On our wedding anniversary, Liam left me to attend a welcome-home dinner for his ex-wife. A video from the event went viral that same day. Liam, always restrained and proper, gently embraced his ex-wife. Looking at the text message from an unknown number on my phone, it read: "Miss Chloe, there was never any love between you and him, but my daughter needs a father." I laughed. I, Chloe, the sole heir of the Hastings family. Whatever I want is easily within my grasp. I would never lower myself to play the clownish game of fighting another woman for a man. 1. At the welcome dinner, a photo of the two embracing was posted online by some busybody. Rumors of the Hayes family heir's failing marriage quickly climbed to the number one trending spot. Before I could even react, the hashtag that was just marked "hot" suddenly disappeared completely. The Hayes Group's official account quickly issued a statement. And sent a court summons to the most vocal instigator. The whole thing took less than ten minutes. After all, Liam wouldn't let anyone affect the alliance between the Hayes and Hastings families. Just as I turned off my phone, every large billboard in Capitol City lit up with my name. Proclaiming the dignity I deserved as Mrs. Hayes. But I stared blankly at the neon lights. In five years, this was the first time. The man who was always meticulous and kept everything in perfect order. Was absent on our anniversary. The next day, just as I was about to leave the house, I saw Liam's car pull into the driveway. Liam stepped out of the car, holding a small backpack that completely clashed with his aristocratic aura. In his other hand, he held a little girl's hand. He crouched sideways and pulled the little girl into his arms. His eyes held a softness I had never seen before. Behind him followed a woman in a white dress. I recognized her; she was Liam's ex-wife. He saw me standing by the car, froze for a moment, and then stopped. "Chloe, Lily has to go to school in Capitol City because of enrollment issues." The man looked down, seemingly trying to explain. Before I could speak, I was interrupted by the woman beside him. "Mrs. Hayes, I'm sorry, I'm a single mother raising a child alone, I really have no other choice." I stood in my heels, looking down at her from a higher vantage point. With a hint of sarcasm. "We are husband and wife talking, what right do you have to interrupt?" Liam frowned, but said nothing. Seeing the woman's face turn red, I finally turned sideways to look at the somewhat serious man. "Because of the photos from this morning, the joint ventures between the Hayes and Hastings families have already dropped 10 percent." I spoke with a cold face, which scared the little girl in the man's arms into crying. "Go away, this is my daddy!" Liam frowned, hurriedly patting Lily's back to comfort her. He looked at me, seemingly helpless. "Chloe, it was just a hug. I've already had someone handle the crisis with the joint ventures." His tone was helpless, but it made my chest tighten. Just like the past five years. He only protected my face as Mrs. Hayes. But he seemed to have forgotten, I needed love too. I once taught him how to make me happy. But now I realize. If this relationship still needs me to teach him how, then it's far too much of a failure. "Have them sent away before I get back tonight." Leaving Liam with that one sentence, I drove off to the company. After all, as the heir to the Hastings family, I didn't have much time to waste dealing with intruders. I worked until midnight before returning home. I firmly believed that Liam, knowing what was at stake, would have handled the two of them. But the moment I pushed the door open, that certainty came to a screeching halt. "Mrs. Hayes," Maya had changed into a rather sexy nightgown, "You're back. I'll have the butler prepare dinner for you." I narrowed my eyes. Is she treating herself as the lady of the house? I walked forward, a mocking smile on my face. I reached out and hooked my finger under her spaghetti strap, "You like wearing hand-me-downs?" Maya's face stiffened, clearly not expecting me to completely brush off her provocation. "Can you give him back to me? You don't love each other, but my child needs a father." I stopped on my way upstairs, turned, and raised an eyebrow. "Family heirs only need interests, not love," I said with a sneer. "Your perspective is far too narrow." My disdainful look severely wounded Maya's fragile ego, and her face turned pale. I curled my lips, ready to leave, but was stopped by the now emotionally unhinged woman. "You know he was with me yesterday, right? But do you know what we did?" She opened a photo on her phone, and an image of them in a hotel bed filled my vision. "Can Mrs. Hayes really tolerate this much?" I looked down and instantly recognized Liam's hand. The ring on that hand was the one I put on him myself. My fingers unconsciously clenched slightly. But on the surface, I was still the notoriously cold and glamorous Hastings heiress. "When you eat too much fine dining, sometimes you just crave some cheap fast food, don't you think?" Maya held her breath, her face flushing red from the humiliation. Back in my room, I looked at the already sleeping