Chapter 5: We Broke Up

Sarah was completely unprepared. The slap sent her stumbling sideways and she fell to the ground.

Victoria frowned. Although she had used some force, it wasn't enough to knock down a grown woman with one slap. What act was Sarah putting on now?

The next second, urgent footsteps came from the restaurant entrance—Ethan strode over with a dark expression.

Seeing him, Sarah immediately went into character, tears flowing on command. "Ethan, Victoria called you a scumbag. I couldn't stand listening to it, so I defended you a bit. I know she's jealous of me because of our relationship. It's all my fault. I should have stayed away from you."

This fake speech broke Ethan's heart. He quickly helped Sarah up, then turned to glare at Victoria. "Victoria, are you sick? If you're mad at me, come at me. Why are you hitting Sarah? She and I are completely innocent. Even if you're jealous, you can't hit people!"

Watching Ethan's unreasonable attitude, Aria was furious. She couldn't care less that he was her boss and directly confronted him. "Ethan, you and Sarah are completely innocent? That day at the bar, you two were practically biting each other's lips off. You call that innocent?"

Being exposed by a junior employee in public, Ethan looked as if he'd been slapped hard across the face. His expression turned livid.

He threatened harshly, "Aria! This is none of your business. Get out of my sight right now, or expect a termination notice from HR tomorrow!"

Aria came from a poor family. Her parents were sick, and this job was crucial to her. Ethan was actually threatening her with termination! Aria trembled with anger but didn't dare to push back harder.

Victoria didn't want to drag Aria into this and softly reassured her, "Aria, you should go."

"But Victoria, I'm afraid they'll bully you."

"It's fine. I can handle it."

Under Victoria's insistence, Aria could only leave anxiously with her bag.

Once Aria left, only the three of them remained in the restaurant. Diners around them cast curious glances their way.

Ethan suppressed his anger and put on a superior attitude. "Victoria, hitting someone in front of all these people—do you have any dignity as an older sister? Apologize to Sarah right now, and I'll forgive you for today. Otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?" Victoria laughed coldly, staring at him.

Ethan didn't hesitate to play his trump card. "Otherwise, we break up!"

He was certain Victoria wouldn't dare. After all, for the past three years, Victoria's biggest wish had been to marry him. Every time he mentioned breaking up, Victoria would lower her head and apologize like an obedient dog with no bottom line.

He thought today would be the same.

However, Victoria just casually shrugged. "Fine, then let's break up."

Her expression was calm without a ripple. "Ethan, from now on, you're you and I'm me. We have nothing to do with each other anymore. I wish you two jerks a lifetime together. I'm leaving now."

With that, Victoria turned to leave.

Ethan's mind went blank. Instinctively, he grabbed her wrist tightly. "Victoria, are you crazy? You really want to break up with me?"

"Yeah." Victoria shook her hand in disgust. "You're already messing around with Sarah. If I didn't break up with you, wouldn't that be unreasonable?"

She struggled hard, but Ethan gripped even tighter.

He, a member of the Ashford family, was being dumped? Where was his dignity?

Ethan became furious from embarrassment and warned through gritted teeth, "Victoria, you said it! Don't regret this! Even if you come crying and begging on your knees later, I'll never forgive you!"

Seeing this, Sarah immediately fanned the flames. "Victoria, everyone knows you love Ethan. This playing-hard-to-get trick is too cheap. Without Ethan, what are you? With just a flick of his finger, he can make sure you can't survive in this city!"

Victoria was too lazy to listen to these two jerks' nonsense and just wanted to leave. But Ethan's face darkened, and he suddenly increased the force on her wrist, yanking her toward him.

Victoria stumbled and nearly fell. Her wrist was pinched red. She struggled hard but couldn't match Ethan's strength.

Just then, the restaurant door was pushed open.

William walked in casually with one hand in his pocket, taking long strides. As he looked up, he caught sight of Ethan restraining Victoria's wrist with an extremely oppressive and possessive posture.

William's steps paused slightly. His originally lazy eyes instantly narrowed, a flash of extremely dangerous coldness passing through them.

Victoria was his newly registered legal wife.

And now, Ethan dared to grab his wife's wrist in broad daylight?

Was his nephew trying to rebel?

William's icy gaze shot over like a blade. Ethan inexplicably felt a chill down his spine and his body involuntarily stiffened. When Victoria looked up and met William's intensely oppressive gaze, she felt uneasy too.

In front of her new husband, being pulled around by her ex-boyfriend—this was embarrassing beyond words.

"Ethan, you're quite the player."

Just when Victoria thought William would mock her, he instead directed his attack at Ethan, his tone casual but carrying a chilling authority.

"One in your arms, another you're forcing to stay. Should I take a photo and send it to your dad, let him see what a shameless bastard he raised?"

Hearing this voice, Ethan released Victoria's hand as if electrocuted and pushed Sarah away too.

Under everyone's shocked gazes, Ethan, who had been so arrogant just moments ago, now looked like a mouse seeing a cat, meekly calling out, "Uncle William."

This "Uncle William" shocked Victoria.

She looked at the man before her in confusion. Wasn't her blind date supposed to be Jerry? The Ashford family and the Nelson family had no connection—how could Ethan call him uncle?

Could it be that the person she married wasn't Jerry at all?

If it weren't for the inappropriate setting, Victoria would have immediately pulled out the marriage certificate from her bag to check what name was actually on it.