Chapter 6 6

"Yara Vance, you’ve gone too far!" 

Olivia could no longer suppress her emotions. No matter how poorly she and Yara got along, she had never imagined her cousin would go to such lengths to actively scheme against her. 

Ethan remained seated against the wall, his eyes half-closed and his expression completely calm, as though everything unfolding before him was precisely within his expectations.

"It’s not that I’ve gone too far; it’s that your heart is pitch black! You wanted to bring ruin to the entire Vance family!" Yara’s sharp retort triggered another wave of hushed whispers among the relatives, who clearly found her accusations reasonable. 

Olivia looked at the cold, unforgiving faces surrounding her, a sudden chill sweeping through her body. The sheer weight of helplessness made it difficult for her to even remain upright in her chair. Finally, her beautiful eyes locked onto Yeqi Vance. She refused to believe that her grandfather, who had once doted on her more than anyone, would actually side with Yara. 

Unfortunately, she was dead wrong. 

Yeqi spared a cold, indifferent glance at Olivia and announced, "In light of Olivia’s actions that caused significant financial losses to the corporation and brought a crisis upon the family, she is hereby stripped of her position as General Manager. She will be reassigned to a minor branch outlet as a regular sales clerk to properly discipline and train her! Meeting adjourned!" 

Having delivered his judgment, Yeqi stood up and walked straight out of the room, with the rest of the family members filing out quickly behind him.

Once they reached the corporate office area, Yara, still unsatisfied with her victory, turned around to gloat and look Olivia up and down. 

With a thoroughly mocking tone, she said loudly enough for the surrounding employees to hear, "My dear cousin, if you ask me, ever since you tied yourself to that absolute loser, your taste has hit rock bottom. Look at your outfit—I highly doubt the entire thing costs more than fifty dollars." 

Yara’s elevated voice naturally drew the curious and whispering stares of numerous staff members. 

Olivia’s heart had turned entirely cold. She had absolutely no desire to engage with Yara’s mockery; her only thought was to leave the building as fast as possible.

However, Ethan stepped forward and said calmly, "If my wife wants exclusive, one-of-a-kind clothes, I can buy them for her."

Garrett burst into a roar of laughter. "Haha...! You’re going to be the death of me, loser! Sure, those five-dollar garments from the clearance liquidation markets are technically 'one-of-a-kind.' One-of-a-kind cheap and trashy!" 

The moment Garrett finished speaking, everyone’s mocking gazes locked onto Ethan once more.

Ethan looked genuinely pained and regretful as he muttered, "Damn it, then I got ripped off. I bought this outfit from a street vendor for ten dollars. It looks like some greedy middleman made a massive profit off of me." 

"Hahaha...!" 

This time, it wasn't just Garrett and his wife laughing. Even the surrounding employees who had gathered to watch the drama couldn't hold back their mocking laughter.

"Ethan, that is enough!" 

"Have you not embarrassed me and yourself enough today?!" 

Olivia’s face flushed a deep crimson as she snapped at Ethan in a furious roar before storming angrily toward the elevator. 

She regretted her choices to the absolute limit. If she had known things would turn out like this, she wouldn't have allowed Ethan to accompany her to the company even if it killed her. Today, she had endured the ultimate humiliation, and even the last shred of her dignity and self-respect had been thoroughly obliterated by Ethan’s sheer buffoonery.

Watching Olivia storm off in a blinding rage, Ethan maintained a completely innocent and victimized expression. 

"Your wife was driven away by your utter stupidity, loser! Why don't you hurry up and go buy some of those 'one-of-a-kind, cheap' clothes to appease her?!" Garrett jeered. 

"Haha!" The couple erupted into another round of cruel laughter.

Ethan swept a cold, piercing glance over the two of them, his eyes finally locking onto Yara. 

"Even if my wife wears the cheapest clothes available, she will always be a majestic phoenix soaring high above. Unlike your wife—even if she struts through the streets draped in luxury Dior, she will never be anything more than a common, tacky pheasant." 

With that, Ethan turned on his heel and walked straight toward the elevator.

Yara’s face flushed a deep, suffocating purple with rage, while Garrett beside her bristled with fury. Neither of them had expected to end up humiliated and slapped verbally by the very man they were mocking. 

"You useless piece of garbage! How dare you insult my wife? Stand right there!" Garrett roared, but Ethan had already stepped into the elevator.

Ethan ran lightly down to the first-floor lobby, finally catching up with Olivia near the main entrance.

