"A divorce trial is the quickest way there is." Aria scanned her phone. "I've seen your browser history. You've been researching divorce for a while. But you held back because people might gossip about Daisy for having to choose sides in court. "She doesn't understand you, but I do." Aria's smile was genuine. "You remind me of my mother. You're both remarkable women. "You'd never give up despite circumstances, nor would you pass negative values to your children. You'd fight for even the slimmest chance." Aria turned the laptop back to Lettie after preparing the content to post. "The choice is yours. You can keep this as leverage for more power in the Hendricks family or let them have a taste of what you've experienced." Lettie had never expected to regain control. She had thought Aria would judge her weak for not divorcing. But instead, Aria completely respected her choice. Lettie smiled and hit the spacebar. It was then posted on all platforms. "I don't want revenge. I just
Paxton received a call from Amara. Puzzled, he answered. Amara screeched, "Your ungrateful wife wants a divorce!" "Really? Did she say this herself?" Paxton was not stupid—something just felt off. Amara put her hand on her hip. "She's gotten bold and somehow managed to latch onto the Carvers! Not just divorce, she's claiming she wrote those novels too!" Alone at home, Amara dropped her usual façade. "Ridiculous! Everyone knows that's your work. This little tramp needs a lesson. Call her! "Stop asking me to play nice for appearances. Make her beg for my forgiveness on her knees. Paxton, you should see how arrogant she's gotten with that Carver girl backing her." Of everything said, only one thing caught Paxton's attention. "Carver girl? Isn't that the richest family in Janovin?" "Yes, Lettie's left with her." Amara fumed. "They showed me zero respect! You should just divorce her outright. Since you and Celestia are so good together, just let her give the Hendricks family a
"You'd handle it? You promised to confront her last month, but did you?" Celestia scrolled through her phone. "I'm an influencer with two million followers! What will happen to my job if people find out about my complicated love life?" Her eyes reddened. "My parents keep asking about this too. My family's well-off, and I'm an art school graduate. We could go back to my home if we don't want to stay in Janovin. But you still won't divorce her. What am I supposed to tell my parents?" Hearing that, Paxton pulled her close. "I know you've suffered a lot. Let's buy you another bag. It's not that I don't want to divorce. Something's odd here. Lettie's not the concern, but I don't want to offend the Carvers." Celestia dabbed her barely wet eyes. "The Carvers wouldn't care about things like this, would they? It's got nothing to do with them. But you're right to worry. Maybe you should ask around." "My thoughts exactly." Paxton's face hardened. "And the novel must be credited as mine. I
Aria might as well say Landon had period cramps! Percy's features were naturally mischievous. Whenever he raised his gold-rimmed glasses, he looked refined yet roguish. It felt like he had not said anything when he actually had. Though he had heard from Leon that Aria really liked Landon, as her brother, Percy's feelings about her love life were complicated. Landon chuckled softly before letting out a few coughs. "I've been in poor health. I hope you'll understand, Percy." Percy was speechless as he thought, "Stop pretending! Did you forget I was there when you devoured those companies? You didn't look sick then! Taking a deep breath, Percy remembered his purpose here. He turned to the pregnant Lettie. "Generally, I would advise against divorce trials. Both parties should discuss it together if possible. An out-of-court settlement is best." He added, "It's for your benefit. Given your pregnancy, judges might deny the divorce or mandate a cooling period. Based on current evi
"Actually, I've rarely seen Don. Even when he came back just recently, he only stayed for three or four days before he moved to the dorms. He hates being disturbed, especially while researching history. The university library is his favorite place, and he never involves himself in family matters." "Does he never involve himself, or is he ignoring them on purpose?" Landon's precise question came in a smooth tone. Aria had wondered the same thing. Lettie was never one to complain. "He's really someone who would avoid mundane matters. Not just with me—he rarely sees any relatives. Amara handles all that. He's not sociable, but he always tells Paxton to take me to visit my family more whenever he visits." Percy looked up. "Have you told Don about your husband's affair?" "No." Lettie's lips pursed bitterly. "I haven't had the chance." Aria tapped her phone screen while considering her next moves. Just then, Lettie's phone rang. She frowned at the display. "It's Paxton." "Record
Even if Paxton would not admit it, there was no way he could deny the affair now. Though the photos sent to Lettie were anonymous, all their couple photos were visible on Celestia's social media. Paxton never imagined Lettie would find his alternate account. Women could have detective-like intuition about affairs. With Aria's help, finding evidence was not difficult. Lettie nodded to Aria. She gripped something and finally spoke, "Is that all you wanted to say? Will you even believe yourself?" She avoided mentioning the novel rights as she took it step by step. This way, Paxton would not be too guarded. "I swear to god I'm not lying!" Sure enough, Paxton thought he could smooth-talk his way out. His eyes shifted. "Lettie, I know you've been home too long. After years without work, you worry about losing touch and start imagining things. But you know me; I love you too much to ever betray you. "As for Mom, she's already old, and she's born in a different era. Be patient with h
