"What? Why would he do that? What did we ever do to offend him?" Mrs. Yeaton was also shocked and incredulous.

"And I actually treated him like a future son-in-law. To think he'd betray me like this!" Roland's chest heaved. All the respect and flattery he had shown lan now turned to hatred and fury.

Thinking back, lan had helped him go public and then with overseas investments. Every step now seemed like a carefully laid trap, his grand design from the very beginning, all to bankrupt Yeaton Holdings.

"How could it be Mr. Goodwin? Isn't he with Vanessa-" Mrs. Yeaton's eyes flashed with intense anger. "Was it that wretched girl Vanessa who told him to do this?"

Only then did Roland think of that daughter, his illegitimate one, the person who had connected the Yeatons with lan.

Roland grabbed his coat and stormed out. He had to go find out what kind of grudge his illegitimate daughter had with lan. If they could resolve it, maybe lan would let them off the hook.

Behind him, Mrs. Yeaton stomped her foot and cursed, "Oh, what a jinx! To bring such a disaster upon our family!"

"Mom! What's wrong?"

"Faye, hurry and drive your father. He's been drinking tonight." Mrs. Yeaton pushed her daughter, who had just come downstairs, toward the door.

Faye hurried to the garage and saw her father getting into the car. She ran over and stopped him. "Dad, wherever you're going, I'll drive you. You've been drinking."

Roland opened the back door. "To Vanessa's house."

Seeing her father's accusatory expression, Faye immediately said, "Alright, I'll take you."

In contrast to the situation at the Yeaton residence, Vanessa's villa was brightly lit and quiet.

She was sitting on a sofa on the second floor, a dozen jewelry boxes spread out before her, containing all the jewels she had acquired over the years.

Under the lights, there were

sparkling diamonds, brilliant gemstones, and top-grade pearls, each piece priceless on the market. After the collapse of Yeaton Holdings, apart from the fifty million in her bank account, these were the only spoils she had left.

Tonight, she felt uneasy, and only these trophies from her past could give her a sense of security.

She picked up a diamond bracelet. Henry had given it to her for her birthday one year. It was a limited edition, and Henry had paid a premium to get it. At the time, she had been so moved she cried.

She still remembered Henry's deep, devoted eyes. But compared to lan, a true mountain of gold, Henry, who had yet to inherit his family's fortune, lacked the same appeal.

She put down the diamond bracelet and her gaze fell on several larger, more ornate velvet boxes next to it. Inside lay her real source of confidence-six sets of jewelry from lan.

She picked up a rare emerald necklace, its stones like the deep eyes of a forest, a symbol of status and wealth.

Each of these six sets was worth tens of millions, with a total value of two hundred and eighty million.

They hadn't been willingly given by lan. Rather, they were trophies she had painstakingly schemed for, using both hard and soft tactics.

It had been for her first solo concert

in the country, an event she had

prepared for over a year. To showcase her extraordinary charm, she had spared no expense and didn't want to seem cheap when it came to her jewelry.

After picking out six diamond sets, she kept pestering lan to pay for them at his office, during his business trips, even at dinners. She remembered the day he finally said yes. He was swamped with work, and after she'd shamelessly begged hira once more, he stayed quiet for a few seconds before coolly telling his assistant, Gavin, "Go handle it."

No extra words, as if he were shooing away a pest, his expression one of detached

annoyance, wanting only to resolve the trouble quickly.

But in the end, the six priceless necklaces were delivered to her.