Chapter 8

On the phone screen, the high-definition surveillance footage clearly showed a corner of the racetrack's maintenance area.

Two hours before the race, a man dressed in mechanic's overalls sneaked up to Sophia's blue race car.

He crouched down in front of the car and skillfully unscrewed the brake line connection.

Then, the footage switched to another angle.

The same mechanic met with a man in a corner of the parking lot—that man was Cecilia's driver, Joe Watson.

Nicholas stared at the screen, his pupils contracting sharply.

"This... this can't be." His voice was hoarse. "It must be a misunderstanding..."

"Misunderstanding?" Sophia laughed coldly. "Nicholas, Joe is the driver you assigned to Cecilia. Besides her, you're the only one who can order him around. Or are you saying you were the one who told him to do it?"

Nicholas's face turned pale. "I didn't!"

He instinctively wanted to defend Cecilia, but found that any words would be weak and powerless.

"Cecilia, she just... made a mistake..." In the end, that was all he could say.

"She's still young, she doesn't know any better..."

"She's twenty-five years old and still too young?" Sophia cut him off coldly.

"Nicholas, wake up! She's not naive—she did it on purpose!"

"No!" Nicholas suddenly looked up.

"Cecilia just... just... that's why she..."

But he couldn't come up with a proper reason.

"So that's why she tried to kill me?" Sophia laughed.

"Nicholas, she really is your good little sister."

She took a step back, creating distance between herself and Nicholas, the last trace of warmth disappearing from her eyes.

"Enough, I don't want to hear you defend her anymore." Sophia turned to Walter. "Walter, let's go upstairs. I need to pack my things."

"Sophia!" Nicholas stepped forward to block her.

"There's nothing left for us to talk about." Sophia pushed his hand away.

"I'll have my lawyer formally charge Cecilia with attempted murder. As for the divorce, if Mr. Jackson doesn't agree to an amicable divorce, we'll see each other in court."

She paused, looking at Nicholas with a cold, sideways glance.

"By the way, let me remind you—attempted murder carries a heavy sentence."

With that, she walked straight toward the villa's main entrance.

Walter followed closely behind, casting Nicholas a cold glance as he passed by.

Nicholas watched Sophia's resolute back, frozen in place.

Inside the villa, Sophia went straight upstairs to the master bedroom.

In the walk-in closet, there was a cabinet containing all the clothes she had bought before marriage.

She took them out one by one, folded them neatly, and placed them in the suitcase Walter had brought up for her.

As for those high-end designer dresses that symbolized status but were also shackles, and those priceless jewelry pieces, she didn't even glance at them.

Finally, she walked to the bedside table.

There sat her and Nicholas's wedding photo.

Taken four years ago at the Azure Sea, she wore a pure white wedding dress, smiling like a little girl.

Nicholas had his arm around her waist, his face showing a gentle smile she had never seen again since.

When she was young, she always had unrealistic fantasies, thinking that love could overcome anything.

But she had forgotten—the prerequisite was mutual love.

Nicholas didn't love her.

Sophia reached out and picked up the crystal frame. Her fingertips traced over the smiling faces of her and Nicholas in the photo. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Then, she let go.

The frame fell to the ground, glass shards scattering everywhere.

The photo slid out from the broken frame, their bright smiles becoming distorted in the cracks.

Sophia crouched down, picked up the photo, and tore it down the middle.

Nicholas's half was casually tossed on the floor.

Her own half—she hesitated for a moment, but eventually placed it in the suitcase's inner pocket.

Since she was leaving, she would leave cleanly.

Sophia then walked to the wall and tore down all the other wedding photos of her and Nicholas. The ones she couldn't destroy, she defaced with lipstick.

"Sophia." Walter stood in the doorway, looking at her with some concern.

Walter opened his mouth but couldn't find any other words of comfort.

He only managed to say, "Do you need to pack anything else?"

"No, this is all." Sophia zipped up the suitcase and stood up. "Let's go."

She took one last look around the room, this gilded cage that had trapped her for four years.

Goodbye.

Downstairs, Nicholas still stood in the courtyard, motionless.

Hearing footsteps, he suddenly looked up. Seeing Sophia coming out with her suitcase, he stepped forward and tightly grabbed Sophia's wrist.

When the words came out, his voice was incredibly cold.

"Are you really going to be this ruthless?"

"You're the one who forced me to be ruthless."

She finally turned around, looking one last time at this man she had loved for four years.

"You know what? Just now upstairs, I tore up our wedding photo. Looking at those pieces, I suddenly realized our marriage is just like that frame. Bright and beautiful on the outside, but broken inside all along. I just kept pretending not to see it."

Nicholas's heart felt like it was being squeezed tight.

"Sophia, I..."

"Don't say anything." Sophia interrupted him.

"Nicholas, from today on, we're even. You protect your Cecilia, I'll walk my own path. From now on, you and I have nothing to do with each other."

She pulled her suitcase and walked toward Walter's car.

Nicholas stood frozen in place, watching the car slowly drive out of the courtyard and disappear into the night.

It wasn't until even the sound of the engine had faded away that he finally slowly came to his senses.

Sophia was gone, taking only one suitcase, taking only what she needed.

Everything else was trash she didn't want.

Including him.

"Damn it!" Nicholas cursed under his breath, punching the ornate iron gate.

Why?

He hadn't agreed to the divorce yet.

He grabbed his phone, his hands trembling as he dialed Sophia's number.

"The wireless customer you are calling is not available."

He hung up and dialed again.

"The wireless customer you are calling is not available."

It wasn't being declined—he had been blocked.

He switched to WhatsApp and sent a message: "Sophia, let's talk."

The message was sent successfully, but a gray checkmark immediately appeared next to it.

He had been blocked.

Nicholas tried other apps.

Every contact method he could think of had been blocked by Sophia.

Sophia, who had been right in front of him just moments ago, had vanished from his world as she had evaporated.

No, not vanished.

She had actively cut off all contact, completely expelling him from her world.

She didn't want him anymore.

Nicholas's face darkened. He immediately walked toward his car parked outside and pulled open the door.

He needed to go ask her, ask what exactly he owed her to make her so resolute!

But suddenly, his phone rang sharply in the quiet night.