Chapter 12
"William, you've lost your mind! This is illegal detention!"
The bodyguard shoved me into the car, and William sat in the driver's seat, immediately locking all the doors.
He looked at me mockingly as I screamed in rage, desperately pulling at the car door trying to escape.
At that moment, I suddenly felt weak all over. Looking at this man I'd loved for ten years, I tried to find on his face the reason he once made my heart flutter.
But after looking for a long time, I realized William had become a stranger at some point—someone unrecognizable and hateful.
Especially the cold sneer in his eyes made me feel like I was just a pet he kept. Whatever he wanted, I could only obediently follow his arrangements.
If I showed even the slightest resistance, he would lock me in a narrow, suffocating cage and take away my freedom.
"Don't look at me like that." William snapped.
Perhaps my gaze was too piercing and made William uncomfortable. His face showed obvious irritation.
He pulled out a cigarette and lighter from his pocket. Just as he flicked the lighter, he stopped, hesitated, and put them back in his pocket.
The car fell silent, the atmosphere cold as an ice cellar.
I gave up resisting and tried to talk to William calmly. "William, since you don't love me anymore, just set me free. There's no point in us draining each other like this."
"Who says I don't love you! Layla, it's because I love you too much, care about you too much, that I've spoiled you into this bratty person you are now!"
My words seemed to hit William's sensitive nerve. He suddenly raised his voice, glaring at me resentfully. "Layla, look at the rich wives in our circle—which one doesn't stay home taking care of her husband and kids? If not that, they're being pressured for a second or third child. I've already given you enough respect and dignity. We've been married three years, you don't want kids, and I've never once pressured you despite the pressure from my mom and relatives. What more do you want?"
"Yes, I cheated, but my heart is still with you. What are you unsatisfied about? And about my cheating—don't you have any responsibility for it?"
"If you hadn't kept refusing to have kids, how would I have ended up with Olivia! When it comes down to it, this is all your fault!"
Hearing William twist the truth like this, I was stunned. It was the first time I'd seen someone justify cheating so righteously and even blame his faithful wife.
I opened my dry lips, wanting to roar in anger and ask him where he got the nerve to say such things.
But when I met his unapologetic face, I suddenly lost all desire to communicate and said the words I'd been thinking through carefully these past days. "William, I don't love you anymore."
The car instantly fell into a deathly silence. A strong chill wrapped around me, cold enough to make me shiver.
William stared at me through clenched teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, as if he might swing his fist at me any second.
Who would have thought that the man I once willingly gave up my career to marry would now make me tremble with fear.
After what felt like forever, he suddenly turned his head and slammed on the gas pedal, speeding the car out of the parking lot.
At breakneck speed, weaving through traffic, we nearly crashed into other cars several times. I grabbed the safety handle in terror.
"William, you're crazy! Stop the car!"
"I am crazy! You drove me crazy!" William sped wildly while growling through clenched teeth, like a madman who'd lost all reason.
The roar of the sports car engine filled every street we passed through.
Soon, we went from busy streets to a deserted mountain road. The car jolted violently, twisting my insides into knots.
In a daze, the car finally stopped.
As soon as the door opened, I weakly hugged a tree and started vomiting.
Just as I was throwing up miserably, my body suddenly lifted into the air.
"William, what are you doing now?"
"If you don't want Ethan Scott kicked out and left homeless, shut up!"
Hearing him mention my younger brother studying abroad, my heart sank. I stopped resisting and let him carry me to the bedroom and throw me on the bed.
Ethan was studying abroad, always under William's arranged care, living in a house owned by the Brown family.
If William really kicked Ethan out, in a foreign country where he knew no one, I couldn't imagine what Ethan would face.
And given the tactics William had used on me these past days, I knew without thinking that he would definitely cause trouble abroad and use Ethan's safety to force me to comply.
But he seemed to forget—I was never someone who let others bully me!
Just as I was thinking this, William swept his arm around me and held me tight. "That's better. Layla, as long as you behave, everyone can be fine. Don't worry, Olivia will never threaten your position. After she has the baby, I'll send her away. When your brother graduates in a few years, I'll get him a good position in my family's company."
"Layla, we'll live our life together like before. Olivia is just passing through—she won't affect my feelings for you."
Hearing his self-righteous speech, I laughed coldly and forcefully slapped his hand away.
Thinking about him having sex with another woman made me nauseous. Every place he touched felt dirty and disgusting.
Expressionless, I pulled out my phone, opened the video of him and Olivia kissing and feeding each other drinks in the private room, and shoved it in his face.
Then, as William's face darkened, I opened the video of him and Olivia having sex in bed.
Instantly, Olivia's clear moans echoed through the room. William's face grew even darker as he reached to grab my phone.
I was prepared and quickly pulled my phone back, looking at him with a half-smile.
"Layla, what are you trying to do?"
"William, you can threaten me, but can't I threaten you? I've already uploaded these videos to the cloud. Even if you take my phone, it's useless. I'm sure reporters would be very interested in the content."
"William, if your sex scandal gets exposed, how many points do you think the Brown Group's stock price will drop?" I lifted my chin challengingly, staring straight into William's slightly panicked eyes.
Sure enough, with people like him, I had to grab their weak spot to make them talk reasonably.
William calmed down, no longer as crazed as before, and said through gritted teeth, "Layla, what exactly do you want?"
"I don't want anything, just divorce me. Then we'll owe each other nothing."
Without thinking, William roared, "Impossible! Layla, I told you, you'll never escape from me in this lifetime! I will never divorce you!"
Just as he finished speaking, his phone rang in his pocket.
Glancing at the caller, William immediately tensed up and straightened, letting me go.