"I don't expect you to solve my problems or shield me from the storms of life! But I beg of you, leave me with just a single shred of dignity and face in front of others. Is that too much to ask?!" Olivia yelled at Ethan, continuing her furious stride toward the exit.

Ethan followed closely behind her like a dedicated, earnest husband, explaining softly, "They can humiliate and insult me all they want, but if they dare insult you... I will never allow it!"

"Olivia! What’s wrong? Why are you so furious?" 

Just as Olivia was about to exit the main lobby, a man and a woman walked in from the opposite direction, meeting them face-to-face. 

The woman was Clara, Olivia’s best friend, whom Ethan recognized instantly. The man, however, was someone Ethan was seeing for the very first time. 

Upon seeing Clara, Olivia forced a faint, strained smile onto her face and said, "I’m fine... What brings you two here?" 

Clara was about to answer when she noticed Ethan walking out behind them. A strange, mocking smirk flashed across her face as she turned to Olivia. "Didn't I mention it to you yesterday? It’s about the tickets for the global superstar Ivy’s concert." 

She turned to praise her companion, "I spoke to Young Master Stephen about getting the tickets, and I honestly didn't expect that a single phone call from him would settle the entire matter flawlessly!"

Stephen, the young master from a third-rate family in Royal Port, spoke up with an air of pure arrogance and condescension. "Olivia, securing tickets for this concert requires nothing more than a single word from me. Here, these are three front-row VIP tickets—the kind that regular people can't buy no matter how much money they offer. If I weren't close friends with Young Master Weis, the sole heir to Jade Jewelry Group, I wouldn't have been able to get my hands on them." 

Stephen’s family had been thriving heavily in recent years, solely due to their reliance on the incredibly powerful Weis family.

While Stephen was showing off his influence and attempting to curry favor with Olivia, Ethan’s cold, detached voice suddenly sliced through the air from behind them. "If my wife wants to watch a concert, she has absolutely no need for the handouts or flattery of others."

"Shut your damn mouth!" Olivia snapped sharply. She was already at the peak of her frustration and couldn't bear the sound of Ethan’s voice. The moment he spoke, she immediately lashed out to silence him.

"And who exactly is this...?" Stephen asked, looking Ethan up and down with a thoroughly mocking and superior expression.

"Oh, him...? That’s just Olivia’s useless failure of a husband..." Clara jeered.

Olivia hurriedly tried to cut her off, "Clara, that’s enough..."

"Did I say something wrong?" Clara continued completely unfazed. "For over two years, he’s been a total parasite living off of you, eating and drinking from your hard work without achieving a single thing. If he isn't a failure, what is he? If you ask me, since Young Master Stephen loves and cherishes you so deeply, you should divorce this loser immediately and marry him!"

Stephen smiled arrogantly and added, "Heh, Olivia, I actually witnessed that wedding that shook the entirety of Royal Port two years ago. Back then, I thought your husband would be a dragon among men or the descendant of some hidden empire. But seeing him now... it seems Clara’s description is completely accurate." 

Seeing Ethan dressed in nothing but cheap street-vendor clothes, Stephen’s mockery grew entirely unrestrained.

He continued without a shred of shame, "Olivia, you’ve known my feelings for you for a very long time. Rest assured, the second you get a divorce, I will be ready to marry you in the very next second." 

Because Stephen was fully convinced that Ethan was nothing more than a spineless, powerless loser, he spoke with absolute disregard for boundaries. 

He extended his hand, offering the tickets directly to Olivia. "Take the tickets. I would be honored to accompany you to see Ivy’s performance."

At that exact moment, Ethan took a firm, commanding step forward, throwing his body directly between the two of them like an unyielding wall.

"Today, you insulted me, and I won't hold you accountable for it just yet," Ethan said, his voice ringing out like thunder, carrying an immense weight that shook the air. 

"But you had better mark my words and remember this clearly: I am the sole, rightful husband of Olivia Vance!"

All three pairs of eyes locked onto him in absolute shock and bewilderment. In that fleeting second, Olivia suddenly felt as though the man standing before her had grown incredibly imposing, exuding a powerful aura of authority that completely contradicted the weak, fragile image she had known for two years.

Ethan’s eyes flashed with absolute confidence as he continued, "If my wife wishes to see a concert, I will secure the tickets for her myself." 

"Furthermore, you should know—it doesn't stop at mere concert tickets; as long as she desires it, I can order Ivy to come and perform for her alone, as a private show for her eyes only!"