Brendan slammed the phone onto the ground. It seemed that she wouldn't learn anything unless he taught her a hard lesson! . "Inform the bank to stop lending the Dawson family money," Brendan commanded as he found another phone to make the call. The assistant received a call from Brendan in the middle of the night. Confused and conflicted, he asked, "Mr. Clemons, are you sure? Isn't that your wife's family? If she finds out about this…". "You will do whatever I ask you to do. And if you can't do it, you're fired!" Brendan roared. The assistant trembled in fear. After the phone call, he got up from the bed and did as he was told at once. ***. The following day, as soon as Adeline arrived at the company, she received a call from her father Arthur Dawson. "Adeline, you imbecile! Come home within half an hour! Otherwise, I'll go to your company to drag you back myself!". Arthur was a greedy man. He valued his interests over everything else. Adeline knew that if she refused to listen to him, he'd probably get hysterical. Once she had gotten permission from Rodger to take an emergency leave, she rushed back to the Dawson family's villa. The second she entered the living room, Arthur threw something at her. Caught off-guard, she was unable to dodge, and the teacup ended up hitting his forehead. Her forehead got wounded, and blood oozed out from the wound. "You are pathetic! I did everything I could to help you marry into the Clemons family. You should be grateful to me and repay me for everything I've done for you. You are so fucking stupid for offending the Clemons family! For fuck's sake, even my dog is more grateful than you are! At the very least, it can guard the door for me!". Arthur stomped towards her, grabbed her hair, and slapped her across the face. "Everything was fine before. But just this morning, the bank suddenly stopped lending me money. I kept asking the manager why, and he eventually told me that it was an order directly from Brendan Clemons. What the fuck did you do?". Adeline's face was burning from the pain. Once more, Arthur pulled her hair and kicked her stomach. A sharp pain came from her lower abdomen, causing her to fall to her knees. It was so painful that she almost let out a scream. This wasn't the first time that he hit her. A decade ago, Arthur had an affair, which drove Helena, Adeline's birth mother, crazy. Thereafter, his mistress Martha just moved into their house, who shortly gave birth to their daughter, Kaley. Ever since Martha became a part of the family, Adeline's life became so much worse. Arthur often scolded her and would beat her on a regular basis. Just like before, Martha and Kaley were sitting on the sofa, watching her get beat up with joy on their faces. Martha commented with a snort, "I've told you that she's fucking useless. If Kaley was the one who married into the Clemons family, she wouldn't have brought this kind of trouble on us!". Before Adeline got married to Brendan, Martha wanted Kaley to take her place. To her dismay, the Clemons family chose Adeline over her daughter. If not for that, Adeline wouldn't have had the fortune of becoming Mrs. Clemons. Arthur tried to appease her at once. "But Kaley is still too young. I can't bear to let her get married so young. Some of the rascals o f the Clemons family might harm her! That stupid girl, Adeline should be the one to suffer. You don't have to worry, my love. You know just how much I cherish our daughter. All of the Dawson family's wealth will belong to her, and no one else can take it away from her. Upon hearing what her father said, Kaley ran to his side, held his a rm, and flashed him a sweet smile. "I knew you love me the most, Daddy! I want a villa by the sea. Can you buy one for me? There 's this villa that I really like and it only costs ten million dollars! A lot of people are l ooking to buy it. If we don't pay the deposit as soon as possible, someone else will buy it!"

Kaley was quite good at pleading her father fo r whatever she wanted. She had always been the apple o f Arthur's eye. Just as she had expected, her father couldn't say no to her. He pinched her cheek and said, " Of course, sweetie. I'll buy anything for you!" . The second his eyes darted back to Adeline, disgust was written on his face. "What the fuck are you looking at? Get the hell up and stop lying on the ground like a dead dog! Didn't you hear me? I don't care what the fuck you have to do, but you will do whatever it takes to convince Brendan to be the Dawson Group's guarantor again. And don't forget to transfer ten million dollars to my bank account as soon as possible. Kaley wants to buy the villa!" . "Ten mill ion?" . Adeline stood up, arranging her hair. She sneered back, "When I married Brendan, you took all the betrothal gifts that the Clemons family gave me. Did you ever stop to consid er what might happen to me at the time? If Grandpa hadn't saved Gerard's life, I wouldn't have been able to marry into the Clemons family. Why do you talk like you contribute d something? How much money have you taken from the Clemons family these past few years? You probably know it by heart. How are you still not satisfied with all you've taken?" . And now he wan ted to buy a vi lla for Kaley? . Arthur didn't have much money before marrying Helena. But after his father-in-law died, he took over the Haywood family's properties. He even drove his wife insane by having an affair with another woman! . The worst part was that he drove Helena out of the house along with Adeline on a snowy d ay. To make matters worse, Helena was having a high fever at the time. Arthur wouldn't h ave admitted that Adeline was his daughter if he didn't need her to marry into the Clemo . ns fami ly. He