the Browne Family's old mansion. He always said that I could only enter the Browne Family's old mansion after we got married," Samantha said with a twisted smile.

After that, she angrily asked me, "Who do you think you are? How can you enter the Browne Family's old mansion before me?"

"Nathan must be blind. How could he ever fall in love with a woman like you? No matter what happens, I’ll be the real matriarch of the Browne Family. Nathan can only marry me as his wife. As long as I destroy you and ruin your reputation, Nathan will never look at you again."

At that moment, I felt that Samantha was truly a very sad and pitiful woman.

Just as I was thinking about this, Samantha suddenly screamed at me, "Daphne, stop pretending to be calm! It's already this situation and you still act like you are not afraid! Who are you pretending for? Do you really think I don't dare to destroy you? Do you think I am just trying to scare you?"

She pointed at the men in the warehouse and shouted, "Look at these men! I prepared them for you. I also prepared cameras. Soon, the video and photos of you being humiliated by them will spread all over the Internet."

"By tomorrow morning, everyone will know! Will you still have the face to see people after that?"

The strong men who had kidnapped me already started taking off their clothes. Ugly smiles quickly appeared on their faces. Around us, there were several cameras were already set up in the corners of the dirty warehouse.

It was very clear that Samantha had planned this for a long time and had waited for this moment. Even seeing all this, I did not show any fear. Clearly, this made Samantha even more furious.

She wanted to see me cry, to see me beg her for forgiveness, to see me collapse in front of her.

But sadly for her, she didn't understand at all.

Her little tricks meant nothing to me.

Samantha seemed to almost go crazy seeing my calm face.

She screamed even louder and told the strong men, "Don't have any mercy on her! Use all your strength and torture her!"

The men, with even more cruel looks on their faces, started walking toward me step by step. At that exact moment, the door of the warehouse was kicked open with a loud bang. Nathan appeared at the door.

He then shouted in fury, "Stop!"

Apparently, Nathan had brought a large group of people with him. Soon enough, they quickly surrounded Samantha and the strong men. It seemed that the tables had turned.

On the other hand, Samantha’s face turned pale like a sheet of paper when she saw Nathan. The strong men were so scared that they immediately squatted on the ground with their hands covering their heads. Those men didn’t even dare to move.

Nathan’s face looked as dark as a storm. He walked straight to Samantha and slapped her hard across the face. Immediately, she fell to the ground while holding her face as she cried and shook like crazy.

With a trembling voice, she then said, "Nathan, I did this because I love you too much! I was confused. I love you too much. I know I was wrong … "

Nathan completely ignored her cries. He walked toward me, knelt down in front of me with a guilty look on his face and lowered his head.

Not long after that, he said sincerely, "Aunt Daphne, I'm sorry."

Hearing his words, Samantha widened her eyes and stared at me in shock as if she couldn't believe what she just heard.

I looked at Nathan calmly and asked in a soft voice, "You saw with your own eyes what Samantha did to me tonight. Are you still going to marry her?"

Samantha kept crying, her face full of despair. She probably already guessed what Nathan's answer would be.

Nathan kept his head lowered and said in a heavy voice, "I said I would marry her, so I will keep my promise."

"Aunt Daphne, I am really sorry about what I will do."

Samantha, who had been crying in despair a second ago, suddenly stopped. Her face showed a flash of surprise as if she still had a little hope.

On the other hand, I couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh.

Then, I asked Nathan, "But after all this, after everything she has done to me, why are you still unwilling to give up on her?"

"What if I don't agree to this marriage?"

Nathan finally raised his head. His eyes were red, full of bloodshot lines. A terrible smile appeared at the corners of his mouth as he said in a low voice, "Aunt Daphne, if you still refuse ... you are forcing me to kill you.”