Vivian Lynch’s smile froze on her face.

There was a real, gaping wound in her chest—a gruesome, jagged mess that looked like it had been caused by multiple stabs.

Blood was pouring out of it nonstop. The wound had already been torn open, but thanks to Vivian Lynch’s frantic actions, all the stitches had burst, leaving a bloody, raw mess.

Mia Kane’s face turned impossibly pale.

"It’s not real. How could it be real? Why would you joke around with your own life?"

She poked hard at the wound. It was sticky.

"There must be a blood pack hidden somewhere. This is just special effects makeup, right?"

Vivian Lynch was getting frantic.

’How could this wound look so flawless, so identical to a real one?’

’How is this possible? It’s impossible!’

Mia Kane couldn’t hold on any longer. The wound was agonizingly painful.

To trap Vivian Lynch in a dead end, she had decided that a fake-out wouldn’t be enough. She had to go for the real thing.

Adrian Preston had been the one to stab her. He was familiar with human anatomy and knew exactly how deep to go to make it look incredibly dangerous without being fatal.

With trembling hands and red-rimmed eyes, he had slowly pushed the knife into her chest.

She had been given an anesthetic, so she couldn’t feel the pain. But watching his pale face, sweat beading on his forehead, it was as if all her pain had been transferred to him.

His hand was steady, not shaking in the slightest.

But after it was over, his entire body couldn’t stop shaking.

When the anesthetic wore off and the pain hit, she fainted immediately.

She had paid a huge price to ensnare Vivian Lynch.

This was a trick she was all too familiar with; Vivian Lynch had used a suicide attempt by slitting her wrists to trap her before.

Mia Kane swayed, and Chase Lockwood rushed forward, catching her securely.

"Mia? Mia, are you okay?"

Mia Kane wanted to say something, but she had no strength left. Her vision went black, and she fainted completely.

Without a second thought, Chase Lockwood quickly took off his jacket, draped it over her, and carried her out in large strides.

"Chase... Chase, you can’t go..."

Vivian Lynch came to her senses and scrambled to grab Chase Lockwood’s sleeve, but he mercilessly flung her away.

He used so much force that Vivian Lynch lost her balance and fell to the ground.

"Ow..."

She felt like her bones were about to fall apart. Tears instantly welled up.

"Chase, believe me, I was framed! She’ll stop at nothing to harm me, she even hurt herself to do it! Chase, you can’t believe her, this is all her scheme."

"Who would joke around with their own life? If this isn’t real, then tell me what is! When you tried to kill yourself by slitting your wrists, didn’t you say she drove you to it? If you’re saying she set you up, then doesn’t that mean you set her up back then?"

"Vivian Lynch, what kind of person are you really? Do you have the guts to be honest with me? I can accept the real you, but I can’t accept you constantly lying to me and using me!"

"Vivian Lynch, I wanted to build a good life with you, but if you don’t want this life, then we don’t have to have it!"

Chase Lockwood roared, utterly disappointed.

He really had wanted to protect her.

But a person like this wasn’t worthy of his protection.

He turned to leave, but Vivian Lynch grabbed his trouser leg.

"’Don’t have to have it’... What does ’don’t have to have it’ mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like."

This time, he didn’t look back. He shook off Vivian Lynch’s hand and strode away.

Chase Lockwood rushed Mia to the hospital.

Mia Kane’s wound needed to be stitched up again, so she was taken back into the operating room.

In the meantime, Adrian Preston hurried over. Seeing Chase, his face turned livid, and his fists clenched silently, as if he might throw a punch at any moment.

"Get the hell out!"

Chase Lockwood didn’t dare show any anger.

Adrian knew full well that he was the one behind Mia’s injury, that it had nothing to do with Vivian Lynch.

But if those two hadn’t gone so overboard, why would Mia be filled with so much hate that she’d be willing to hurt herself?

She was the one who took the knife, yet she was the one comforting him, saying that as long as she could see Vivian Lynch suffer, this little bit of pain was nothing.

Her great revenge was being served; he should be happy for her.

’But is it really worth getting hurt like this for those two pieces of scum?’

