Millie refused to believe that a person could change so drastically without reason."Do you know the details of the birthday party kidnapping?" Millie asked."Unfortunately, I don't know anything about that," Julian replied.Millie suppressed her curiosity and picked up her phone. She thought of calling Pierce, but would he even tell her the truth?She rubbed her temples, debating that thought for a moment. In the end, she decided against it.After that, Millie pushed aside all distracting thoughts and focused on her work. She had several custom orders to complete, including one for Felicity Harmon, the daughter-in-law of a real estate tycoon. She had just finished drafting the design sketches and needed to discuss them with Felicity.So, Millie called her to arrange a meeting."I happen to be free today. I'm at Leach Manor. You can come over," Felicity said over the phone."Leach Manor?" Millie repeated."Yes, I'm having coffee with Mrs. Leach. Is there a problem?" Felicity
Millie shook off Felicity's hand and walked away without looking back. Felicity was unwilling to let it go, so she went after Millie. "Wanda has been too soft on you. That's why you dare to be so audacious and trample all over her! If it were me, I'd skin you alive for your behavior—"As Felicity continued to rant, she reached out to grab Millie's shoulder. To her surprise, Millie grasped her hand and threw her to the floor with a clean over-the-shoulder toss with ease.Felicity cried out in pain, shocking the other three women. None of them could believe that Millie, who looked so slender and delicate, had just tossed the burly Felicity over her shoulder like it was nothing.Millie snapped, "Are you done? You've wasted my entire morning, and I haven't even demanded an apology from you. "Alright, then. Apologize now! You called me here when you had something going on and didn't have time for me. You'd been toying with me! Hurry up and apologize!""I-Is this how your studio tr
Millie delivered a swift kick to Felicity's chest and slapped Wanda hard across the face. Then, she pretended to repeatedly hit Wanda by accident. The more Wanda tried to mediate, the more blows she received. On the other hand, Felicity suffered no major injuries despite looking disheveled."What's going on here? What do you take my house for?" The door suddenly burst open. Stefan was standing in the doorway with a thunderous expression.The moment Wanda saw him, she ran toward him like a damsel in distress with tears pitifully streaming down her face."Stefan, she hit me!" she wailed, clinging onto him."Why is it you again, Millie?" Stefan frowned as he stared at her with a complicated gaze.He remembered Millie as a gentle, soft-spoken woman—a timid little lamb who needed his love and protection. But now, she was like a fierce tigress with claws bared.He knew what type of woman he preferred, yet seeing this side of Millie stirred something within him. It irked him that he
Stefan watched Millie's retreating figure with an ambivalent expression. He pondered on how she was willing to lower her pride for Pierce's sake. His hands silently clenched into fists as anger smoldered in his chest.Meanwhile, Millie had returned to the room where the women were. Though they had tidied themselves up, the scene was still chaotic. Felicity had a visible handprint on her face, and Wanda was pitifully clutching her stomach."What now? Are you here to beat us up again?" one of the women whimpered. They all trembled as they huddled together."No… I'm sorry for being impulsive earlier. I shouldn't have acted so recklessly. Felicity, I hope you can overlook my behavior and forgive me," Millie calmly spoke up.The room fell silent. None of them had expected Millie to back down so quickly."A-Are you being serious?" Felicity stammered, her voice shaking."Yes. I was wrong to lash out at you. I didn't consider the consequences. So, I'm sorry," Millie sincerely said w
Pierce did not have a speck of dust on him. It was an easy fight.Stefan looked mortified."Get a better fighter here!" Stefan demanded. "Mr. Atkinson, it's great that you're here. Your wife was misbehaving, so I just taught her a lesson out of kindness."Upon hearing this, Pierce pulled Millie behind him and stared at Felicity. She did not dare to meet his gaze as it was too intimidating."She's my wife. Who do you think you are to touch her?""She hit me just now!" Felicity yelled."Millie, is that true?" Pierce asked."She started it. Of course, I didn't just stand there and take it. She made things difficult for me, and they even ganged up on me. I was simply returning the favor," Millie replied. Millie didn't know why, but she felt assured in Pierce's presence, and her suppressed emotions began to surface.At that moment, she forgot that they were on bad terms and that she hadn't forgiven him."In that case, my wife was simply defending herself," Pierce said."Defend
Stefan's expression faltered and darkened. For once, he couldn't come up with anything to refute Pierce.It was true that Millie had never come to Leach Manor willingly—it was always forced. So, he didn't exactly have any grounds to argue back.In the end, Pierce grabbed Millie's hand and led her away. After they got inside the car, the atmosphere was so tense that it was almost suffocating. Millie could barely breathe under the pressure.Was Pierce angry? But what did he have to be angry about? She had won the fight, and if it weren't for the potential fallout affecting the Atkinson family, she wouldn't have bowed her head and apologized in the first place.She should be the one to feel wronged. So, why was he the one sulking?Millie cleared her throat, breaking the silence and finding her voice. "Well… you saw it yourself. I'm nothing but trouble. You should divorce me as soon as possible and stay as far away from me as you can. I don't follow the rules, I'm fiery, and I don
