In the old house of the Lu family...
As soon as Janessa entered the yard, she heard the sound of a speeding car.
The car skidded to a stop with the driver-side door so dangerously close to her.
Rayan rolled down the window and stared at her with a livid face and a pair of fierce eyes.
He looked as if tearing her to pieces was the only way to vent his hatred.
"Do you think complaining to my mother will stop me from divorcing you? I have solid grounds to end
my marriage with you.You're murdering your own husband.Do you think my mother will protect you, an
outsider, over me, her own flesh and blood?"
"It was only a matter of time before your mother found out that I hurt you because you were protecting
your mistress.Gracie is the last person she wants to see by your side.Are you still so confident that
she'll choose you over me?"
Janessa felt a little guilty when she spoke, but she still walked into the yard without looking at her
husband.
She was not sure if her mother-in-law would support her.
After all, she beat her son.
Like Rayan said, she was just an outsider.
But she decided to take a risk.
Even if it was not her who complained this time.
She had to thank the snitch.
Last time, it was the snitch who reported to her mother-in-law that Rayan chased after Gracie.
"Are you threatening me?"
All of a sudden, Rayan reached out his hand from the window, grabbed Janessa by the collar, and
dragged her against the car.
The body of Rayan's car felt cold against her skin even if the summer sun was high up in the air.
Janessa looked into his fiery eyes and smiled indifferently.
"Threatening you? I'm just taking what I need.Besides, you broke the rules of the game.You're in no
position to whine."
Rayan and Janessa's marriage united the Lu and Qiu families and their businesses.
Although the Lu Group had invested a lot to keep the Qiu Group afloat, the Lu Group had also
significantly profited from it.
Now he wanted to divorce her and destroy the Qiu Group.
She would not let him succeed.
"The rules of the game? You and Gordon had been inappropriately close to each other while you were
in the hospital for several days.Did you think I didn't know? You even cooperated with him to abort my
child! You're the one who broke the rules! Until now, Rayan had not asked the hospital why she had to
abort the baby.
His focus was only on Gordon's signature on the paperwork and on the fact that she had an abortion.
Janessa's eyes brimmed with disappointment.
Even if she did not love him, it still hurt her that he believed that she would kill an innocent baby just
like that.
"You make me sick!"
Without realizing it, she raised her voice.
The hysterical look on her face was pitiful.
She wrapped her hands around her husband's and broke his grip on her collar.
As Rayan watched Janessa's face turn cold, he felt a sense of loss.
He pursed his lips as anger began surging in his chest once again.
The thought of what his wife had done made his head spin with fury.
"This marriage is over!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he stepped on the accelerator and drove past Janessa to the center
of the yard.
When Janessa entered the villa, she did not see Rayan around.
Instead, she saw her mother-in-law come out of the kitchen holding a bowl of soup.
"Janessa, come and drink this bowl of soup."
Every time she came to the old house, her mother-in-law gave her some soup, which she believed
could help her get pregnant. Her mother-in-law might not know that she had already been pregnant.
She walked over and started drinking the soup.
She observed her mother-in-law's reaction as she tipped the bowl into her mouth and slowly drained its
contents.
There was no difference.
After finishing the soup, Janessa waited quietly for her mother-in-law to speak.
"Don't worry about Gracie, okay? She will never get my or Abel's approval.You are our only daughter-in
-law."
Janessa did not expect that her mother-in-law would talk to her about Gracie.
It seemed that she knew everything that happened at the villa.
"But Rayan..."
"Leave that ungrateful brat to me.For now, you must take utmost care of yourself.You will get pregnant
again, alright?"
It turned out that she knew about her losing the baby after all.
Janessa smiled with self-mockery.
Her mother-in- law knew what had happened at the villa.
How could she not know that she had recently lost her child? As soon as Rayan's mother finished her
words, Rayan came out of the study with a gloomy face.
He looked at Janessa more fiercely this time.
Withdrawing his gaze, he strode out.
When he reached the front door, the butler stopped him.
"Young master, your mother wants you to stay the night."
Clenching his hands into fists and gritting his teeth, Rayan turned around and walked toward his room
without saying a word.
Abel went downstairs then and stood beside Janessa.
"The Lu family is responsible for the fall of the Qiu Group.I've asked everyone to do their best to save it,
and all is well so far."
It had been a long time since Rayan started taking action against the Qiu Group.
Janessa wondered why Abel suddenly want to meddle in this now.
The truth was, the business of the Qiu Group had almost returned to normal and the two families were
tied together to some extent.
If Rayan tried to sabotage things now, it would be like picking up a gun and shooting his own foot.
"Thank you, Dad."
All of a sudden, Janessa felt that she could not understand the Lu family at all.
She truly felt like an outsider.
After talking to her in-laws, Janessa saw the butler take out a medical kit and go upstairs.
Frowning, she followed him and asked, "Where are you going, Atlas?"
"Young hostess, the young master was injured just now.I was on my way to patch him up."
The Lu family had a strict family tradition, especially when it came to the matter of educating Rayan.
He being punished this time must have something to do with his relationship with Gracie.
No wonder he looked at her with such hateful eyes.
Looking at Rayan's closed bedroom door, Janessa took the medicine box and said, "Let me do it.Ask
the kitchen to cook some tonic soup and bring it up later."
"Okay, young hostess."
Looking at the well-educated and reasonable Janessa, the butler could not help shaking his head and
murmuring, "Why does the young master keep chasing after Gracie when he already has such a good
wife?"
Taking a deep breath, Janessa pushed open the door to her husband's bedroom.
Rayan was sitting on the bed with his bare back to her.
There were criss cross marks all over his back, and some of them were actively bleeding.
The punishment was too harsh this time.
Whipping his head toward the sound of the door opening, Rayan snapped, "Who let you in? Get out!"
He glared at Janessa who was standing at the door with a medicine box in her hand.
He found himself growing more and more upset.
It was not the first time that he had been punished because of Gracie, but this time, it was also
because of the woman standing in front of him.
"Believe me, I don't want to care for you either, but we're in your parents’ house right now.
We have to put up with each other and sleep in the same room tonight."
Ignoring her husband's vicious expression, Janessa put the medical kit on the bed and took out a
couple of cotton balls and some disinfectant.
"Just get out of my way.I can do it myself."
When he was about to turn around, she pushed him down on the bed.
"If you cooperate, I'll be gentle.Otherwise, we're going to do this the hard way."
Being forced to sit down on the bed, Rayan winced in pain.
As his wife towered over him and spoke to him in an emotionless voice, he pressed his lips together in
a thin line.
After a few moments, he decided to let Janessa deal with his wounds.
His back was full of bleeding cuts and small bruises.
Half an hour later, they were cleaned and bandaged.
In the evening, when they went to bed, Janessa locked the door of the bedroom and lied down on the
sofa with a blanket.
She knew that the night was destined to be a sleepless one.
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