Chapter 2

Right at that moment, Emily's birth mother, Juniper Ramirez, stepped through the door wearing a black mink coat.

She saw Emily kneeling on the floor in tears.

Juniper walked straight over and, without a second thought, grabbed Emily by the hair, "You stupid girl, even now you still won't listen? I'm asking you—are you going to marry Mr. Turner today and be done with it, or are you going to keep chasing after those two little bastards?"

Emily's face was streaked with tears.

"Mother, please—just let me see the children one last time, and I promise I'll marry Jace!"

Juniper suddenly raised her hand, ready to slap Emily across the face.

Daniel frowned, "Not the face!"

The guests were already starting to arrive. If Emily showed up with a swollen face, the Taylor family looking bad was one thing—but if Jace lost face over it, the whole marriage would fall apart. And if that happened, Daniel's chances of inheriting the Taylor family title and taking control would be finished. Worse than that, the Taylor family itself would be facing total ruin.

Juniper got the message. She lowered her hand and reached for the gold hairpin on top of her head instead.

She pulled it out and jabbed it hard into the inner part of Emily's thigh.

That spot wouldn't be easy for anyone to notice.

But Emily didn't cry out in pain.

Over the past seven years, she had lost count of how many times she had been treated this way.

"Mother, I'm only asking to see the children one more time." Emily's eyes were full of longing.

Juniper kept pressing the pin deeper into Emily's flesh, staring straight into her eyes, "I already told you last night—this morning I'm sending the children to a family in another city. If you behave yourself and marry Mr. Turner, maybe someday I'll tell you where they are. But if you refuse to listen today and insist on seeing those two little bastards on what's supposed to be a happy occasion, then I'll call the driver right now and have them throw the children into Chillstream River to feed the fish."

The moment she finished speaking, Heath Taylor let out a cold laugh from the side, "Mom, Dad, the way I see it, all Mr. Turner wants from her is her body anyway. If she's going to keep crying and ruining everyone's mood, why not just make her take that pill and turn her into a mute for good."

But Layla shook her head quickly, "No, no, no—I heard Mr. Turner likes to hear women make noise. If she can't make a sound, the whole deal between our families falls apart just the same."

In that moment, Emily gave up completely.

Seven years.

Who was the man who had made her life a living hell for seven years?

She had tried so hard to forget him.

She had just wanted to live a normal life—even if it meant being no different from the household servants, buying groceries, cooking, cleaning.

But she was the eldest daughter of the Taylor family.

Last night, after Daniel and Juniper finished negotiating with her, they promised that if she married Jace, the children would be allowed to live.

Emily had held Remy and Mira through the entire night, thinking it over.

This morning, when Juniper came to take Remy and Mira away, she finally made up her mind.

She told Remy and Mira the one piece of information that man had left behind.

Not because she wanted them to find him.

But because she wanted them to always know, deep in their hearts, that they weren't bastards—they had a father.

But when Remy and Mira were taken away by Layla, and Daniel, Heath, and Layla brought her to the hotel, it hit her too late.

Maybe sending the children away to another city had been nothing but a lie from Juniper all along.

Now, looking at the way Juniper and Daniel were treating her, Emily became even more certain—why would they ever let Remy and Mira live?

"No! I want to see my children—I want to see them one last time, or I swear I'll smash my head against this wall and die right here!" Emily screamed, blood flowing steadily from the wound on her thigh.

Juniper and Daniel both visibly panicked.

Emily couldn't die yet—not until after the wedding night.

If she died now, how would they explain it to Jace?

Daniel clenched his fist and stormed over to Emily, "Fine, you want to see the kids? You want to die? Go ahead—die then! The second you're dead, I'm calling the driver and having them throw the children into Chillstream River to feed the fish!"

Daniel pulled out his phone as he spoke.

Emily didn't dare push it.

What if Mira and Remy were still alive? If she held her ground and they died because of it, could she ever forgive herself?

Daniel saw her eyes waver. He let out a cold snort, "So you're not dying after all? Then smile. Right now. Give me a happy smile."

Emily smiled—but it was the saddest smile imaginable.

"Uncle Daniel, Mr. Turner is here!" Kian Taylor, Daniel's nephew, called out from the doorway of the dressing room.

Daniel gave a nod and looked at Juniper and Layla, "Tell the makeup artist to hurry up. Heath and I are going to meet Mr. Turner."

In the banquet hall, Jace stood there with his big gut, looking exactly the same as always despite it being his wedding day—the same look he wore running with his crew. He had on a short-sleeve shirt, a thick gold chain around his neck, and two full sleeves of tattoos that were hard to look at.

Behind him trailed seven or eight guys with hair dyed every color imaginable.

Without the Garcia family backing him up, how could someone like this have climbed into the ranks of Novaria's third-tier families in just seven years?

When Daniel spotted Jace coming from across the room, he immediately hunched over with a fawning smile and hurried forward, "Mr. Turner, you're finally here! My daughter has been missing you so much she cried and ruined her makeup—she's in the back right now getting it touched up."

Jace let out a cold snort. Did he not know exactly what the Taylor family was up to?

But the reason he was marrying Emily today was simple—he wanted to have his fun, and he wanted to see the Taylor family completely humiliated and destroyed.

"Save it," Jace said, stopping in his tracks and scanning the banquet hall, "What's this? Is this all the guests the Taylor family could pull together?"

Daniel rushed to explain, "Of course not, Mr. Turner. You've done us a great honor by joining our two families—we would never show up with only this many guests. The others are on their way right now."

He turned to Heath, "Heath, what are you standing there for? Call your aunt and your second uncle and tell them to hurry up."

Before he finished speaking, a crowd of Taylor family relatives appeared at the entrance to the banquet hall.

"Please forgive us, Mr. Turner—traffic was terrible. We're so sorry for being late."

"Yes, Mr. Turner, please excuse us."

Jace turned toward the door and curved his lips into a cold smile, "Good, you're here. Wait for me—I'm going to the dressing room to take a look at my bride-to-be."

At the same time, ten figures suddenly appeared in the sky above the hotel.

William walked to the edge of the rooftop and looked out into the distance, "Second Commander Raptor, you and Third Commander Eagle—go to the Taylor family residence, find the two children and get them treated immediately."

"Fourth Commander Crocodile—take the Blood Prison Order to the Adams family in Novaria and bring Jeffrey Adams here to see me at once."

"Fifth Commander Cheetah—wipe out Jace's entire family. Leave no one alive."

"Sixth Commander Lion—take the Red Prison Order to the Novaria mayor's residence and inform him that effective today, I am assuming the role of acting mayor of Novaria."

"The remaining three commanders—come with me and let's go deal with the trash in this hotel."

The moment he finished speaking, six commanders dropped to their knees, took their orders, and scattered in different directions.

Seventh Commander Hound, Eighth Commander Mellivora, and Ninth Commander Fox followed William as he leapt from the rooftop and landed squarely in front of the hotel's main entrance.