Thomas had mentioned the horse track before and had encouraged Millie to try it out, but she hadn't taken it seriously. But upon seeing the majestic horses now, she found herself intrigued."Can I ride this one?" she asked, pointing at a tall, spirited horse."Not this one. It's too wild and still being trained. If you want to ride, I'll find you a gentler one," Thomas replied."Okay!" Millie's eyes sparkled with excitement.Thomas then led her to the stables and carefully selected a calm and obedient horse. He started by teaching Millie how to mount the horse, then walked alongside her, holding the reins to help her get familiar with riding."Talk to it, pat it gently, and build some trust," he instructed."Got it," Millie said, stroking the horse's mane and softly speaking to it.After a few laps around the paddock, Millie gained enough confidence to ride on her own. She kept the pace slow and leisurely circled the track. There were other riders in the large paddock as wel
"Are you okay?"Millie anxiously asked."I'm fine," Pierce replied. He held onto Millie with one arm for support and stood up, his other arm limp and dangling by the side of his body, obviously dislocated.Thomas quickly came to check on him and said, "Follow me to the office. I'll reattach it for you. "Millie, you should also go to the clinic and do a checkup to see if you have any other issues."Pierce's arm was dislocated, and that was something the clinic couldn't fix. However, since Thomas was an expert at this, he took Pierce away. When Pierce took off his shirt, there was a huge bruise on his back."Just bear with it for a moment. You'll be fine in no time." Thomas held Pierce's arm, gently rotating it before suddenly using force on it.Pierce's face turned deathly pale, with tiny droplets of sweat forming on his forehead.Before his arm was reattached, any small movements would cause immense pain. After the reattachment though, his entire arm went numb.Pierce exhaled
"No! Mr. Atkinson, you can't do this! I did it for you!" Carlos cried."I don't know Yulia personally, nor did I secretly ask you to take care of her. No wonder she kept misinterpreting my intentions and tried to get close to me. You were part of the reason that she's delusional," Pierce said with a scoff.Yulia must have assumed that all the special treatment Carlos had given her was Pierce's doing. Naturally, she would have started to fantasize.Pierce also reflected on himself. He never should have sympathized with her or helped her in the first place. When he saw her, he had been reminded of Millie from years ago and had wanted to make up for his inability to help her back then in some small way. Never did he expect that it would cause so much trouble for him.Whatever compensation John decided to ask from Yulia was none of his business too.After that, Pierce sent Carlos away and began addressing the false rumors spreading online."Well, well. You seem to have a lot of rom
Yulia believed that Pierce must have felt the same way. Since fate had brought them together, how could she possibly give up?Now that Pierce had paid for her hospital stay, she felt she should recover properly and not waste his kindness.…Meanwhile, back at Atkinson Group, Tobias never mentioned the matter to Pierce. The situation had been urgent when Yulia was hospitalized, and anyone would have covered the cost in such circumstances. After all, a life was at stake.Tobias reported, "Mr. Atkinson, the former Head of Sales, Carlos Reyes, keeps asking to see you. The receptionist has alerted me about this multiple times. He said he needs to see you for something important. Do you want to meet him?""Is he the one Mills fired?" Pierce coolly looked up."Yes," Tobias replied."Useless trash like him isn't worth my time," Pierce indifferently responded. After all, anyone who crossed Millie had also crossed him.So, Tobias immediately informed Carlos that if he ever came again, he
Yulia kept waiting for an opportunity, but the two times she saw Pierce, he was with Millie. The sight of this drove her mad with jealousy. How she wished she could tear Millie apart. If it weren't for her, she wouldn't be struggling just to get into Atkinson Group now.And so, Yulia obsessively staked out the parking lot every day like a madwoman. As a result, she had grown noticeably thinner. Sometimes, she saw Tobias. However, she didn't approach him. But finally, after nearly a week, she found her chance.Pierce had arrived alone with no one in the passenger seat. Just as he got out of the car, a shadow flitted into his peripheral view. As a former police officer, his reflexes were sharp. He immediately subdued the person with a grappling move."Ow… Ouch! It hurts…" Yulia pitifully whimpered.Pierce hadn't seen Yulia's face yet. He only realized that it was a woman and that she posed no real threat. So, he released his grip.However, upon realizing that it was Yulia, he
