Chapter 3
Declan smashed my phone onto the deck.
The screen instantly shattered into a million cobwebbed cracks, the display flickering a few times before going completely black.
"You really are a psychopath!" Declan's eyes were bloodshot. Pointing at the shattered phone on the ground, he roared at the crowd to mask his own panic. "Don't believe her! This woman is not only delusional, but she's forging legal documents! She's just jealous and came here to ruin our party!"
Hearing this, Chloe immediately clung to Declan again like he was a lifeline, whining coyly through her fake tears, "Declan, I'm so scared. This woman is terrifying. She'd even forge documents—is she going to hurt us?"
"Don't be afraid, baby, I'm right here." Declan patted Chloe's back to comfort her, then snapped his head around to glare at me viciously.
The facade he once maintained was completely gone from his eyes, leaving only naked malice and the violent rage of a humiliated man.
"I gave you a chance, Adelaide, but you just had to push your luck!" Declan lunged forward, slamming both his hands hard into my shoulders.
My body was already at its breaking point, completely caught off guard by his sudden brute force.
I tumbled backward. My lower back slammed hard against the metal guardrail at the edge of the deck, and I plunged heavily down the boarding steps.
My forehead struck the unforgiving brass handrail, sending an agonizing jolt of pain tearing through my entire body.
Warm blood streamed down my temple, blurring my vision.
Sprawled halfway down the steps, my insides churned violently. The trauma from my recent hemorrhage seemed reawakened by the brutal impact, sending waves of excruciating cramps slicing through my abdomen.
"Oh my god! She's bleeding!" someone in the crowd gasped, but not a single person stepped forward to help me up.
The so-called elites and influencers merely backed away, looking at me like I was a plague, terrified of getting caught up in the mess.
Declan stood at the top of the stairs, looking down at my pathetic state from his high horse. There wasn't a shred of pity in his eyes—only a cruel, gleaming satisfaction. He turned and waved at the security guards nearby, barking an order: "Security! Is this how you do your jobs? Letting any random lunatic on board?! Throw this violent psycho off my ship right now! Don't let her dirty my yacht!"
A few burly security guards rushed over immediately.
Completely ignoring my bleeding forehead and deathly pale face, they roughly seized my arms and violently dragged me off the deck like a bag of garbage.
"Let me go!" I gritted my teeth and struggled desperately, but my frail body was utterly useless against these hulking men.
My nails screeched against the teak deck, and a button was ripped from my jacket. I was an absolute, miserable wreck.
"Don't forget to take your meds next time, lady!" Chloe stood on the deck, looking down at me being dragged away, a victorious, wicked smirk curling on her lips. "Stop harassing Declan! Bottom-feeding trash like you isn't even worthy of carrying our shoes!"
Amidst the roaring laughter erupting on the deck, the guards mercilessly dumped me onto the hard concrete of the pier.
The freezing wind sliced across my cheeks like knives. The blood on my forehead had begun to clot, matting my hair.
I struggled to prop myself up with my trembling hands, staring at the brilliantly lit Poseidon.
This was the man I had given my all to love and support.
Just to feed his vanity, he didn't just betray me—he slandered me in public, physically attacked me, and threw me out like garbage.
Standing at the edge of the yacht, Declan looked down at me sprawled on the ground. Smugly adjusting his suit, he turned, ready to head back to his extravagant party.
Right at that moment, the deafening roar of a fleet of engines violently ripped through the silence of the marina.
Everyone froze instinctively, their heads snapping toward the thunderous noise. At the entrance of the pier, over a dozen black Rolls-Royce Phantoms glided in like phantoms, their blinding headlights instantly illuminating the entire marina as brightly as day.
The vehicles didn't even slow down. With unrestrained arrogance and dominance, they smashed straight through the marina's security barriers, pulling up in perfect unison right in front of the Poseidon's boarding ramp, completely cutting off every exit from the yacht.
The car doors swung open simultaneously, and dozens of hulking bodyguards clad in black suits and sunglasses flooded out like a tidal wave.
Without a single word, they rapidly spread out, forming an impenetrable human wall that completely surrounded the yacht. The chilling, highly disciplined aura they radiated instantly terrified the once-arrogant elite and influencers on the deck into dead silence.
The smug smile froze on Declan's face. Completely bewildered by this sudden turn of events, he instinctively shielded Chloe behind him.
A bodyguard respectfully pulled open the door of the central Rolls-Royce.
A cane emerged from the car first, striking the pavement with a heavy, heart-stopping thud.
Before long, an elderly woman with silver hair, dressed in a bespoke black velvet gown, slowly stepped out of the vehicle, supported by two personal assistants.
Though her face bore the deep lines of time, her piercing blue eyes were as profoundly cold and sharp as polar glaciers. She exuded the absolute, terrifying aura of someone who commanded immense power and held the very power of life and death in her hands.
She was a living legend in the financial world; the reigning matriarch of the Windsor family—my grandmother.
Grandmother's icy gaze swept past the blockaded yacht before finally landing on me, sprawled on the concrete and covered in blood.
In that split second, I saw the veins on the back of her hand violently bulge against her cane.
"Since when is it the place of a pack of sewer rats to bully the sole heir of the Windsor family?" My grandmother's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable, thunderous wrath that resonated clearly across the entire marina.
