She finally came to her senses, her face as white as a sheet and her eyes welling with tears.

She struggled with all her might.

"Adrian Preston, let go of me! What is this? This is rape..."

"Rape? We’re husband and wife. It’s perfectly reasonable and legal. No one can say a thing about it. Mia Kane, you played me for a fool. This is the price!"

Adrian Preston scoffed.

Mia Kane stared at him, terrified. ’Is this still the Adrian she knew?’

Right now, he was like a complete and utter villain.

"Let me go... Let go..."

She kept struggling, scratching at his hands and biting his shoulder, but it was all to no avail.

RRRIP—

Her clothes tore apart.

The woman’s beautiful, fair body was exposed before him.

She was completely powerless to resist. It felt just like that other night.

Her face was ashen, her heart plunged into an abyss, and her limbs grew cold.

She gave up the struggle.

She closed her eyes, unwilling to look at the face she had once revered as a god.

Adrian Preston kissed her, his lips traveling downward. Only when he realized she wasn’t resisting did he look up at her.

Her body was trembling uncontrollably, her fists clenched tight.

Her eyes were squeezed shut, her lashes trembling and wet, and a tear slid from the corner of her eye.

Adrian Preston snapped back to his senses.

’What am I doing?’

His heart nearly stopped for a second.

The thing he feared most had happened anyway. He couldn’t control himself at all.

He clenched his jaw, hastily took off his jacket, and threw it over her.

Then he opened the car door and quickly got out.

He walked far away from the car, afraid that if he got close enough to smell Mia Kane’s scent, he would be like a beast that had caught the smell of blood—driven into a frenzy.

Only when he was far enough away did he manage to regain his composure.

...

Inside the car, Mia Kane sat up numbly and got dressed.

She clutched Adrian Preston’s jacket tightly around herself, like a drowning person in the middle of the ocean.

She didn’t know how to describe her feelings at that moment.

’Was her heart dead as ashes?’

’She didn’t know...’

Since she couldn’t figure it out, she decided not to think about it.

She opened the car door and got out, stumbling as she walked.

Adrian Preston noticed her small figure swaying, looking as if a gust of wind could knock her over.

He hurried after her. "Where are you going?"

"Home."

"I’ll take you home. It’s not safe for you to be like this."

"Not safe? Isn’t being with you the most unsafe place I could be?"

Mia Kane’s eyes were red. Like an angry little animal, she accused Adrian Preston of his vile act.

Adrian Preston furrowed his brow, his expression grim. He couldn’t refute her.

"Let go of me! I’m going home. I’ll walk by myself..."

"Now is not the time to be stubborn."

Mia Kane wouldn’t listen and insisted on leaving, so Adrian Preston swept her up into his arms and tossed her back into the car.

In a panic, Mia Kane immediately used the joint lock technique he had taught her, kicking out fiercely.

Adrian Preston caught her slender, fair ankle in one hand.

Mia Kane tried to shove his jaw with her other hand, but he easily pinned that too.

Mia Kane had managed to hold back her tears until now, but at this moment, they streamed down her face.

She had learned this precisely so she could fight back if a bad person ever bullied her, so she wouldn’t be so passive.

But she was no match for Adrian Preston at all!

Seeing her large teardrops, Adrian Preston was suddenly at a loss.

"Go ahead and hit me. I absolutely won’t dodge."

He pulled his hands back. Mia Kane didn’t believe him and immediately raised her hand to slap him.

It was a very, very heavy slap. She thought Adrian Preston would dodge it, but she never expected...

SLAP— The sound echoed throughout the car.

Mia Kane’s hand was red and numb with pain, to say nothing of Adrian Preston’s face.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, a frightening sight.

"You... Why didn’t you dodge?"

Mia Kane was terrified when she saw the blood.

"I told you I wouldn’t."

Adrian Preston licked the inside of his mouth, swallowing the blood.

He raised a hand to wipe the corner of his mouth and suddenly let out a laugh.

"Your strength has improved recently. An ordinary person would be no match for you. Looks like I taught you well."

Even now, Adrian Preston was somehow in the mood to joke.

He closed his eyes and let out a breath of resignation.

"I agree to a divorce."

He opened his eyes, his gaze exceptionally clear, as if he had just made a momentous decision.

"Mia Kane, I’ll grant your wish. Just as you wanted."

Mia Kane pressed her lips together and said nothing.

Adrian Preston drove them all the way home.

Mia Kane retreated to her room and took out their marriage certificate. Adrian Preston had the other copy.

Looking at the two of them in the photo, they had been complete strangers back then. The picture was unnatural; they were standing far apart.

’Should I take this chance to divorce Adrian? He’s too dangerous. When he’s good, he’s better than anyone.’

’But when he’s bad, he’s more terrifying than anyone, too.’

’The two of them had no emotional foundation to begin with; they were forced together. Wouldn’t a divorce be better for both of them?’

She couldn’t decide, so she called Shayla Quinn.

"Is it that you don’t want to sleep with him?"

"If it happened naturally, I would be willing, but not under these circumstances. It has to be consensual. If I don’t want to and he forces it, that’s coercion. He was a police officer; he should know better than I do what his actions constitute. He’s supposed to have self-control, but he did it anyway."

"I can’t accept this side of Adrian Preston!"

"You can’t accept the unattainable flower on the high peak, fallen and corrupted into a demon’s fruit?"

"You could say that... Sometimes Adrian Preston feels like a stranger to me. I can’t guess what he’s really trying to do. I think he’s incredibly calculating, and I can’t help but be afraid of him... But I can’t deny that he gives me a sense of security I’ve never felt before. Wherever he is, I feel at ease."

As she was speaking, Adrian Preston knocked on the door.

"There’s something I need to talk to you about."

"Shayla, I have to go. I’ll call you back."

Mia Kane hurriedly hung up and went to open the door.

Her attitude was still cold; she didn’t give him a pleasant look.

"What is it?"

"Come to the study."

Mia Kane followed him to the study. "If you have something to say, say it quickly. I need to get some rest."

"Look over these. If there are no problems, sign them. We can go file the paperwork on Monday."

A divorce agreement was laid out conspicuously on the desk, with a pile of other documents next to it.

Mia Kane opened them curiously and was stunned by the division of assets inside.

A large apartment in the city.

A villa in the wealthy district.

Commercial properties in a prime location.

Two profitable companies.

An... an entire office building?

Plus a cash settlement of one billion?

Mia Kane rubbed her eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing.

’Didn’t we have a contract marriage? How could I get so much from a divorce? Shouldn’t I be the one leaving with nothing?’

The two most surreal things that happened today were—

Adrian Preston actually wanted to *marry* her.

And after divorcing Adrian Preston, she would strike it rich and become a billionaire.

’Was she dreaming, or had Adrian Preston lost his mind?’

She secretly pinched herself and winced in pain.

’It’s not a dream. Then Adrian must be sick.’

’Could that slap have been too hard? Did I give him a concussion and scramble his brains?’

She tremblingly reached out and touched his head.

Adrian Preston frowned. "What are you doing?"

Mia Kane looked at him with concern, a sliver of self-blame finally surfacing in her heart.

’My hand still hurts. If I had known, I wouldn’t have hit him so hard!’

"That slap I gave you... did it break your brain?"