Chapter 2

Marc didn't ask how I had fared over the past five years, why I was released from jail early, or why I looked so disheveled.

He just asked me sternly and coldly, "What are you planning to do to Leanna now that you're out early?"

He had already assumed that I was there for revenge.

Leanna appeared with a pitiful expression behind him. She trembled slightly and perfectly showed her fear. "Marc, I'm scared. Her eyes are terrifying."

What an act!

The guests around us began to point and whisper about me.

"Is she Valerie? I heard she went to prison for corporate fraud. What a disgrace to the Wheeler family."

"Look at her. She was like getting out of hell. How unlucky we are to see her here!"

Before I could speak, a figure rushed out and stood in front of Marc and Leanna.

It was Ian.

He spread his arms wide and protected Leanna as if she were a precious jewel. He looked at me with a mix of anger and disgust.

"You're not allowed to hurt my sister," he said to me.

Then he turned back and said to Leanna with a tone full of dependence, "Don't be afraid, Leanna. I'll protect you."

So he saw Leanna as his sister.

My heart felt as though it had been pierced, and the pain was so intense that I could hardly breathe.

Moreover, I saw him taking out a small, worn music box from his pocket. He grabbed it tightly.

Before I went to jail, I had scrimped and saved for half a month and searched the entire city to find that music box for him.

He said that he liked it and that only its music helped him sleep peacefully.

At that moment, he used the cherished music box to protect my enemy.

It was the cruel irony.

I remembered when he was a little boy, I held him and promised him over and over in his ear. "Ian, don't be afraid. I will always protect you."

Those words echoed in my ears, but he had changed.

Faced with the siege of that "happy family" and the crowd's accusations, I didn't lose control like in my previous life.

My voice was not loud but clear enough to reach every corner of the hall. I said, "Marc Wheeler. I'm here to demand an emergency shareholders' meeting to settle my assets when we were in our marriage."

Silence fell over the hall.

Everyone looked at me as if I were mad.

Marc was stunned, and disbelief was written all over his face.

"Nonsense!" A commanding female voice rang out. It was Marc's mother, Emily Wheeler.

She walked over quickly and glared at me with disgust and contempt. "Valerie, do you know what you're talking about? Do you even know what day it is? You've brought nothing but disgrace to the Wheeler family."

She stepped out hurriedly and tried to use the Wheeler family's reputation and the past connection to press me and control the situation. "You've been in jail for five years. Marc has been heartbroken for you all this time. Now that you're finally out, stop throwing tantrums."

Was I throwing tantrums?

I laughed until tears almost came.

I remembered how they had dismissed my struggles as mere tantrums in my past life, when I was driven to the edge.

At that moment, I became even firmer.

I looked at Marc and declared publicly, word by word, "I, Valerie, am here today to talk about only money, not about love."