Rosalie Clarke and I had been estranged and separated for several years now.That was why I was surprised when her family called me."Zayne, your mother-in-law has passed away. We can't reach Rosalie. Please, come back and handle the funeral arrangements."Hearing that Mona North, my mother-in-law, had passed away, I felt a sudden jolt in my chest. It wasn't grief, but rather as if a tightly strung string in me had snapped.Rosalie and I had separated about three years ago.Since then, she'd been living as if she'd never been married—constantly hitting up bars and clubs, hiring male escorts, and completely ignoring my messages and calls. I frowned upon hearing the news, thinking Rosalie had crossed the line. Something had happened to her mother, and yet, Rosalie was nowhere to be found. I stared at the voice message for a long time before finally canceling all meetings for the week and heading to Rosalie's hometown. My assistant wordlessly signaled for ten bodyguards to accomp
I sighed and put my phone away.There went another unfortunate soul wounded by love.If I ever had a chance to help him in the future, I thought, maybe I would. Rosalie still hadn't replied to any of my messages or calls.Around me, her relatives had already split into small groups and started a game of cards, leaving piles of peanut shells scattered across the floor.I sat far away. Seeing they weren't interested in bothering me and were even ignoring me, I relaxed a bit. The stale, foul smell in the room was starting to give me a headache. Lips pressed into a tight line, I contemplated escaping to the outdoors just as chaos erupted beyond the walls. Opening the door, I came face-to-face with Lester.He had a crowd of seven or eight people behind him, a phone in one hand and a stick in the other, looking ready to start trouble. "Lester?" I was taken aback. "What are you doing here?"He froze for a moment before he waved his stick around and loudly announced to his group,
Lester sneered. "You pathetic, worthless leech. Even your family doesn't stand with you. Who's going to help you now? You're an embarrassment to all men!"Lester glanced at the memorial photo, and then at the scattered gifts in the house. He scoffed, "That photo must be of your mother, right? And all these gifts are probably from Rosalie."You're living off the dead. Don't you have any shame? Your whole family's a bunch of parasites. Don't think for a second you'll get a penny from my fiancée even if someone's dead!"With that, he directed his group to smash everything in sight. Only then did I realize Lester had brought over two or three dozen people, each one holding a club or stick. As the memorial photo crashed to the ground, glass shards scattered across the floor. My newly purchased porcelain vases, each worth tens of thousands, toppled one by one, sending sharp fragments flying and cutting into my legs.I wanted to speak up to stop them, but seeing the recently installed s
The scene was chaotic. After Lester was knocked down, he took a few solid punches himself.Clutching his face, he screamed, "Help! Help! He's trying to kill me! If I die here, none of you in this village will be safe!"Hearing this, the middle-aged men and women playing cards in the corner finally started inching over, hesitantly watching us. I didn't know where I found the strength, but I fought with a frenzy, keeping ten or so people at bay.Lester, terrified, held up a wad of cash and shouted, "I have money! I'll give 20 thousand dollars to whoever pins down that pretty boy!"Almost instantly, the onlookers charged forward. One of them grabbed a chair and smashed it into my calf. As the metal leg of the chair dug into my flesh, I felt my blood pouring out, draining the force of my punches.The others piled on, grabbing my hands and kicking my injured legs mercilessly. "Kneel! Didn't you hear us tell you to kneel?"After I used the last of my strength, I collapsed onto the
Lester was still happily daydreaming while I had already tidied up my appearance, ready to leave.Rosalie, hearing about the eight million dollars, suddenly remembered the matter at hand and pulled me aside, asking urgently, "What's going on? Who passed away? What was the eight million dollars for?"I glanced at the photo knocked down to the floor by Lester and smirked.Rosalie hadn't realized it was her mother's funeral.Although Mona had been staying here, Rosalie assumed it was the funeral of my relative, as this property was bought fully by me.Rosalie continued to berate me as if I was on Mona's property. "Also, did you ask for Mom's consent before you held the funeral here? Why would you do something so unlucky—""Before she passed away, she insisted on a custom box for the remains. Just the box alone cost eight million dollars." I interrupted Rosalie, ignoring her previous question and answering her earlier one instead.Without a second thought, Rosalie accused me, "Don't
The moment Rosalie's eyes fell on the photograph, she stopped dead in her tracks, shudders wracking her frame. In disbelief, she reached out to pick up the shattered portrait.She broke down the moment she saw that the person in the picture was her mother."What did you say? How could this have happened to Mom? Why, out of nowhere… Why didn't anyone tell me that something happened to Mom?"Unable to cope with the shock, Rosalie held the portrait and sat on the floor, sobbing.Shards of broken glass embedded in her smooth arms, drawing trickles of blood. Even so, she seemed oblivious to the pain as she held the picture tighter.She desperately tried calling Mona."The number you have dialed is no longer in service...""The number you have dialed is no longer in service..."I threw the cremation certificate at Rosalie and looked straight at her, informing her, "Mom fell down the stairs three days ago. She was too weak to be saved. Your relatives couldn't reach you, so they had to
My feelings for Rosalie started three years ago. Ironically, they ended three years ago as well. When I first met her, she had just come out of a rough relationship and would drink herself senseless at the bar every night. One evening, while passing by a bar, I ran into some rivals from a recent business deal. They cornered me in an alley, seemingly intent on "teaching me a lesson".However, Rosalie stepped in, her voice trembling as she warned them, "If you want to hurt him, you'll have to go through me."I was so young and naïve back then that I fell in love with her from that very moment.After we got together, I invested a large sum to help her start her business, which eventually became the now-renowned Clarke Group.Meanwhile, my decision to cancel an arranged marriage to be with Rosalie led to my parents cutting me off.I thought she'd leave me to find someone wealthier, but instead, she started treating me even better.Back then, whenever the company hired a new male
As dusk fell and Rosalie still hadn't returned, the wedding festivities had already reached the traditional wedding pranks stage. In this village, where women outnumbered men, the custom of teasing the groomsmen had been preserved. Mona had wandered off somewhere to chat, leaving me alone with a group of men and women I didn't know.Soon, I was surrounded by bridesmaids in dresses, while villagers nearby had already raised their phones, their faces lit with anticipation.The bridesmaids, eager to begin, grabbed at me. Seven or eight hands started pulling me toward the grassy area's center. I hadn't noticed until then that a chain had somehow been hooked onto my clothes—one end connected to the base of a wooden doghouse, the other held by the bridesmaids.By the time I realized and tried to resist, a dozen people had already rushed in, forcing me to the ground and crudely binding my hands and feet with iron chains.I instinctively reached for my pocket. However, the villagers