After a long moment of silence, she finally spoke.
"Calin… I'm your mother. You can't fool me. I know how deeply you once cared for Shin Keir and-"
"Enough!"
Calin's expression darkened instantly.
She glared at her mother, irritation flashing across her face.
"What are you trying to do? Pity me?" she snapped. "Do you think I'm some pathetic woman who can't move on?"
Madam Ricci shook her head, but the frustration in her eyes was impossible to hide.
"You—"
"Just stop talking," Calin interrupted coldly. "And don't you dare go around blabbering about this to anyone. I know exactly what I'm doing, do you really have to be so nosy?"
Madam Ricci's expression tightened.
She let out a quiet, bitter laugh and muttered under her breath, her voice tinged with hurt.
"I'm your mother. I only want what's best for you… yet somehow, whatever I do is always wrong in your eyes."
Calin didn't respond.
The room fell into an uncomfortable silence.
Then a knock sounded on the door.
"Young Miss, Young Master Gate is here to see you." A maid stepped in respectfully.
Calin's eyes instantly lit up.
Madam Ricci also looked surprised. The two of them headed toward the living room together.
But the moment Madam Ricci saw Bryce standing there, her eyes widened in shock.
Bryce looked… terrible.
His hair was slightly disheveled, the corner of his lip was faintly bruised, and there were subtle marks along his jaw and neck that no amount of composure could hide.
He looked like someone who had just been beaten by a group of people.
"Madam Ricci," he greeted politely with a slight nod.
He offered no explanation for his appearance.
Instead, his gaze shifted to Calin.
"Can we talk? Just the two of us."
Calin blinked in surprise but nodded quickly. "Of course."
She led him toward one of the quieter lounge rooms in the mansion.
Once the door closed behind them, Calin finally turned to look at him properly. To be honest, she had not expected him to look this bad.
It seemed that the night Shin Keir had gone to see him… Bryce had truly suffered quite a beating.
Another part of her couldn't help feeling uneasy. After all, she was Bryce's fiancée.
But what if… he could not even hold a candle against Shin Keir?
Before she could say anything, Bryce spoke.
"Find a way to make Shin Keir lose face."
His tone was direct, not even a hint of sugarcoating.
Calin blinked in shock. "Why… me?"
Bryce stared at her intently, his gaze sharp.
"Do you even understand the situation right now? The internet is in chaos. Rumors about Shin Keir and Yeri Zhi are everywhere. This is the perfect opportunity to destroy his reputation. And yet you've done nothing."
His eyes narrowed slightly. "Or do you still hope to replace Yeri Zhi?"
Calin stiffened. "I don't," she denied immediately.
She could tell Bryce was clearly in a terrible mood.
But just because he had lost to Shin Keir… did that mean he had to rely on her, a woman, to deal with it?
The thought left a sour taste in her mouth.
"I already have a plan." She forced a calm expression.
Bryce studied her face for a moment. Then, seeing that she's being useful, his expression softened slightly.
He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her in a brief hug.
"Good girl."
But as his injured body pressed against hers, Calin felt annoyed, not appeased in the slightest.
---
That afternoon, Venice was scheduled to be discharged from the hospital so after lunch, she had taken a short nap.
But the moment she opened her eyes, she was startled with someone sitting in the room.
A figure dressed entirely in black.
Venice's mind went blank, shrieking instinctively.
"Aaah—!"
She scrambled backward toward the headboard of the bed, her back slammed against it with a dull thud as she tried to retreat further.
The sudden movement made her dizzy but the person did not move.
After a few seconds of tense silence, Venice slowly turned her head.
A woman was sitting calmly on the chair beside her bed, flipping through a magazine as if she were simply waiting for a late appointment.
Recognition slowly dawned on Venice.
The woman wore a wide-brimmed veiled hat that covered half of her face. A fitted black dress hugged her slender figure, and a pair of knee-high leather boots completed the severe look.
"What… what are you doing here?"
The question left her mouth before she could stop it.
But almost immediately, she realized she asked the wrong question. She was supposed to only met Serenity at the engagement banquet.
Technically, she shouldn't have recognised Serenity with the latter's face half covered.
However, Serenity did not answer the question nor did she ask how Venice recognise her.
"Do you know why Hadi doesn't have any children?"
Venice blinked, caught completely off guard.
"What?" Her voice trembled slightly. "How should I know? And why are you asking me something like that? It has nothing to do with me."