had embezzled so much money, and yet he was still so fucking greedy. What a despicable man! . Martha looked down at Adeline, reveling at t he latter's suffering. Martha used to be jealous of Helena, because Helena was born into a wealthy family. But now, her daughter was being treated as a breedin g machine and had become a stepping stone for Martha's own daughter. Feeling delighted, Martha remarked, "Adeline, you should be grateful. You have no right to refuse our requests . Because if you refuse, I won't let you step out of this house in one piece today. So, I advise you to be a go od little minion and ask the Clemons family for money. Otherwise, we're also going to make your mother suffer!" . Meanwhile, Kaley stood aside with her arms crossed. She rolled her eyes and said, "Mom is right. You should thank us, Adeline. You owe us a lot! You are Mrs. Clemons. It's so eas y for you to get money from the Clemons family. You should ask them to help us now that we're family. Their money is ours! How could you be such an ingrate? Are you acting like that because you want to cut us loose just because you've married Brendan?" . Adeline felt sick to he r core when she heard t he trio talk nonsense. She couldn't understand why her mother ever loved someo ne as despicable as Arthur! . "Don't even think about it!" Adeline straightened herself up and glared back at them. "I'm just here to tell you that I will not give you any more money. Brendan and I are divorced. From now on, even if you ask him for money, he won't give you a single dime!" . Arthur was beyond shocke d. "What the fuck did you just say? Say it again!" . Adeline smirked sardonically. "I said t hat Brendan and I are divorced. You wil l never get a penny from me ever again!" . "You wicked bastard!" A rthur was just about rea dy to strike her again. But this time, Adeline was prepared. She managed to dodge his attack on time

"Did you re ally divorc e Brendan?" . "Yes, I did," Adeline replied calmly. "That marriage was just a deal between our families, and he doesn't even love me. Why the hell shoul d I give up my life and sacrifice myself just to please you assholes? You have no clue how to invest and grow your money. If it weren't for the Clemons family's help, our family would've gone bankrupt long ago! I will not beg Brendan to keep wasting money on you. Just give up!" . Now that she had said her piece, she walked towa rds the door. Arthur shouted from behind her, "Ad eline! Don't you care about your mother anymore?" . Adeline was so pissed off w hen she heard these words c oming from his vile mouth. This villa was given to Arthur and Helena by her father when they got married. Adeline was born and grew up in this very house. It still held so many memories of the three of them. Sadly, twenty-five years ago, Arthur hook ed up with Martha. He cheated on Helena an d began stealing money from the Haywoods. When Helena found out about his aff air, she begged him to stay, only to be kicked away by this horrid man. Helena was driven out of her own house dur ing a snowy night, along with her daughter in her arms. They almost froze to death. Over the past three years, each time Arthur cont acted Adeline, he wouldn't even bother to say an ything else and just straight up ask for money. And now, he was using her mother as a bar gaining chip to blackmail Adeline again. He was such a heartless fucking bastard! . Adeline felt like her blood was boiling. "Arthur Dawson, you are a fucking asshole! You don't deserve to be my father! If you still have a little conscience left in you, you'll let me take my mother with me. From now on, I'll take care of her myself!" The day she got married, Adeline had wanted to cut all ties with the Dawson family. But to her chagrin, she found out tha t Arthur was Helena's legal guardian. He hid Helena away and used her to blackmail Adeline. For so many years, Adeline had to obey this monster for her mother's sake. When Arthur saw that Adel ine stopped in her tracks, he smirked triumphantly. "Hah! I knew you'd cave because of that bitch. " In a deep, ominous voice, he said, "If you still care for your mother, then you'll do as I say. Othe rwise, you'll just have to come and collect her body. Try it if you dare!" . "You're a monster, Arthur!" Ad eline clenched her fists and h er voice trembled with anger. Because of Arthur, she hadn't see n her mother for so long. She did n't even know if she was alright. The thought of how much her mother had suffered over the years filled Adeline with rage. She cou ld no longer stop herself from attacking Arthur. She had to te ach this scum bag a lesson! . Martha and Kaley were taken aback when they saw the look of desperation on Adeline's face. The y immediately grabbed her arms and subdued her. Arthur, on the other hand, never expected that Adeline would fight back. Shocked and angry, he grabbed her hair mercilessly. "Who do you think you are? How dare you hit me? I am still your father! I'm going to teach you a valuable lesson. Otherwise, you will never behave yourself!" . His face was distorted by anger, and blood lust gleamed in his eyes. He looked like a devil that crawled straight out of hell. This wasn't the first time that he had beaten her. He was alwa ys hurting Adeline and Helena. The pain from Adeline's lowe r abdomen was so intense tha t she almost vomited blood. She couldn't do anything to fight back no w that she was subdued. All she could do w as to close her eyes and accept her fate. But then… he s uddenly stoppe d hitting her. The room fell into silence. Adeline slowly opened her eyes and saw Brendan holding A rthur's wrist. He was glaring at Arthur with eyes full of displeasure. "Arthur Dawson! How dare you hurt my wife?"