Unveiled: The Survivor's Triumph

I never thought Emily would actually follow Arthur back to his hometown.

When Jason brought her back in the middle of the night, she was already out cold, but there were tear stains on her face and her feet were blistered. I was so pissed at Emily then; she knew Arthur was a total jerk.

But I couldn't sleep, thinking about how he treated her again just made my blood boil. I ended up getting drunk alone in the living room.

She came down for water in the middle of the night, and I, pretending to be drunk, kissed her and pulled out that million-dollar contract.

I was such an idiot back then. I knew she'd be heartbroken and desperate after seeing it, and she'd doubt my feelings for her even more. Jason came over and took her away, and I just collapsed on the sofa, unable to move.

When I woke up at dawn, my head was pounding.

When I saw the floor littered with empty bottles and the contract lying there, everything from last night came rushing back.

I went upstairs and took a cold shower, letting the water shock my senses. Suddenly, I punched the wall.

The things I did made me no better than a jerk like Arthur. I was even worse.

I put on my suit and drove to the office.

As soon as I walked in, the people who were chatting in groups suddenly went quiet, sneaking glances at me.

Back in my office, I made an internal call, and my assistant came quickly. She seemed more cautious than usual.

"Good morning, Mr. Windsor. Did you need me?" she asked.

"What's everyone talking about?" I asked, looking at her.

She bit her lip, looking a bit troubled.

"Tell me the truth," I said.

She finally handed me her phone after scrolling through it.

It was a photo of Emily and me. She was wrapped in a towel, and I was shirtless. The picture was pretty suggestive. But my face was pixelated, and hers wasn't.

After looking at it, I handed the phone back to her and told her to call the lawyer.

During this time, I tried calling Emily, but I couldn't get through.

From the moment I decided to marry her, I wanted her to stay low-key by my side, but it seemed that this time, staying low-key wasn't an option.

I immediately drove home to get the marriage certificate and returned to the office, asking the lawyer to issue an official statement on Skyline International Corporation's Twitter account to clear Emily's name. It was the only way. The lawyer got the message and started working on it right away.

Word about the chaos at the entrance of Skyline International Corporation reached me. When I got there, I saw Emily sitting on the ground, her hair a mess, while Skye was going off on her, and people were just standing around, pointing fingers.

Emily looked completely defenseless and helpless.

I stepped in, picked Emily up from the ground, and ignored all the stares.

The lawyer's statement had already made it clear that Emily was my wife.

She was still pissed about what happened last night and didn't want to talk to me at all.

I sighed to myself and brought a basin of water to wash her feet and put some medicine on them.

In my 29 years, I never thought I'd be washing a woman's feet, but at that moment, I did it without feeling embarrassed or anything. I just felt heartbroken seeing those blisters on her feet.

Of course, she threw my own words back at me "If I come on to you again, it would be degrading"-to mock me. Right then, I silently promised myself to be more careful with my words in the future.

I took her phone and, as expected, found my number in the blacklist.

With no other choice, I removed my number from the blacklist and added the note "Honey," hoping it would ease the tension between us.

I knew exactly who was behind the smear campaign against Emily. I reported it to the police, planning to settle the score with Arthur, but he called to threaten me, saying he had something that could ruin Emily.

I hate being threatened, but since it involved Emily, I couldn't take the risk, so I announced that I would no longer pursue the matter.

I knew the conflict between Emily and me was still there, so I decided to give her a proper explanation. Except for that one thing I couldn't tell her, I laid everything else out.

After dinner, I took Emily to the beach.

I decided to stay with her at the beach for a few days, leaving everything else behind.

We sat by the sea, and she asked a ton of questions, so eagerly. I told her everything I could, including the contract, the photos, Arthur's threats, the mess between Arthur and me, and even my past with Fiona.

I confessed everything, but I didn't tell her that Fiona caught my eye because she reminded me of her. I also didn't tell her that my revenge wasn't just for Fiona; it was for her too.

With everything out in the open, Emily seemed relieved.

I asked her why she followed Arthur back. I was worried she still had feelings for him.

She didn't answer directly but kissed me instead.

At that moment, it felt like nothing else mattered. The wall around her heart had finally come down.

