Chapter 483

Chapter 483

A cold, menacing voice crackled through the phone, "You got two choices. One, bring Diana back safe, and we'll settle our scores in the business world later. Two, hurt her in any way, and I promise you'll lose everything, including your freedom, before dawn."

This wasn't a threat; it was a fact.

Diana's face was as calm as a still lake. She didn't even glance at the hundred-million-dollar necklace. Her eyes were locked on Stanley, who had already stood up.

Stanley adjusted his suit jacket and turned to leave without a second thought. As he passed by Diana, he didn't pause but whispered something only the two of them could hear.

"Wait for me."

---

The atmosphere in the car on the way back was suffocating.

The hundred-million-dollar "Victoria's Tears" necklace sat between them, its blue glow from the velvet box now seeming like a mocking eye.

Alex stared intently at Diana's profile, the anger and humiliation from the event festering and swelling in the confined space, ready to explode.

Stanley's words were like a poisonous thorn lodged in his heart, making him restless. He thought he had won, but he ended up being the biggest joke of the night. He spent a hundred million dollars, not to win Diana's heart, but to earn Stanley's contemptuous smile.

"You knew he was alive all along, didn't you?" Alex's voice was hoarse, like sandpaper on wood.

Diana didn't look at him, her gaze fixed on the dazzling city lights outside, which reflected in her cold eyes without leaving a trace.

"Answer me!" Alex's patience snapped, and he grabbed her wrist with a force that seemed intent on breaking her bones.

Diana winced in pain and finally turned to look at him. Her eyes showed no panic, no fear, just a cold desolation.

"Yes." She calmly uttered the single word.

That word ignited Alex's last shred of reason.

"So, you agreed to come to the gala with me, you smiled at me, you let me buy you things, all just an act? You two were playing me?" His eyes were bloodshot, and the veins on his forehead throbbed, making him look like he was ready to devour someone.

"I only let you buy what you wanted to buy," Diana stated matter-of-factly. From start to finish, it was all his wishful thinking.

"Well, well, Diana!" Alex laughed in anger, releasing her wrist and grabbing the necklace box, hurling it against the car window.

The box popped open, and the dazzling necklace tumbled out, the priceless sapphire clattering against the car's interior.

The driver, seeing this through the rearview mirror, was so startled that the steering wheel wobbled.

"You think just because he's back, you're saved?" Alex leaned in, trapping Diana between the seat and himself, his breath reeking of alcohol and rage.

"Let me tell you, Diana, you won't escape from me! Who is he? A stray dog that should have died three years ago!"

His words were venomous, each one like a poisoned needle trying to pierce Diana's facade.

But Diana laughed.

It was a light, cold laugh, tinged with a hint of pity, as if she were looking at a clown.

"Alex," she raised her eyes to meet his crazed gaze, "don't you get it yet?"

"Get what?"

"You've already lost." Diana's voice was soft but clear, each word filled with power. "From the moment you saw me with him that night, the moment you pushed me away, you lost."

"All these years, you thought you were tormenting me, but you were only tormenting yourself. You used infidelity and emotional abuse to get back at me, just to prove you didn't care. But look at you now, like a gambler who's lost everything, pathetic and laughable."

Her words were like a scalpel, cutting through the arrogance and brutality that shielded Alex's bleeding heart.

His face turned deathly pale.

"Shut up!" he roared, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"Why should I? Because I hit the mark?" Diana's gaze grew sharper.

"You don't hate me for betraying you; you hate that you can't control me. You bought that necklace not because it suits me, but because it's expensive, because it satisfies your pathetic, twisted need for conquest."

"You think money can buy my heart, Alex, you're too naive."

"Naive?" Alex laughed as if he'd heard the biggest joke, grabbing Diana's chin and forcing her to look at him. "I'll show you what's not naive!"

He leaned in, his face filled with a desire to punish and possess, wanting to assert his dominance in the most primal way.

Just then, Diana's phone rang.

The clear ringtone was jarring in the tense car.

Alex paused, his eyes catching the name on the screen—Stanley.

The name was like a bucket of boiling oil poured onto his already explosive anger.

"You can't wait even a second!" he growled, reaching for Diana's phone.

Diana was quicker. She used all her strength to push him away. Caught off guard, Alex slammed into the opposite car door.

Taking advantage of the moment, Diana quickly answered the call and put it on speaker.

"Hello?" Her voice had a slight tremor, but it was mostly steady.

"Where are you?" Stanley's calm voice came through, filled with reassuring strength.

"On the way."

"Is Alex with you?"

"Yes."

Stanley was silent for two seconds, then said, "Tell him the Smith Group's overseas account irregularities report will be sent to the disciplinary committee in half an hour. Also, I'm very interested in his father's secret account at Aquilonia Bank."

Each word was like a hammer blow, striking Alex's heart.

His face drained of color, replaced by fear and disbelief.

"How... how do you know?" His voice trembled, looking at Diana's phone as if it were a demon.

Stanley didn't answer his question, instead continuing to speak to Diana, "Give him the phone."

Diana handed the phone to Alex.