man. His usually meticulously styled hair was down. I unconsciously touched the ring on his hand. My fingertips traced his forehead, down the bridge of his prominent nose, finally resting on his thin lips. Liam, don't disappoint me. 2. When I woke up the next morning, the space beside me was cold. I opened the door, and the sound of laughter drifted up. It was something this usually quiet villa had never seen. I stood by the railing, looking down at the scene below. The man who hadn't stepped foot in the kitchen during our five years of marriage was frying eggs. The pure-looking woman and the cute child were playing on the sofa. I felt a bit mocked, and my eyes stung slightly. For a moment, I actually felt like I was the intruder. When I went downstairs, the harmonious atmosphere was instantly shattered. "Chloe," Liam, holding a plate, didn't look the least bit unnatural. "When are you sending them away?" It was the first time I had spoken to him in such a tone. Liam didn't answer. Instead, he placed Lily in her high chair, settled her in, and then looked up at me. With that restrained impatience I hated so much. "I said, she needs to go to school here." I felt a bit agitated. "Don't tell me that the great CEO Hayes can't even handle a school enrollment!" The more I spoke, the more I lost control. "Do you want to keep the child by your side, or the woman?" "Chloe!" The man interrupted me sternly. "Watch your words. Maya is Lily's mother, she's still so young, how can she be separated from her mother?" Seeing this, the little girl instantly threw a bowl of hot porridge at me, her voice tinged with tears. "I hate you, you're the bad auntie ruining Daddy and Mommy!" Feeling the burning heat on my leg, I winced in pain. My sharp gaze instantly shot towards her. "I'm sorry, Lily didn't mean it, she just missed her dad too much." Seeing this, Maya hurriedly blocked my line of sight. I suppressed the suffocating feeling in my chest. Only now did I realize, the three of them really looked like a family. And I was ridiculously standing in opposition to them. A moment of anger made me lose my reason, and I looked coldly at Maya. "Do you think the Hayes family would want a five-year-old idiot who still doesn't know basic manners..." "Chloe!" Liam's voice, cold as an iceberg, instantly extinguished my anger. He confronted me without a trace of emotion, carrying a chill I had never seen before. "Lily is my, Liam's, daughter. As my wife, you must accept her existence. Also, you lost your composure today." With that, he picked up the teary-eyed little girl, turned, and left. Maya, behind him, naturally took the man's briefcase. She looked back, a look of triumph on her face. The noisy villa instantly returned to silence. A wave of bitterness rose in my heart. In Liam's mind, I was the perfect Hastings heir and the dignified, proper wife. So I couldn't have my own emotions. And I certainly couldn't lose my composure... Listening to the roar of the car engine fade away, my straight back finally slumped as if losing its strength. Liam, you disappointed me after all. Five years ago, during the financial crisis, The Hayes and Hastings families, as the leading forces in Capitol City, proposed an arranged marriage to counter foreign capital. As the only daughter of the Hastings family, I chose the recently divorced Liam. I knew he had an ex-wife and a daughter. But back then I thought, who doesn't have a past? Who doesn't have someone they miss? After we married, Liam was an almost perfect man. But when an exception actually appeared beside such a disciplined and proper man, I finally realized I couldn't be as calm as I thought. ... The next day, it was Old Mr. Hayes's birthday banquet. As Liam's wife, I had to attend. That evening, the man appeared precisely at the villa entrance. After getting in the car, it felt like there was an impassable chasm between us. After a long while, perhaps conceding, Liam sighed, closed the partition, and sat next to me. "Chloe," he broke the silence, "You are the only Mrs. Hayes." Feeling the warmth of his palm, I spaced out for a moment. I knew this was his way of making peace. The colorful city lights outside reflected on the man's chiseled features. Right now, his deep eyes reflected only me. After getting out of the car, Liam held my hand the entire way. It left me in a bit of a daze. But this daze was quickly shattered. "Liam," Maya, wearing a qipao, greeted the coming and going guests as if she were the lady of the house. Saying that, she naturally took the birthday gift from his hand, and only then spoke timidly, as if feigning surprise, "Ch... Mrs. Hayes." I frowned, not losing my composure amidst the crowd. I just calmly looked at Liam, my eyes filled with questioning. "She's Lily's mother, and it's Grandpa's big birthday, he also wanted to see his great-granddaughter." Liam's gaze was candid as he spoke. The flower in my heart that had just regained a bit of life, Slowly withered again. "She appears openly at the Hayes family home, where does that leave me?" Liam seemed stunned as he looked at me. I let go of his hand, the warmth in my palm gradually replaced by a chill. A perfect heir like Liam, who survived the cutthroat battles