Chapter 3

3

I stood up to signal the bodyguard.

But before I could raise my hand, Liana beat me to it.

"Dad? What are you doing here?"

I realized something was very wrong.

The bodyguard my father sent was actually Liana's father.

It turned out her entire family was working for my dad.

"The boss called me. He said the young mistress was having some trouble nearby and told me to come help."

"Wait, you guys haven't seen her yet?"

Liana glanced at me, a wicked smile spreading across her face as she pointed a finger.

"We haven't seen any heiress, but we did find a shameless liar."

"This is Jasper's ex-wife. She's actually claiming that she's the billionaire's daughter."

"Dad, she even tried to hit me just now."

Her blatant lies caught me off guard for a second.

The bodyguard turned to me, his eyes filled with a terrifying intensity.

"You're the one who tried to steal my daughter's man years ago, and now you're back to bully her?"

"I guess I need to teach you a lesson!"

He began rolling up his sleeves, looking like he was about to get violent.

My heart tightened. This was bad.

I had asked my dad for backup, but I had accidentally walked into a trap.

Just as the bodyguard's fist was about to swing toward my head, his phone rang.

My father's voice boomed from the other end.

"Have you picked her up yet?"

The man stopped mid-motion and scanned the area again.

"Boss, I don't see the young mistress anywhere."

Taking advantage of his distraction, I lunged forward and shouted into the phone.

"Dad! I'm right here next to―"

Before I could finish, Jasper slammed his hand over my mouth.

"Yara, stop causing trouble! We're talking about a billionaire's daughter. You can't just fake that!"

"I'm doing this for your own good. If you offend a man that powerful, you're dead!"

The bodyguard hung up. I saw my chance and bit Jasper's hand hard. He yelped and let go.

I was already running late, so I looked Jasper in the eye and made myself clear.

"I'm over you. Stop being so full of yourself and thinking I'm here to apologize."

"Since you think I'm here for you, fine. Consider me here for a divorce!"

Even though I had been gone for years, we had never officially filed the paperwork.

This was the perfect time to end it. Once we were legally divorced, he'd finally understand I wanted nothing to do with him.

"Fine! Let's do it right now!"

He answered without hesitation.

"I'll watch you keep up this act! If you really wanted a divorce, why didn't you file during all those years you were missing? I bet you just can't let me go."

He turned to the bodyguard.

"Sir, since there are many of us here, why don't you wait for the heiress?"

"I'm going to go finalize this divorce. It'll give your daughter the peace of mind she deserves."

He agreed to the divorce, and I wasn't about to back down.

Soon, we arrived at the government office.

I signed the divorce settlement without a single moment of hesitation.

Jasper stared at the paper, looking stunned.

"I didn't think you'd actually be this heartless."

"Fine. I don't care if you've given up on me, but I know you'll never give up on Zane!"

I had to admit, in the beginning, I couldn't bear to leave him.

But after seeing my own flesh and blood treat me with such cruelty, that attachment had vanished.

I decided to treat it as if I had lost the baby during that difficult labor years ago.

"A pair of ungrateful wolves like you two? Why would I miss that?"

"I've never been happier to be rid of you."

I took the divorce certificate and turned to leave.

Jasper moved faster, blocking my path.

"No!"

"Stop being petty. From now on, I'll tell Zane to call you Mom too, okay?"

"Besides, you're not young anymore. You're a divorcee with a kid. That blind date won't lead to anything."

He reached out and took my hand, his tone softening significantly.

"It's okay. There's a thirty-day cooling-off period for divorces. We can cancel it right now. Let's just tell the clerk we changed our minds."

When I tried to pull away, he grabbed the divorce certificate from my hand and ripped it into tiny pieces.

Then, he used a commanding tone:

"Yara Valentine, I said we aren't divorcing!"

"As long as you're married to me, you aren't going anywhere!"

As he spoke, a black sedan pulled up in front of us.

The door opened, and my father stepped out.

"Yara, are you trying to dodge the blind date I set up again?"

"I told you to go meet him, and you end up at the divorce court?"