"Thank you for stopping me from acting recklessly, Mr. Atkinson," John said, wincing from the pain."You need medical attention," Pierce reminded him. He didn't even spare Yulia a glance while she was lying unconscious on the ground.Soon, Yulia regained consciousness in the hospital. Only her mother, Helena, was by her bedside. She looked around but didn't see her beloved Pierce."Pierce… Is he away to get my medicine?" Yulia weakly asked, struggling to sit up.Helena wept and said, "That man you keep talking about never showed up—not even once.""Impossible!" Yulia gasped in disbelief, her eyes widening. She had been in such a dire state. How could he not come to visit her?Helena went on, "Not only that, but the club is holding you accountable, and Mr. Presta is also demanding compensation. We've received two court notices. The lawyer told me that we need to pay five million dollars in total!""Five million dollars is nothing. If I ask Pierce, he'll definitely give it to
As soon as Yulia walked in, her eyes were wet with tears. She looked pitifully at Pierce, acting as if the nightclub had forced her into selling her body and that she had suffered countless injustices.She walked straight toward Pierce. "Mr. Atkinson, I never expected us to meet again in a place like this."Pierce frowned because he wasn't exactly familiar with her.While the other hostesses were enthusiastically entertaining other men by pouring drinks and joking around, Yulia was the only one wearing a mournful expression. Clearly, she was dampening the mood."Mr. Atkinson, do you have any idea how miserable my life has been since Mrs. Atkinson kicked me out of Atkinson Group? My father went back to gambling, and those people even took my mother away. If I didn't return to this line of work, I wouldn't have any way to survive."They were originally willing to give me a one-month grace period because I had a stable salary at Atkinson Group. But now… Mrs. Atkinson has ruined me!"
"Ms. Shaw, if you don't leave now, someone will have to escort you out," Tobias said.So, Yulia slunk downstairs in embarrassment. She even got to see Tobias harshly reprimanding the receptionist."Are you out of your mind? How dare you bring just anyone to the CEO's office? You're fired!" Tobias sternly said.The receptionist argued, "But, Mr. Shaw, this isn't my fault. She's someone Mr. Atkinson seems take special care of—""That was nothing more than a few minor favors. You failed to do your job properly, so don't make excuses. Pack your things and leave," Tobias stated indifferently.The receptionist felt deeply wronged, and her gaze toward Yulia turned resentful.Yulia didn't understand where things had gone wrong. Pierce had seemed to be so concerned about her previously, so why was he being so cold to her now? Had Millie discovered something? Was that why he wanted to cut ties with her completely?Feeling lost and dejected, Yulia left the company, only to run into Carlo
After that, Millie went upstairs to look for Pierce and told him the story of her firing Carlos and Yulia."Okay," Pierce nonchalantly said. He didn't even look up once, and his tone sounded very calm as well."I've been laying off employees without your consent. Don't you have anything to say about that?"Pierce laughed after hearing what Millie said. "You're my wife, so you also have a say in Atkinson Group. You're just exercising your authority, so why would I say anything about it? I know you're not a reckless person. If you fired them, you must have had your own reasonings." Pierce didn't even question why Millie had fired two employees or the reason behind their layoffs.What's done was already done. He couldn't care less about the two employees who got fired."Does this mean that I can do whatever I want as long as I'm here?" Millie asked."Of course! Whatever I own is also yours. I'll even let you sit on my lap if you want." Pierce sounded exactly like a king back in th
While some people chose to stay away from Yulia to avoid getting into trouble, there were still a few who sided with her. Then again, these people were just going to use her as a stepping stone to climb the corporate ladder with less effort."You're firing me? What did I even do wrong?" Yulia confronted the HR Department."The case that you messed up here has cost Atkinson Group millions of dollars. This big of a screw-up is enough to get you fired."Even if Yulia filed for labor arbitration, she would not receive any compensation. But of course, she couldn't be bothered by that small amount of money anyway. As long as she managed to keep her job in Atkinson Group, she would still be working under Pierce's leadership and was bound to see him again eventually. Unfortunately, she was about to leave the company for good. Now how was she supposed to see Pierce again?"I have to go find Mr. Reyes," she said.However, when she came to Carlos' office, he seemed to be in a gloomy
Millie had the distinct feeling that Yulia and her colleague were talking about her, but she had no proof. All she could see were their furtive glances.She became annoyed by their persistent glances and said, "If you two have something to say, why don't you say it out loud? Are you gossiping about me?""Of course not! I have no idea why you'd say that, Mrs. Atkinson," Yulia replied with a smile."You better not be lying."Yulia and her colleague left the elevator when they reached their floor, leaving Millie standing there with a frown.Millie just couldn't bring herself to like Yulia. It led to her pondering whether she should just fire Yulia. That way, she wouldn't have to see her every time she visited Atkinson Group.The strange thing was that Millie had never seen Yulia before when she was still working here. But now, she ran into Yulia almost every single time she came to Atkinson Group.In the end, Millie made up her mind to just fire Yulia.Instead of heading to the CE