of a wealthy family, How could he not understand Maya's intentions? He just didn't intervene. He was just indulging her. Seeing the curious stares of the surrounding guests, I tucked away the bitterness on my face. And became that perfect arranged marriage partner. Amidst the flashing lights, I felt my thoughts were a chaotic, tangled mess. Unknowingly, I found myself on the corridor of the Hayes family's back garden to sober up. This was also where Liam and I first met. Our lingering affection began in late autumn, and we got together in the summer. Yet now, in the deep of winter, we were drifting apart. "Can the eldest Miss Hastings really tolerate being provoked right to her face?" A deep, magnetic, teasing voice came from behind. I looked sideways. It was Julian Thorne, the current head of the Thorne family. "This isn't like you." He said as he draped his pine-scented coat over my shoulders, dispelling the chill. "Just say the word, and I can make her disappear." I didn't think there was anything wrong with that. After all, if you weren't ruthless, You would have long ago become a victim of family struggles. "No need, she can't stir up any real trouble." Julian suddenly stepped closer to me, his cold aura enveloping me layer by layer. "Then why are you drowning your sorrows here?" He placed his hands on my shoulders. "When you got married back then, I couldn't resolve the obstacles within the Thorne family in time. But now, could you consider me?" Julian had always played the fool around me. Seeing him so serious now, I suddenly realized that the man in front of me had long shed his childhood immaturity. "Liam and I aren't divorced yet, you know?" Julian looked unfazed. "I can be the other man for love, I'd be more than happy to." I laughed and punched his shoulder lightly, just about to speak. But was forcefully pulled into another embrace. Liam's face was dark, looking at Julian with hostility. Two top-tier men confronting each other caused the temperature around them to drop significantly. "Let's go home." After a long moment, Liam was the first to speak. In the car, the man closed the partition. To my surprise, he leaned in and kissed me. Unlike his usual gentle kisses, The intensity contained in this one made me frown. After a while, Liam pulled away from me, panting, his deep eyes carrying an emotion I had never seen before. "Chloe, stay away from him." 3. The pain on my lips made me push him away. But I also felt somewhat indignant. I had merely exchanged two sentences with Julian. He brought Maya right into the house; what right did he have to make demands of me? "Why should I?" My tone was somewhat cold. Hearing this, Liam looked up, his deep eyes like a whirlpool, holding me fast. "Because you are my woman." I frowned, "I'm not, Maya is." Liam laughed at that, his usually cold face softening. "Mrs. Hayes, you're jealous." I pushed him away, harboring a childish unreasonableness even I despised. "Send them away." The atmosphere instantly froze. Liam put away his smile, as if the tenderness from a moment ago was just my illusion. "Chloe," he loosened his tie, sighing with extreme exasperation. "She won't threaten you." "Besides, Lily is my daughter, I can't just abandon her." I looked out the window at the retreating street scene. Only then did I notice a light drizzle had started, blurring my vision. "I've never stopped you from taking care of Lily." Liam looked at me like he was looking at an unreasonable child. "Maya raised the child alone abroad; I owe her for these past five years." An unspeakable bitterness suddenly swelled in my chest. "So you're telling me I have to accept her revolving around my life, is that it?" Liam looked down and turned my body towards him. His palms gently covered my slightly red eyes. "I hope you can understand me. No matter what they do, my wife will always only be you." Listening to his evasive, defensive words, I suddenly felt everything was very meaningless. Including the moments I had genuinely invested in, they all felt hollow. In this grand expectation, he disappointed me after all. Just then, my phone rang. It was an unknown number. "Miss Chloe, Liam and I didn't think things through today, I'm sorry." Attached was a photo of a man holding Lily under the moonlight, with her standing beside them laughing. I narrowed my eyes. Waves of tightness hit my chest. The tactic was low, but very effective. I threw the phone to Liam, my tone cold. "It looks like I'm the third wheel between you two, isn't it?" The man froze, glanced down, but still instinctively defended her. "She just thought you might be uncomfortable and wanted to apologize." I laughed out of sheer anger, my sarcasm fueled by rage. "Liam, are you playing dumb or do you really not get it? Are you only going to admit it when I catch you in bed?!" "Chloe," Liam said in a low voice, a warning in his tone, "watch your phrasing. There is no line-crossing between Maya and me." I sneered, with a choke in my voice that only I could hear. "No line-crossing?" "It's only crossing the line if you're naked, right?" The car went completely silent, and the look in Liam's eyes beside me held an icy chill I had never seen before. "Chloe, you are Mrs. Hayes, you