Lettie then mentioned the most important point, "Perfect timing. You can explain to your mother that you helped me type my novel, too." "Of course!" Paxton agreed instantly, still treating her like a naïve housewife without realizing her plan. "I'll go now, Lettie. I'll explain everything to Mom. Let's keep the rest between us. You know how powerful the Carvers are." "Good. So you've admitted that you only typed my novel while the writing was mine." Lettie hung up immediately, giving him no chance to respond. Paxton froze for a moment, and then his eyes widened. He threw his phone down. "Damn it! That stupid woman was trapping me!" Clutching his hair, Paxton's face contorted with unprecedented rage. Even Percy was impressed. He gave Lettie a thumbs up. Still breathing heavily from tension, Lettie took a drink of water after ending the call. "He's deceived me countless times. I had to learn and fight fire with fire." "Marvelous!" Aria beamed. "That's exactly right!" Lett
Aria noticed Landon's gaze and raised an eyebrow at him. She then slid her fries across the table over to him. "Here, they're nice and crispy. But you shouldn't eat too many," she reminded him with a serious face, referring to his doctor's orders. Looking at her fries, Landon felt like laughing. Did she think that was what he had been thinking about? Some habits of hers never changed no matter how much time passed. Still, he preferred this over her old troublesome habits. He lowered his gaze and took a single fry, somehow managing to make even this simple act look elegant. After admiring his graceful movements, Aria's fingers flew across the keyboard as she searched for Lettie's old Instagram account. Too much time had passed, and Lettie couldn't remember her password anymore. She tried a few times but still could not log in. Without a word, Aria plugged in a USB drive and began working on cracking the password. Watching the rapid changes on the computer screen, Percy's dark
Everyone in the café had been enjoying their afternoon tea when they heard the commotion. They turned to look. "Where's the server?" Nisa called out. These rich ladies were all regulars who paid hefty annual membership fees. At their summons, the manager appeared with a smile before any server could respond. "Mrs. Guetta, how may I help you?" "Jonah, perfect timing. I was wondering when this place started letting country bumpkins like her in," Nisa said, her gaze sweeping over Lily. Without hesitation, Jonah Marx kicked Lily out. At that same moment, Aria arrived for their appointment. Traffic had been terrible. She had only agreed to meet Nisa because she needed to uncover something important. In her dreams, there was still one voice that hadn't appeared. The owner of that voice had harmed her mother, Fiona. She would never feel at peace until she dug out the person behind it. Aria was never worried about threats from others. For instance, she knew about Lily's wild accu
Dorian was grinning from ear to ear, showing none of the dignity expected from someone of a prominent family. He had less class than a common street hustler. The members of the Chamber of Commerce had good reason to look down on him. Dorian didn't believe that Neval, who was addicted to gambling, wouldn't return to the country for at least ten years. Once they took down the Grisham family, he'd be calling all the shots in the Chamber of Commerce! Dorian truly took after Magdalene in this aspect. The latter embodied all the worst traits of her generation—a twisted mindset and was always scheming something. Also, she was arrogant and had a superiority complex. Magdalene didn't want Neval to return, which explained why she'd readily given him money. She thought that Waymond would soon be arrested. Then, the Grisham family would go from riding high to crashing and burning, and Aria would pay the price. These were already set in stone! The prominent families' joint effort to targe
In the Fitzroy family, only Neval saw things clearly, despite being a screw-up. Everyone else was blinded by their own arrogance. Laura, of course, never saw it that way. Perhaps too much time had passed, which made her forget how she had married into the Grisham family in the first place. She had also forgotten what it meant to be grateful. Without the Fitzroy family's involvement, Orion's long-standing attempts to sabotage Waymond would have failed. This had been an unspoken secret between the two families for years. Magdalene had always been the head of the Fitzroy family. The best thing about her younger son, Dorian Fitzroy, was that he would always follow her orders. Neval wasn't her biological son, but Dorian was. As a child born in her later years, Dorian was showered with love. Now, he sat at the meeting place where several families had agreed to gather. "How do you plan to deal with Aria?" The Guettas were the ones who had organized this meeting. They used to keep