"I want... I want to wait until she comes out, to make sure she’s okay before I leave. Is that alright?"

"What right do you have to care about her? You’re responsible for what she’s become."

"I know. This time, I won’t let Vivian Lynch off the hook."

"Am I talking about ’this time’?" Adrian Preston strode closer, and Chase Lockwood actually took a few guilty steps back. "I’m talking about what you’ve done all these years! You made her lose her confidence, made her afraid to love. You made her insecure about relationships, afraid to invest too much for fear of ending up with nothing. You made her afraid to ever take a gamble on love again! You’re the one who did the evil, but I’m the one who has to bear the consequences."

"She smoothed out all her edges for you, lost herself, and made her world revolve around you. She sacrificed so much for you, how dare you betray her? She wasn’t afraid of the ups and downs of a relationship; you could have broken up with her for any reason, but you had to cheat on her! You were cheating on her for the entire three years you were together!"

"She was never a substitute for anyone. She is her own person, yet you treated her as Vivian Lynch’s replacement for so long. You belittled her unique charm, you made her live in Hell! Chase Lockwood, you deserve to die!"

"You don’t deserve her at all. You only deserve to be with trash like Vivian Lynch. In my eyes, you’re not even a man!"

Adrian Preston unloaded on him. He hadn’t wanted to say a word, but the thought of all the wrongs Mia Kane had suffered made him feel murderous.

’The devotion I didn’t even dare hope for was wasted on Chase Lockwood for three years.’

’I wouldn’t even dare ask Mia to love me like that. If I had even one percent, one-thousandth of that love, I would have treated it like a priceless treasure and returned it a hundredfold.’

’But this animal, Chase Lockwood!’

Chase Lockwood had heard too many heart-piercing words today, but he couldn’t bring himself to arrogantly refute them. No matter how shameless he might be, he knew he had been wrong, again and again, unforgivably wrong.

Too ashamed to stay any longer, Chase Lockwood left with his head hanging, dejected. Every step felt incredibly heavy.

"Disinfect this area again. It’s tainted. Don’t let it affect Mia’s surgery."

Adrian Preston ordered coldly.

An hour later, Mia Kane was wheeled out, still unconscious and attached to an IV drip.

"The patient fainted from exhaustion. It’s not serious, she just needs to rest well. The wound can’t be allowed to tear open again, or the scar will be very ugly."

Adrian Preston nodded repeatedly, treating the doctor’s words as if they were an imperial edict.

He stayed by Mia Kane’s side without leaving for a moment, tenderly stroking her face.

’This move was played perfectly, even better than we expected.’

’It was just too hard on Mia.’

"Mia, I will get you justice!"

Adrian Preston directly leaked the "news" of Vivian Lynch hiring a hitman to the Lynch Family.

Even though it was a frame-up, he didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt. After all, Vivian Lynch had done plenty of similar things, and now it was her turn to taste the backlash.

What goes around comes around. She was getting what she deserved.

When his grandmother, uncle, and aunt found out, they couldn’t hold back any longer. They all went to Chase Lockwood to demand that he divorce her.

With a daughter-in-law like that in the Lockwood Family, even the ancestors wouldn’t be able to rest in peace.

The three of them rushed to the Lockwood home, but Chase Lockwood had locked himself in the study and refused to come out to see his guests.

"What on earth is he doing? His uncle, aunt, and grandmother are here, and he shuts the door on us? Does he have any manners..."

Before his aunt could finish, his uncle shot her a look, signaling her to shut up.

The aunt glanced at the grandmother’s expression. Although she couldn’t read anything from it, she knew she had spoken out of turn.

The three of them waited patiently until they finally saw Chase Lockwood appear.

"Chase, we already know about Vivian Lynch trying to hire a killer. We can’t keep this menace around any longer. Look at what she’s done to this perfectly good family..."

"You don’t have to persuade me."

"Are you still going to stay with Vivian Lynch? Can you face your dead parents?"

His uncle grew anxious.

He was about to lecture him further but was stopped by the grandmother.

The grandmother noticed a document clutched in his hand.

"What’s this?"

"Divorce papers. You don’t have to persuade me. I’ve already decided to divorce Vivian Lynch."