Chapter 6

“Xiangyi, I know you’ve been wronged. Whatever you want, I’ll agree to it. Just delete that security footage, all right? We’re family. There’s no need to take things this far.”

I sat on the sofa with my legs crossed, sucking on a candy as I replied without much interest,

“Family? Dad, when you locked Mom and me in the basement that day, why didn’t you remember we were family?”

“When you threw a birthday party for Shen Jingze, why didn’t you remember that Mom was hungry in the basement?”

The corner of my father’s mouth twitched.

The candy dissolved on my tongue. I smiled at him.

“If you sign the agreement, the Shen family can keep its dignity. Otherwise, we’ll see each other in court.”

“Then every paper in the city will run the same headline: Shen Wanjun covered for his son’s attempt to harm his lawful wife, while his mistress trafficked his eldest daughter. Do you think the Shen family’s stock price could survive that?”

A long silence settled over the study.

At last, my father picked up the fountain pen on the desk and signed.

He wrote so forcefully that the final stroke nearly tore through the paper.

“Are you satisfied now?” His voice was rough, as if sandpaper had scraped his throat.

I stood and brushed imaginary candy crumbs from my hand.

“More or less. Oh, right—Chen Meiyi’s attempt to find traffickers and sell me has been confirmed. She’s in prison now.”

“If you’re so concerned about her, you can visit.”

“But I should warn you: don’t even think about getting her out. You can’t afford the consequences.”

My father suddenly lifted his head. A flash of rage crossed his eyes, but he quickly suppressed it.

His fingers tightened around the pen until they turned white. In the end, he managed to force out one word through clenched teeth.

“Get out.”

I turned and left.

The day my mother departed, the weather was beautiful. Warm sunlight spilled across the ground.

She held An’an while people my uncle had arranged carried her luggage. They were busy all morning.

My father stood at the second-floor study window, watching without a trace of expression.

He never appeared—not even before my mother disappeared from view.

I stood in the courtyard, watching her vanish into the distance. A strange calm settled over me.

So this was what it felt like to send someone you cared about far away. It was much easier than keeping them close in a dangerous place.

From that day on, I continued living in the Shen family’s main house.

But my father no longer treated me like air. His eyes now held a layer of wariness and apprehension.

He moved Shen Jingze into a separate building nearby, under the polished excuse that the boy needed to “focus on his studies.” Everyone could see the real reason: Father was afraid I would attack him again.

He posted four bodyguards outside the building around the clock, terrified I would show up with an iron bar to settle accounts with his son.

I was happy to enjoy the peace and quiet.

The next few years passed quickly.

I got into one of the country’s top universities and chose to study financial management.

With my uncle’s backing, I was able to intern at the Shen Group.

Outside of class, I spent nearly all my time at the company.

During those years, my father never stopped grooming Shen Jingze.

He hired the best tutors for him, spent lavishly to send him overseas for short-term training programs, and insisted on showing him off at every annual holiday banquet.

Shen Jingze grew several inches taller as he got older. The malice between his brows only deepened.

But he hid it well.

In front of other people, he always played the polite, humble young gentleman.

Only I knew what kind of trash he was underneath.

As I gradually built up a client base and a network of contacts at the company, my father began to grow uneasy.

The Shen family’s business hadn’t collapsed over the years, but it had lost a significant share of its market to newer companies. Its stock price fluctuated wildly, and several long-serving board members were increasingly dissatisfied with my father.

He badly needed to pave the way for Shen Jingze, so the boy could inherit the family business without a hitch.

So while Shen Jingze was still in high school, my father brought him into the company and gave him the title of “special assistant.”

Anyone with eyes could see he was polishing the young heir’s résumé.

I said nothing and kept my head down, doing my own work.

In Shen Jingze’s first year of college, my father wanted to establish his authority, so he handed him a major project outright.

It was an acquisition, with a target valuation of five hundred million.

The company being acquired specialized in research and development of new-energy materials, and had a decent reputation in the industry.