No sooner had Scarface finished speaking than he squatted down and yanked Vivian Belle up by the collar, snarling, "Where's the money? Thirteen million—or more, by now."

"Ha! Go ask A-Ye for it, ask him! He’s here to fetch me, isn’t he? Do you have any idea how much the Fu family’s worth? You’ll never see money like that in your entire lives."

Vivian Belle’s eyes was wide and wild. She glanced at the men clustered around Scarface and let out a crazed laugh. "Cecilia Ye—her position should've been mine, don’t you get it? Do you?!"

Fu Zhiyan’s gaze turned cold, a bitter laugh crossing his lips. His voice was like ice. "You’re not even worthy to say Cecilia’s name."

"Why not? Why can’t I say it? Hah!" Vivian Belle raised her head to glare back at him, obviously dissatisfied with his frosty tone. "Who does Cecilia Ye think she is? Just some stray picked up off the street—why should she get to take my place!"

Fu Zhiyan hadn’t intended to do much—just to get a look at Vivian Belle now, let off some steam. But her words stabbed right into his heart.

His jaw clenched so hard his teeth cut into his tongue. Suddenly, Fu Zhiyan sprang to his feet and kicked over a chair. The chair grazed Scarface and crashed into the white wall with a thunderous bang.

Scarface, still crouched, jumped back in alarm and cursed. "Damn—give me some space!" Seeing Fu Zhiyan’s dark, stormy face, his words faltered and he quickly switched tracks.

"Send her to your club then. Let her earn her keep there—for the rest of her life!"

Each word landed like a blow, venom streaming off Fu Zhiyan’s tongue.

Scarface knew all too well what kind of 'club' Fu Zhiyan was referring to—a place meant for others’ amusement, and nothing good.

Lying on the floor, the woman looked at Fu Zhiyan. Maybe, finally, she understood it had all been in her head; Fu Zhiyan knew the truth, and the only reason she was kept alive was so Cecilia Ye could vent her anger.

So much scheming, year after year. When she was younger, she ran rampant at school—bold enough to provoke anyone, always trying to one-up prettier girls and shamelessly chasing after the rich, well-connected boys.

Later, her bastard father racked up huge debts, and thugs came knocking day and night—if they weren’t beating people up, they were smashing things. Her father eventually took off, scared out of his wits.

But then, by sheer luck, Fu Zhiyan entered the picture. She overheard doctors discussing his identity during a hospital visit and decided to pin everything on him—make him responsible for her.

At the time, Fu Zhiyan was badly injured in the hospital, and his grandfather was entirely focused on his grandson. The people who came for her were eventually jailed, and everyone forgot about her. Nobody realized those people had targeted her from the start.

If not for Cecilia Ye, she would’ve made it into the Fu family long ago. She simply couldn’t stand that Fu Zhiyan cared so much about that girl, all for a nobody. Now, he wanted to send her off to serve others.

That Theodore Zane was a useless idiot—she’d been counting on him to finish off Cecilia Ye for good.

Vicious thoughts twisted in Vivian Belle’s heart as she stared almost fanatically at Fu Zhiyan, laughing madly as she struggled shakily to her feet. She approached the cold-eyed man, her gaze turning coy.

Her voice dripped with her old sickly sweetness as she purred, "A-Ye, hah, why are you so angry~"

She wobbled, reaching to steady herself on Fu Zhiyan’s arm.

He jerked his arm out of her grasp. Vivian Belle sneered.

"What, Cecilia Ye won’t forgive you? Tsk. You really are a fool. Do you actually believe it’s always me picking on Cecilia Ye, and that you’d just love to chop me to pieces?"

Scarface and his crew had already slunk to the door, trying to make themselves as inconspicuous as possible, terrified that a single wrong step would draw Fu Zhiyan’s wrath onto them.

Fu Zhiyan looked down at Vivian Belle. Thinking of how she’d hurt Cecilia again and again, all he wanted was to tear her apart—or beat himself to death for letting things get this far.

Vivian Belle, unfazed by his fury, simply grinned in triumph.

"You really are too easy, you know that? Every single time—it was me behind it, but you always took my side, never once believed Cecilia Ye. Tell me, she likes you that much, but after everything you’ve done to her, do you think her heart hurts?"

He clamped a powerful hand around Vivian Belle’s chin, leaving a red mark at once. His face was a mask of fury.

"Cough… You want to know why I kept doing it? Because you gave me the confidence! You always went along with whatever I said—like you were telling me, 'Go ahead and bully Cecilia Ye, bully her however you want.' Without your support, would I have dared?"

Her words trailed off into manic, rising laughter, her expression wild and defiant.

"You deserve it—you all deserve it! Cecilia Ye’s just a stupid pushover, it’s almost too easy to hurt her…"

His grip shifted harshly from her chin to her throat, fingers squeezing tight. Fu Zhiyan couldn’t stand hearing Cecilia’s name from her mouth one more time.

Every word from Vivian Belle was a knife, slicing open the wounds on his heart.

Yes, it was all his fault. Every time he looked away, indulging Vivian Belle, it only made her more reckless. He couldn’t bear to think—every time Cecilia was forced to apologize to Vivian Belle while he watched and said nothing, all the grief she must have felt. How every time he left with Vivian Belle, abandoning Cecilia where she stood, he broke her a little more.

He was going mad. If Cecilia never forgave him, how was he supposed to go on?

"Cough… cough…"

Vivian Belle struggled to breathe; burning pain seared her neck. She clawed desperately at Fu Zhiyan’s arm, her nails digging deep into the fabric of his sleeve.

Fu Zhiyan seemed oblivious—he just wanted her to finally shut up.

Scarface and the others looked on, clicking their tongues. They thought they were hardened gangsters, but this rich man when enraged—he was even scarier.

Vivian Belle thought she was going to die right there. Finally, just as everything started to fade, the hand suddenly released her, hurling her across the room. She crashed into the sofa and slumped over its back, hacking and coughing violently.

Air flooded painfully back into her lungs; tears and snot streaked her face as she coughed and gasped, her ragged breaths echoing through the room.

Fu Zhiyan looked at her with pure contempt. Before leaving, his icy gaze flicked to Scarface. "You know what to do?"

"Yeah, yeah—got it, President Foster. Take care."

Scarface forced a fawning smile. Once Fu Zhiyan was gone, he waved for his men to haul Vivian Belle off to the club.

Serves her right, he thought. That woman really knew how to make trouble.

Fu Zhiyan went downstairs, the cold wind biting through his coat. He slammed a foot into the car door, setting off a shrill alarm, then yanked it open and got inside.

He was losing control. Work, life—nothing else had ever made him suffer like this, had ever left him so helpless.

His phone rang. Fu Zhiyan answered.

"President Foster, we have some news."

**

(Author’s note: I suspect Fu Zhiyan went over there just to get cursed out, but I have no proof.)