On Victor's birthday, he called and asked me to come home for dinner. I was about to say I was busy when he added, "Bring her along."

I knew he meant Emily.

If he could recognize his past mistakes and genuinely accept Emily, that would be my hope.

When I brought Emily along, she was extremely nervous. I totally got it and was touched that she was willing to make some compromises for me.

But I didn't expect Lacey to be there too.

When we were kids, Linda would bring her over to play a few times during summer and winter breaks. Lacey seemed more mature and polite than other girls her age, more likable than Richard, so I didn't have a bad impression of her. Victor treated her well, just like Linda outwardly treated me well.

Today, probably because Lacey was there, Victor was more amiable and didn't make things difficult for Emily.

I knew it was Victor's birthday, but I didn't prepare a gift. I still harbored some resentment, as he never remembered Cindy's birthday.

During the conversation, I quickly caught on to Victor and Linda's intentions. They wanted me to arrange a job for Lacey, and possibly even more.

That night, Victor personally made me a pan-seared cod, and I felt a bit emotional. Victor knew I liked fish and had cooked it for me before, but that was a long, long time ago.

I always thought he didn't care about me, that he even hated me for how I treated him to quit his addiction. How could he possibly remember my preferences?

On the way back from Victor's place, Emily was silent the whole time, looking very tired, so I let her rest early.

The next day it rained, and we couldn't go out, so we stayed in the room.

I increasingly felt that something was wrong with Emily. She barely spoke and seemed listless, like something was weighing on her mind.

I had already decided that even if she refused to go to the hospital, I would take her there. It was at this moment that I received a call from Arthur. He once again mentioned that he had something that could ruin Emily, threatening me to prepare eight million dollars in cash and bring it to the abandoned airport at 10 PM.

Arthur was very confident. I didn't know what he had, so I couldn't afford not to go.

When I left the beach house, I did so quietly, not wanting to worry Emily.

Back at the company, I had my assistant prepare eight million dollars.

I stayed at the company until 9 PM before driving to the abandoned airport.

This abandoned airport was huge, but it had been left to rot for years, so it was overgrown with weeds.

There were no streetlights, and no one came here at night, making it the perfect spot for shady deals.

I drove in, and the headlights soon lit up a man squatting on the ground, smoking.

When Arthur saw me, he stood up, a smug smile on his face.

Arthur had the nerve to blackmail me.

I got out of the car and walked towards him.

"Where's the money?" He had just arrogantly asked when I punched him.

Arthur staggered several steps to the side and took a long time to straighten up, his mouth full of blood.

"You're a lunatic!" he cursed, wiping his mouth.

I sneered coldly, "I am a lunatic. Didn't you know that eight years ago? I'm still better than you."

"Go ahead, curse all you want. But you'll still have to pay up, or I can't guarantee that Emily won't be called a slut tomorrow." He laughed triumphantly.

I knew very well that a scoundrel like him, when pushed to a certain extent, might really do anything. Arthur's current state showed he was ready to go all out.

I lit a cigarette slowly and said, "The price isn't up to you. You have to show me what you have so I can see if it's worth eight million dollars."

Arthur was momentarily stunned, then smiled knowingly.

"Looks like she really didn't let you see what I sent you that day. You've been kept in the dark," Arthur said.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

I took a deep drag on my cigarette to calm down, then looked at him.

I said, "Stop wasting time. Let me see what you have first."

Arthur smiled and slowly took out his phone, handing it to me after unlocking it.

The phone contained nude photos of Emily.

I smashed the phone to the ground and spat my cigarette at him, then lunged at Arthur, pinning him to the ground. He struggled, but I held him down, beating him until he couldn't get up. His face was covered in blood, but he was still laughing.

Arthur said with a sneer, "How about it? Worth eight million dollars, right? The phone's broken, but I have backups. You can kill me, but I guarantee the whole city will see Emily's body tomorrow." I beat him half to death and finally threw the suitcase with eight million dollars at him.

I shouted, "Get out of Starlight City. If you dare release the photos, I'll break your legs!"

Arthur struggled to get up, spitting blood, dragging the suitcase, limping away quickly as if afraid I'd change my mind.

I stayed there for a while, picked up the broken phone, and drove out through a back road. Passing by a pond, I got out and threw the phone into the water.