can't be this intolerant!" I didn't know how to describe what I felt at that moment. Except that the flowers that had once bloomed for him in my heart. Turned into a barren wasteland. I suppressed the bitterness in my heart, my eyes red. "I'm intolerant? Hah..." "If I were, I would have kicked them out on the first night! Would she have the chance to flaunt your bed photos in my face?" "If I were, when the photos on your social media went viral and hit the trending searches, the Hastings family would have dealt with her already!" My sudden outburst of emotion. All stemmed from the grievance of not being understood. This kind of thing is like the thorns on a rose. It pierces my heart, yet outsiders only see the beauty. Liam seemed a bit dazed, turning to look at my bloodshot eyes. "I..." I turned my head and rolled down the window. Letting the light drizzle hit my face to cover my pathetic tears. "Do you know why my name is Chloe?" I said, more to myself than to him. "Because my parents said I was the only one they cared about, unique and unmatched." I took a deep breath, restoring the pride of the Hastings heiress. "So, if to you, I am just an expendable part of a cost-benefit analysis, then we are done here." Hearing this, a panic he himself found surprising gripped Liam's heart. 4. After getting out of the car, Liam held my hand. As soon as we stepped into the villa, Maya, holding a crying Lily, looked at the man with vulnerability. "Liam, Lily is fussing to see you, I..." But this time, Liam didn't take the child; instead, he had the nanny take her back to her room. Under Maya's surprised and confused gaze, He threw the phone at her. "Apologize." The man's sudden anger left Maya at a loss. She looked down at it, her eyes flashing slightly with jealousy. Liam looked at her cold face, losing his patience. "Chloe is my wife, don't send these misleading things." Perhaps it was her first time seeing Liam so stern and fierce; Maya's eyes instantly welled up. Weeping, yet carrying an unwilling grievance. "I'm sorry, Miss Chloe. It was my poor choice of words, please forgive me." I looked up at her, my eyes filled with nothing but coldness. I walked forward and lifted the woman's chin with one hand, a look of contempt on my face. "Miss Chloe? If you can't bring yourself to say 'Mrs. Hayes', I don't mind having someone pry your mouth open." With that, I looked down on her. "Put away your little tricks in front of me, otherwise I'll let you know how many people who don't know their place are locked up in the Hastings family's secret rooms." Maya, whom I pushed away, turned deathly pale, swaying unsteadily. Seeing this, Liam frowned and appropriately intervened. "Alright, as long as you know you're wrong. I'll buy a separate apartment for you and Lily. Don't come here or to the old mansion anymore." Saying that, he stood up, intentionally or unintentionally blocking my sharp gaze, protecting Maya behind him. Maya looked at him in disbelief. Tears spilled from her eyes, but she still took Lily and left the villa. But I didn't expect that the next night, Maya would kneel before me, tears streaming down her face, crying hysterically. Next to her stood Liam, whose face was equally grim. "Mrs. Hayes, I was wrong. I shouldn't have appeared and disturbed your life. But Lily is innocent, she's just a child. I beg you to let her go, please!" I frowned, my face filled with endless coldness. "Watch your mouth! Who the hell do you think you are to throw dirty accusations at me!" Liam, who had been silent, stepped forward, a gloominess I had never seen before clinging to him. "The phone number the kidnappers used has been traced back to the son of your Hastings family's butler!" The man closed his eyes, desperately suppressing his anger. "Chloe, the child is innocent. Hand her over to me, and I can let bygones be bygones." I looked at him in disbelief. "You think I'm that kind of person?" Perhaps my gaze was too sorrowful. Liam looked away. "I have no choice but to believe it." In that instant, I only felt that these five years of marriage were nothing but a joke. It took five years to realize that some people, some things, should never have appeared in my life. I suppressed all my emotions and looked at him. "Liam, in the end, you still disappointed me." Having said that, amidst the man's puzzled gaze, I spoke again, with only indifference. "If I, Chloe, want to deal with someone, I wouldn't be stupid enough to use a domestic servant." Then I walked up to the swaying Maya. "Even a vicious tiger wouldn't eat its cubs; you're ruthless." I turned to look at the two standing side-by-side, full of mockery. After leaving, I called my special assistant. "Prepare a divorce agreement for me and Liam. Also," I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, only coldness remained. "Withdraw all domestic investments the Hastings Group has made in the Hayes Group, divest from the overseas joint ventures, and contact the Thorne family. I want the Hayes Group's stock to hit its lower limit within three days." Hanging up the phone, the rain outside the car window had stopped. "Liam, I will make you understand the meaning of regret."
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