Chapter 28

Neither of us slept that night. We sat there until dawn, and he finally laid everything out for me.

He said he’d long since let go of Duan Jiawen. After his father’s accident, it was like he’d already died once. When he later heard those heartless words from Duan Jiawen, he didn’t even feel pain-just utter despair.

After he got together with me, the name “Duan Jiawen” was something he deliberately erased from his mind. He didn’t even want to mention her.

Later, when they ran into each other by chance, he pretended not to know her…

What he told me matched exactly with what Zhang Man had dug up.

Everything changed on the night Duan Jiawen was beaten by her husband. Suhang had been working overtime when he suddenly got a call from a mutual friend. Only then did he realize that Duan Jiawen hadn’t been heartless at all-instead, she’d shouldered all kinds of humiliation because of him.

Ever since his father went to prison, he’d barely been able to keep himself afloat. That was the first time he stood in Duan Jiawen’s shoes and realized he’d dragged her down with him. He owed her far too much.

In that moment, guilt surged through him like a tide. He lost his reason for the first time in his life. All he wanted was to go to her, to see her, to comfort her. He didn’t think twice. He dropped his work and rushed to the address their friend had sent.

It was the tiny single-apartment she’d lived in before getting married. She was emotionally wrecked-first she refused to let him in, then she suddenly broke down, threw herself into his arms, and sobbed. She poured out how much she missed him, pounding on his chest. “How can you fall in love with someone else so fast, when I’m still here like an idiot, unable to let go?”

“I haven’t fallen in love with anyone else,” Suhang forced out. “She doesn’t love me either. We got married because both of us needed to move on.”

At some point, that so-called “tactful” friend slipped away. Only the two of them were left in the apartment.

Duan Jiawen accused him of being so cold that he’d ruined her and led to her current misery. Because she saw him rush into marriage, she’d finally given up on him and agreed to that scumbag’s pursuit, only to end up in this hell.

Then she suddenly kissed him. “If he can cheat, why can’t I?” Her breath was mixed with salty tears. “I love you. I’ve never stopped loving you. Let’s be together. I’ll get a divorce. Even if the whole world is against me, I’ll still be with you. I’m not afraid of anything anymore!”

For a moment, Suhang really did lose himself. Her body warmth, her perfume-they made his mind go blank. But he sobered almost immediately. This was just guilt and memories overwhelming him for a brief second.

The image of his father, ruined by an affair, was seared into his brain. He could not repeat that disaster and destroy his own future.

After that fleeting rush, he pushed her away. “No.”

Duan Jiawen was light as a feather. With that gentle shove, she toppled backward and fainted.

“Jiawen, what’s wrong with you?” He shook her, but as he did, the room started to spin around him. He didn’t know when he passed out himself.

Suhang jolted awake to find himself in bed, naked, with Duan Jiawen lying beside him just as bare. His blood turned to ice.

The door was kicked open with a bang. Xu Zhi charged in with three men, and the flashes from their phones went off in rapid succession.

“We’ve walked right into it!” Duan Jiawen snatched up a sheet and wrapped it around herself, her voice shaking. It had to be the drinks in the fridge. Xu Zhi must have drugged them ahead of time. He was the one who cheated first, and now he’d actually gotten the evidence of her “cheating” before she ever got his.

Enduring the pounding in his head, Suhang grabbed his clothes. “You drugged us. I’m calling the police.”

Xu Zhi waved his phone and sneered. “Go ahead, call.” He tapped a video open. On the screen was the recording of Suhang saying, “I haven’t fallen in love with anyone else,” followed by Duan Jiawen kissing him and declaring, “Even if the whole world is against me, I’ll still be with you.”

Xu Zhi said smugly, “I’ve still got this sweet little love confession between you two sluts right here. And you think anyone’s gonna believe you were drugged? The Li Corporation Group’s golden son-in-law, personally admitting he doesn’t love his wife and only married her to mooch off her family. Hahaha.”

Suhang deflated instantly. He didn’t dare mention the police again.

It was like being struck by lightning. Ever since his father went to prison, every rival had been waiting to catch him slipping. If that video went public-his father-in-law’s trust, his status in the company, his future, the public image he’d painstakingly built-everything would collapse. Worse, my face flashed in his mind, my eyes full of disappointment and heartbreak… He couldn’t bear to imagine it.

Xu Zhi ranted about posting the cheating video online and making sure Duan Jiawen was socially destroyed at work. He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up at him. “Didn’t your parents always act so high and mighty? I’ll let them see exactly what kind of trash they raised. Cheating with a married man-and the son of a corrupt official at that. I guarantee you’ll be trending across half the internet.”

Duan Jiawen dropped to her knees and begged, “I’ll walk away with nothing. You can have the apartment, the savings, everything. Just let me go.”

“Divorce?” Xu Zhi suddenly burst out laughing. “So you two can fly off into the sunset together?” He kicked the coffee table over with a crash. “You think I’m running a charity, you bitch?”

Duan Jiawen trembled all over, trying desperately to stay calm. “I can… I can live with you properly from now on. You cheated too. We’ll call it even.”

“Even? You got proof of that? Because I got proof of this.”

Duan Jiawen was struck speechless.

Xu Zhi turned to Suhang. “And how exactly is this even when this punk slept with my wife for free?”

“How much do you want?” Suhang asked.

“Think money can fix this?” Xu Zhi spat. “You damn freeloader, quit pretending you’re rich in front of me. You think I look like I’m short on cash? You gonna buy back my dignity with money?”

“What do you want then?”

“You’re Boss Li’s son-in-law, aren’t you?” Xu Zhi said, leering. “Why don’t you let me sleep with your wife? Then we’ll call it even. How about it? Just one little pill-no one will ever know…” His grin was filthy.

Suhang’s fists clenched so tight his knuckles cracked.

“What? Can’t bear the thought?” Xu Zhi slapped him lightly on the cheek. “How is that not fair?”

Suhang shoved his hand away in disgust and ground out, “I’ll agree to anything else. Not this.”

“If you don’t wanna, forget it. Just wait. You and your old man are both gonna be famous-you’ll even surpass him.” Xu Zhi smirked and flicked his sleeve as he walked out.