On the kingsize bed, Adrian's large hands tightly gripped the woman's waist, his thin-lipped mouth slowly moving toward her ear. His deep voice made it impossible to discern any emotion.

In a quiet voice, he asked, "Emily, isn't it time for you to get a divorce?"

Her's face changed, but only for a moment before returning to normal. She slowly extended her fair arms and wound them around Adrian's neck, "If I divorce, will you provide for me?"

Gently, Adrian's hand grazed the woman's neck, eyeing the conspicuous dark red mark on her otherwise exquisite and fair clavicle. The affectionate smile on his face suddenly turned vicious.

He had not touched her these past few days. That was not his doing.

"What are you thinking about? Hmm?" Adrian's slender fingers finally paused on the mark, rubbing lightly.

People who handle guns regularly tend to develop calluses. Emily found his touch uncomfortable, slightly sidestepping to avoid his contact.

Her evasive action apparently vexed Adrian, "How is it? He can touch you, but I can't?"

Emily was taken aback, she unconsciously looked down but could only see Adrian's large hands around her neck.

Adrian's deep eyes were fixed on her face, not missing the slightest change in her expression.

After a long silence, Adrian, who had laid on top of her, suddenly got up with a swift movement.

His slender fingers gently swept over the silk quilt, then busied themselves with the buttons on his shirt cuff, paying no further attention to Emily on the bed.

Emily could only stare at Adrian's lowered eyes, as if even his emotions were masked by his eyelashes, leaving a face devoid of expression behind.

What a good-looking man, even his indifferent demeanor was captivating.

Mocking herself, Emily chuckled. If he were not handsome, how could she have watched him for over ten years, and still not had enough?

Even though she couldn't clearly discern his expression, Emily knew—Adrian, he was mad.

Emily also knew that he was waiting for her explanation, yet she still chose to remain silent.

After a while, Adrian left, leaving behind only the harsh sound of a slamming door, no words, no second glance at her.

Emily rolled over and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She was scared just now, scared that he would recklessly carry on regardless. Luckily, she knew Adrian well enough.

Her fingers traced around her neck where Adrian had touched, seeming to still hold his residual warmth.

It wasn't that Emily didn't want to explain, it was that she had nothing plausible to explain.

Was she supposed to tell him that she had pinched her own neck to make a kiss mark, just to make sure he wouldn't touch her?

However, he had just said... divorce.

Emily scoffed at herself, could she really divorce?

If she could make her own decisions, then she would have never married Alex in the first place.

Or perhaps, he had forgotten who had driven her to desperation in the first place, leaving her with no choice but to choose Alex.

He could forget all about that, as long as she remembered, it was fine.

Emily stopped staring at the door in a daze, slowly got up and straightened her clothes.

This presidential suite at The milestone was booked by Adrian back when she was homeless. Here, Emily had spent some of the darkest months of her life.

But to her surprise, this place eventually turned into a private meeting spot for Adrian and her. To put it nicely, it might be called a rendezvous, but not so nicely, it could be seen as a place to satiate desires.

Warm bitterly smiled. When her father named her "Warm", he probably hoped that she'd live a warm, stable, and clean life, but reality was cruelly ironic.

She was neither warm, nor stable, nor clean.

In just a few months' time, she had experienced almost all the absurd and disgusting things in the world.

That day, she had just finished her graduation performance when she learned the shocking news from others—The Reynolds Group had gone bankrupt.

Just when it rains, it pours.

The news of the Reynolds Group's bankruptcy spread like wildfire, acting as the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Those who had been oppressed by the Reynolds family, or had coveted something from them, all joined the fray to trample on the Reynolds family.

Soon, Reynolds Henry was exposed for accepting bribes, and for tax evasion through issuing fraudulent receipts amounting to billions.

After the police intervention and investigation, in just a week, Reynolds Henry was sentenced to death, permanently deprived of his political rights, and had all his personal assets confiscated.

Although Warm was not a law major, she had a basic understanding of the law. If it wasn't for someone fanning the flames behind the scenes, how could someone be sentenced so quickly within a week of indictment?

Warm would never forget the day Reynolds Henry was executed. She knelt helplessly on the ground, desperately pleading with Adrian to save Reynolds Henry, to save the Reynolds family.

At that time, she couldn't find anyone else, her only brother was far away overseas and had practically vanished from the face of the earth since the Reynolds family was in trouble.

Her only hope was pinned on Adrian, Adrian she had loved for over a decade. But all she got in response was a tightly closed door and a sentence of icy mockery.

Adrian said, "Now that the Reynolds family is bankrupt, do you think you're still of any use to me?"

Never in her wildest imaginations did Warm think that, to Adrian, she was just a tool, a tool to connect him to the Reynolds family.

The affection she thought spanned over a decade was merely an act, disposable at any given time.

Yet it was true, leaving her no choice but to believe it.

She must have done something terrible in her past life, like harming her own family, to be trampled on like this in this life.

The abrupt vibration of the phone on the tea table jerked Emily back from her self-pity.

After taking a glance at her phone, her frown deepened.

It was a call from Alex's mother; to be exact, her own mother too.

However, deep down, Emily didn't really like her mother-in-law. The reason was simple: if someone didn't like you, wouldn't it be odd for you to like them?

Initially, upon finding out that Christen didn't like her, Emily still made an effort to win her over to improve the mother-daughter-in-law relationship.

She would accompany her shopping, playing cards, going to beauty salons, and giving her presents... Emily did everything she could think of.

But over time, Emily realized that no matter what she did, Christen would never be satisfied with her, because she simply didn't like her as her daughter-in-law.

Emily truly couldn't do something as foolish as paying back unkindness with kindness, thus from that day onward, she would avoid Christen as much as she could.

However, there were times when she simply couldn't avoid her, like now for instance.

Although she knew that the call couldn't possibly bring any good news, Emily still answered it, her brows furrowed.

"Mom, what can I do for you…"

"Get back to the old house now." Christen cut Emily off abruptly.

"Did something happen?"