“Jax, didn’t you say you’d take care of me forever?”
Seraphina’s eyes were full of hope and yearning.
“And didn’t we already find the loophole in the facility and bribe the people inside?”
“Aria will be fine.”
Jax nodded, returning to stir the pot.
His phone chimed with a message notification. The Blackwood family had sent a video.
Jax clicked on it, and his face instantly turned deathly pale.
In the video, I was tied to a torture rack, with ten long, thick steel needles piercing my neck.
*Splat!*
The warm liquid spilled all over the floor.
Jax rushed out the door, abandoning everything.
“Jax”
Seraphina screamed as the spilled liquid scalded her.
But for once, Jax didn’t look back.
Jax floored the accelerator, the car speeding through the night.
His hands gripped the steering wheel, knuckles white.
“No, Aria won’t die.”
He repeated the words over and over, as if trying to convince himself.
The car screeched to a halt at the Blackwood family’s gates.
Jax stormed out of the car, trying to force his way in.
“Stop!”
:
Several bodyguards blocked him.
“Get out of my way! I need to get in!”
“Aria can’t be dead, you’re all lying to me!”
Jax’s eyes were bloodshot, like a mad beast.
A bodyguard swung his club, and Jax grunted, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
He didn’t care, continuing to charge forward.
“Aria, Arial”
He screamed my name, his voice tearing.
A flurry of fists rained down on
Jax was battered and bruised, but he still tried to push through.
“Jax”
Caleb arrived, grabbing his arm.
“Are you insane?”
“Let go of me! I need to save Aria.”
Jax struggled, his eyes filled with bloodshot desperation.
Caleb violently shook his shoulders. “Snap out of it! Aria has always loved to act, to gamer sympathy.”
“Maybe this is just another act.”
Jax’s movements paused.
Like a man trapped in a cage suddenly seeing the key to the lock, his eyes suddenly brightened.
He murmured,
“Yes, Aria definitely isn’t dead…”
“She wou
wouldn’t leave me.
“Creak! The Blackwood family’s main gate opened.
Four bodyguards carried out my lifeless body.
Steel needles were still impaled in my flesh, and my blood had congealed into black.
“Arial”
Jax lunged forward like a madman.
<
Jax lunged forward like a madman.
He knelt on the ground, his trembling hand reaching for my face.
“Aria, wake up, it’s me, it’s Jax! Open your eyes and look at me…“”
His voice choked, large tears streaming down his face.
His finger brushed against the steel needles in my neck, and he shivered violently.
Jax abruptly stood up, roaring at the bodyguards.
“How dare you do this to her?! This is pure murder!”
The bodyguards‘ attitude was arrogant. They sneered, “Don’t you know the Blackwood family’s rules?”
“Didn’t you see it with your own eyes yesterday?”
“You did nothing when she was alive, but now that she’s dead, you’re suddenly concerned?”
Every word was like a knife, stabbing into Jax’s heart.
He remembered. Yesterday, I cried and begged him to take me away.
But he said he had to make Seraphina her warm tea for her cramps.
“It’s all my fault. I killed her.”
Jax knelt beside my body, weeping uncontrollably.
Mr. Blackwood walked out from the house, waving his hand.
“Bum her.”
Several people stepped forward, about to douse my body with gasoline and light it.
“No! Don’t touch her!”
Jax clung to my body, refusing to let anyone near.
“I won’t let you burn her!”
Jax shielded me, his eyes filled with grim determination.
termination.
Several bodyguards rushed forward, forcibly dragging him away.
My body was carried to the backyard, and soon after, thick smoke rose.
Jax suddenly broke free from the bodyguards and charged towards the flames.
The flames licked at his clothes, burning his arms.
But it was too late.
5:26 AM ₫
<
But it was too late.
In the Blackwood family’s secret room, the lights were dim.
I sat on a chair, my fingers lightly tapping the table.
I calmly laid out all the Sterling family’s business secrets, one by one.
Mr. Blackwood’s eyes lit up, and he immediately had someone record everything.
“With this information, the Blackwood family will soon dominate the new energy car battery market in the A–region triangle.”
“And the Thome family will successfully acquire the land in the west of the city.”
I finished my last sentence, leaning back lazily in the chair.
Julian wore a mocking expression. “You’re quite ruthless when it comes to screwing over your own family.”
I smiled.
“A family that pushes me towards death’s door certainly deserves this treatment.”
After leaving the Blackwood estate, the car suddenly turned halfway, heading straight up a mountain.
Julian stopped the car and pulled open my door.
“Get out.”
His voice was cold.
He pulled me to the edge of a cliff, where a sheer drop plunged into the abyss below.
The night wind howled, whipping my hair around.
“My parents have had you involved in the Thome family’s business quite a bit lately, haven’t they?”
Julian stood behind me, his voice right next to my ear.
I shivered involuntarily.
“You’d better know your place. We’re just business partners.”
His hand pressed on my shoulder. A slight squeeze, and I’d fall.
“If you don’t get it through your head, I wouldn’t mind letting you die again.”
I looked down at the cliff, my legs so weak I could barely stand.
But I forced myself to calm down.
“Our partnership won’t have any unexpected issues. I won’t do anything extra.”
5:26 AM cr c
<
“Our partnership won’t have any unexpected issues. I won’t do anything extra.”
I turned my head to look at him.
“All I want is the Sterling family’s downfall.”
Julian stared at me for a few seconds, then pulled me back into the car.
“Time to go home. Dinner has your favorite.”
Thanks to my precise predictions, the Sterling family’s stock prices quickly began to plummet.
Seraphina was barely capable, unable to withstand such an impact.
Almost all the pressure fell on my father.
His health was already poor, and now he was struggling with his failing body to handle company matters.
But he couldn’t stop the Sterling family’s downward spiral.
I stood in front of the mirror, carefully examining the prosthetic eye Julian had customized for me.
Turns out, a prosthetic eye could be this natural and beautiful.
Caleb and Jax repeatedly disdained my eye, but it was really just because they disliked *me*.
They would only criticize me; they would never do anything for me.
Julian’s parents wanted me to attend the Thorne Group’s New Year’s Eve gala.
I looked at Julian, and he gave a slight nod.
On the night of the gala, I wore a black velvet gown.