Serenity finally closed the magazine.
"Because he doesn't deserve them."
Venice felt a chill crawl up her spine.
The Serenity she had met at the banquet felt different from today.
A terrifying thought suddenly struck Venice.
Could it be Serenity know about her relationship with Hadi?
Or worse… Did Serenity know that she was carrying Hadi's child?
As Venice's thoughts spiraled, Serenity suddenly spoke again.
"Do you want an apple?"
Before Venice could respond, Serenity casually tossed an apple toward her.
Venice instinctively reached out and caught it, her eyes moved between the apple in her hand and Serenity, who was staring at her intently through the veil.
It was impossible to read her expression.
Venice swallowed nervously. Trying to steady herself, she lifted the apple toward her mouth.
Just as she was about to take a bite-
Thunk.
A knife shot through the air and embedded itself directly into the apple.
"Kyaaaaaaah!"
Venice screamed in terror and flung the apple away as if it had burned her.
"How jumpy," she said in an amused tone. "I only wanted you to peel it before eating."
Venice " ..."
Somehow, her nerves had been stretched to the limit and fear quickly transformed into anger.
"What do you want from me?!" she shouted, her voice trembling. "What exactly are you doing here?!"
Serenity simply stood up, without another word, she walked toward the door.
Just as she reached it, she paused, turning her head slightly and she spoke calmly.
"A word of advice. Confidence in an unfaithful man in times of trouble is like a broken tooth… and a foot out of joint."
Gritting her teeth, Venice shouted toward the door.
"You're talking nonsense!"
She scrambled out of the bed and rushed after Serenity but the IV line tugged sharply at her arm.
"Ah—!"
She was forced to stop as the drip stand clattered loudly beside her.
By the time she steadied herself and looked toward the hallway again, Serenity was already gone.
Venice's chest rose and fell rapidly, she grabbed her phone from the bedside table with trembling hands, quickly typing a message to Hadi.
---
Meanwhile, Serenity had already left the hospital.
Her car glided smoothly into the afternoon traffic and for a moment, the present faded with old memories surfacing.
Years ago, when the two families had arranged a political marriage between her and Hadi Keir, she had refused vehemently.
At that time, her heart already belonged to someone else, to a man who was also a member of the triad.
Her father, however, had other plans. Determined to bind his influence to the powerful Keir family, he secretly conspired with Hadi Keir.
The man she loved died soon after in a tragic accident.
Serenity had known better.
After that, life became meaningless.
So when the marriage arrangement was pushed through, she stopped resisting. She married Hadi Keir blankly.
Not even a week had passed after their wedding when Hadi revealed his true nature, already seeking women outside.
Even so, she couldn't be a bit bothered. There had never been love between them. Only a quiet, long deep buried grudge.
With the advantage of carrying the Keir surname, Serenity decided to remain in the marriage, not because she had no choice but because it gave her the perfect position to torment Hadi.
If she could not be happy… Then the man who helped kill the one she loved had no right to be happy either.
Fortunately, not every member of the Keir family had wronged her.
Aside from Hadi and his parasitic parents and brother, the rest of the family rarely interfered with her life.
Shin Keir, in particular, treated her as if she were invisible.
After her father eventually died, thanks to a series of very careful arrangements on her part, Serenity quietly allowed the triad under her control to merge with Hexion.
Since then, her life had become pleasantly simple.
Most days she was free, her only real hobby now was occasionally making Hadi miserable.
For example, the last time she learned that Shin Keir had beaten Hadi so badly that he spent three months in the hospital… She had been so delighted that she immediately booked a long vacation to a group of famous islands.
The memory made the corner of her lips lift faintly.
---
Meanwhile, Hadi Keir had just returned to the headquarters of KGG.
After months of requesting it and constantly asking his grandma, he had finally been allowed back.
As he walked through the office floor, he hummed lightly under his breath and even winked at a particularly attractive employee passing by.
Just then, his phone buzzed.
He was about to clicked on Venice's message when his assistant hurried over.
"That, uhm," the assistant said nervously. "The CEO would like to see you."
Hadi's cheerful expression instantly collapsed, his face crumpled like someone who had just swallowed something bitter.
"…Now?"
"Yes, sir."
Hadi suppressed a curse.
That bastard Shin Keir always had impeccable timing when it came to ruining his mood.