“How does this guy have sixteen abs?”

On the massive black bed, Chloe Neville sat on top of the man, drunk out of her mind.

She yanked open the belt of his robe. The abs in front of her looked ridiculously firm and neat, like rows of golden corn kernels.

“One, two…” She got annoyed halfway through counting. “Whatever. Let me check the chest.”

With one casual move, she tore his black silk robe fully open.

“Damn, his chest is bigger than mine!”

Chloe got so offended she slapped him right across the face.

The man was jolted awake. He opened a pair of dark, gloomy eyes. “What are you doing?”

Chloe didn’t sense danger at all. She planted both hands straight onto his pecs and even gave them a squeeze.

The man’s whole body went rigid. A crack finally showed on that perfect, handsome face.

“Take your filthy hands off me, or I’ll cut—”

“Smack!”

Seeing this icy-faced guy still dare talk back, Chloe slapped him again. “Lie there and behave! I paid for you, okay? Tonight you better serve me properly. Got it?”

...

“Miss! Miss!”

Chloe was still dreaming about a wild night with a hottie when Mrs. Shelby shook her awake.

“Mrs. Shelby, house rules in the Neville family. Disturbing someone’s sweet dream costs five grand. If you don’t wanna pay up, then hand over a pic of a ripped handsome guy.”

Mrs. Shelby froze for a good while. “Miss, what time is it and you’re still thinking about hot men? The Neville family is bankrupt!”

Chloe’s beautiful eyes snapped wide open. She stared at her in disbelief. “What did you say? My dad had a difficult labor?”

“...” Mrs. Shelby almost blacked out on the spot.

“Miss Chloe.” Mrs. Shelby leaned close to Chloe’s ear and raised her voice. “Sir’s investment failed. Every last cent got trapped in it.”

Only then did Chloe sober up in an instant. “Where’s my dad?”

“On the rooftop. Go check on him now!”

There was no time to change. Chloe kicked off the blanket and ran straight for the roof.

On the rooftop, a desperate figure stood on the edge of the stone ledge, just about to jump.

“Dad, wait!” Chloe shoved the door open and shouted.

Andrew Neville jumped in fright and nearly slipped off with one foot.

He turned around shakily and saw his daughter rushing toward him in a loud, colorful spaghetti-strap nightgown, fluttering like a panicked butterfly.

“Chloe, don’t come any closer!”

Chloe slammed on the brakes so hard her toes dug into the ground. The pain nearly made her cry.

“My mind is made up. Only if I die can the debts be cleared, and only then can you and your mother live peacefully.” Andrew was in tears. “From now on, Dad can’t stay by your side anymore. You both have to be strong, protect yourselves, and remember to miss me...”

He rambled on and on until Chloe really couldn’t take it anymore. “Dad, I think you got the wrong idea. I just wanted to ask... did you buy life insurance?”

Andrew Neville: “?”

Chloe turned and whispered to Mrs. Shelby, “How much do they pay out for accidental death?”

Andrew’s face went green, then white. “...” I’m not even dead yet. Could you say it louder?

Mrs. Shelby reminded her, “Miss, Sir is trying to commit suicide. That doesn’t get compensated.”

“What?!” The disappointment on Chloe’s face was painfully obvious.

Andrew got so mad his whole body swayed, and he almost really fell this time.

Thinking he was about to jump, Chloe hurriedly shouted, “Wait! Dad! Don’t jump yet!”

She waved her phone. “I have money. I can cover your financial gap!”

She usually spent on Andrew’s supplementary card, but she also had a private stash of her own.

She unlocked her phone and checked the balance.

Twenty-six cents and eight.

Chloe laughed awkwardly. “Sorry, Dad. I chartered a yacht last night. Spent all of it.”

Andrew’s vision went dark. What an absolute money-burning disaster.

Chloe muttered under her breath, “Well, I was in a bad mood yesterday. I got two lines on the test...”

Andrew didn’t hear that. He just let out a bleak sigh into the wind.

A useless daughter. A wife who couldn’t handle anything. Not one person made his life easier. And now he owed a billion.

The more he thought about it, the more jumping seemed like the better option.

Andrew turned around in despair.

“Hold on—Dad! I still have a way!”

Chloe pulled a pregnancy test out of the pocket of her nightgown and held it high over her head.

“I’m pregnant with Julian Mercer’s child. I’ll go find him and make him save the Neville family!”

Andrew’s face went paper-white. His lips trembled. “You... what did you just say?”

“I said I’m going to find Julian Mercer.”

“No, the sentence before that.”

“I’m pregnant with Julian Mercer’s child.”

“Whose... whose child?”

“Ju-lian—Mer-cer!”

Andrew clutched his heart and fell backward in a straight line.

Mrs. Shelby hurried over with the others and caught him, slapping his face and pinching under his nose. “Sir! Sir!”

The second Chloe saw that, she turned and ran. “Dad, don’t die yet! I’ll bring him back to save you!”

Andrew was so furious he came back to life on the spot. His trembling hand pointed at her retreating figure. “Stop... stop her!”

“We can’t, Sir! Miss runs faster than a bull!”

Andrew struggled to look downstairs. A white sports car roared out through the main gate with a boom.

He instantly collapsed to the ground.

It was over.

This time, it was really over.

The daughter he had protected and cherished all these years had been ruined just like that. Who was he even supposed to settle the score with?

That was Julian Mercer.

The most ruthless ruler the Mercer family had produced in generations. He had the face of a jade Buddha, but in his bones he was a devil who killed without blinking.

When he was young, he got rid of his own father and the mistress his father kept outside. After that, aside from his sickly eldest brother Elliot Mercer, he dealt with the seven older brothers above him one by one and forced the old patriarch to hand over the family seat.

His ambition was obvious to anyone. In just his second year taking over Mercer Group, he triggered a financial storm that swallowed up smaller companies so completely not even scraps were left.

There had once been a wealthy businessman who tried to send his daughter to Julian’s side, dreaming that if she had his child, the whole family would rise with her. In less than a month, that entire family disappeared from the capital without a trace.

A cold-blooded man who would kill even his own father and brothers—how could someone like that save the Neville family just because of one child?

Andrew closed his eyes, despair written all over his face.

She was lucky Julian Mercer hadn’t found out about her before, and now she was running straight to him to die?

...

Chloe slammed the gas and sped all the way to the Mercer Group building.

At the same time, a limited-edition Rolls-Royce slowly approached the entrance.

Inside the car, the air pressure was terrifyingly low.

In the luxurious leather seat at the back sat a man in a custom suit, noble and untouchable, like an ice-cold sculpture.

A string of prayer beads rolled between his fingers. His eyes were closed, and his voice carried no emotion at all. “Manager Bruno, do you know the price of betraying me?”

The glow of the video conference fell over his exquisite, flawless face, cold and pale as jade.

On the other end of the screen, Bruno Stafford was already on his knees, shaking like crazy. “Mr. Mercer, I shouldn’t have switched out that shipment. I was greedy and stupid. Please, just spare me this once.”

Julian toyed with the beads, then lifted his pale eyes. He looked at Bruno with almost merciful calm, but his voice was sharp with bone-deep chill. “I never give second chances. Unless someone rushes ahead of you to court death first...”

Before he finished—

Bang!

The car had just pulled up downstairs when it braked hard out of nowhere. The prayer beads slipped from his hand and dropped by his feet.

Julian lifted his eyes coldly.

The driver was so scared his legs nearly gave out. “M-Mr. Mercer... I was just about to stop, but a woman suddenly came out of nowhere and blocked the car...”