Magdalene said, "In the past, our family had helped the Grishams to survive. But now..." She took a sip of her tea. "They're digging their own grave, and we can't help them anymore." Just as she finished speaking, a middle-aged man walked in. When Magdalene saw him, her brows immediately furrowed. Her eldest son, Neval Fitzroy, was her least favorite child. He had brought nothing but shame to the Fitzroys. If he hadn't developed a gambling addiction, the Fitzroy family wouldn't have fallen this far. She asked, "What are you doing here?" Neval rubbed his hands together and snickered. "Mom, I'm a little short on cash lately. I mainly came because I missed you, but I'm also here to ask for a little money." Before Magdalene could respond, Laura stood up. "Neval, Mom just gave you 20 million last month. You shouldn't have spent it so quickly." Magdalene had been in a good mood, but now her face darkened. "Did I raise you to leech off me? How could 20 million dollars be gone so
Orion slammed his fist hard on the table. He'd been played by someone who looked like nothing more than a trust fund kid. Yet he had no choice but to let Aria manipulate him. Because no matter what he said, someone would show up to "take care of" him. At this point, he could only make everything look like a simple financial crime in order to protect himself. Aria had calculated this perfectly and planned accordingly. Even now, most people saw Aria as just some young hotshot who made money but didn't understand the bigger picture. They thought because she came from a small town, she was naïve enough to believe taking down the Draycott family would solve everything. In reality, she would be dragging herself down as well. Unless she didn't plan to stay in Ludwiten at all! Most people who thought this way were driven by pride and jealousy. They wouldn't admit they wished they were in Aria's shoes. The Carvers had raked in so much money from the stock market this time around. The
"Yes, I'm sure," Gabe said, having checked everything carefully. The old man thought for a moment. "Find a way and get someone else to tell Orion what he should and shouldn't say. If he's smart enough, he should understand." "Alright." Gabe pushed up his glasses. "Don't worry; everything will be handled." The old man's eyes were deep and calculating. "To achieve great things, some people must be sacrificed. If necessary, offer the Draycott family some benefits. Go take care of the Bellebrook situation." Gabe chuckled. "They're just some greedy, low-class people. They only succeeded because of you, yet they always think they made it on their own." "Gabe, mind your words." The old man had a kind face. Looking at him, one would think he cared for all people. Judging from his simple lifestyle, he did not seem like someone who would do bad things at all. Even the cup he used was bought from the supermarket for just over ten dollars. "Go now. As I've always said, anyone can l
Aria's question made Orion freeze right away. The scholarship program was his secret lifeline. He simply couldn't figure out how she knew so many details about everything! "You've been setting me up in the stock market all this time. How did you also find out about the scholarship program?" Orion felt genuinely scared now—everyone had really underestimated Aria. When had she done all this research? She'd dug deeper than he ever imagined. The scariest part was that neither he nor that person had noticed anything. They all thought she was just helping the Carver family restore their former glory. Keeping the Chamber of Commerce out of the Carver family's hands was that person's strict order. That was why the Draycotts had climbed so quickly within the organization over the years. They all assumed Aria had come to Ludwiten to target the Chamber. But now... Orion looked up again. "The scholarship program is weird business. I only handled recruitment. I don't know where those peop
Orion said, "I don't know much, honestly." He looked at Aria with hesitation, as if he was afraid to name that person. He made a gesture instead. "That person is the lieutenant governor of Ludwiten, who has many achievements to his name. "If you're brave enough to investigate, I can tell you about the deals I handled. But I don't know about the rest." Aria raised an eyebrow. Her expression said everything—she had already kidnapped him, so did he seriously think she would be afraid to investigate this further? Orion took a deep breath. "I just handle the money. That person wants something bigger—he wants to make history, but he's been in poor health lately. He needs me to keep certain people in line, but I can't give you details since I really don't have proof." "Which people does he control? And how does he do it?" Aria asked casually. Orion glanced upward, his eyes slowly losing focus. "I have no idea which people." "Mr. Draycott, I thought you would have learned by now.
"Who the hell are you?" Orion shouted as he couldn't hold back anymore. He gripped the armrests hard, almost jumping out of his chair. But Aria barely glanced his way. "I brought you here, didn't I? Who do you think I am?""Y-You're..." Orion remembered a rumor from a business dinner about a Special Missions Unit that operated outside normal chains of command. They could investigate anyone without going through regular channels.Their authority even topped the Regular Missions Unit. Orion had laughed it off back then. Every group had to answer to someone higher up, so there couldn't be a unit with that kind of freedom. In Ludwiten, everyone answered to that one big shot. But now he realized such a thing actually existed!Orion's face turned ghostly pale. "Are you… a part of the Special Missions Unit?"Only that could explain everything! With all her digging and investigating, that person would have noticed what she had been doing. But Orion did not understand something. "