The long, quiet hallway stretched on and on. Her heels landed on the carpet, swallowing up almost every bit of sound.

The woman wore a light purple dress that fell to her knees. Her long hair hung loose over her shoulders, dyed that trendy brown everyone was obsessed with lately. She moved at an easy pace, neither fast nor slow, walking from one end of the corridor to the other.

Outside a suite, a man said nothing and simply handed over a key card with both hands.

With a soft click, barely audible, the door unlocked. The woman pushed it open with her slim arm and stepped inside.

"Welcome, everybody, to this absolutely explosive live broadcast. Next up, let me give you a warm intro to our two special starring guests." Natalie Harlow held her phone high, the camera pointed straight at the two people on the messy bed, both so startled they looked completely blanked out.

Ethan Mercer’s face turned green on the spot. In a scene this humiliating, who wouldn’t lose it?

Natalie flipped the camera again, aiming it at the woman trying to disappear under the blanket. Grinning brightly, she said, "Come on, come on, let’s give our leading lady a nice close-up. Don’t worry, I turned on beauty mode, filters, effects, the whole package. You two are guaranteed to be the prettiest stars in this live show."

"Natalie Harlow, are you insane?" Ethan roared, grabbing a pillow to block himself, eyes blazing as he glared at the woman causing this mess.

Natalie didn’t get mad. She actually smiled wider. The camera didn’t dodge him at all, catching every bit of his furious expression. "Our male lead is clearly very emotional right now. Maybe the six-six-six from the viewers isn’t hype enough. Come on, guys, spam the chat, send the rockets and gifts, let’s push this stream straight to number one."

Ethan completely snapped. He grabbed the phone on the table, the ashtray, anything he could throw, and hurled it all at her while shouting, "Natalie Harlow, turn it off. Turn it off right now."

But Natalie acted like she hadn’t heard a word. She even sent herself a wave of gifts, pushing the stream’s traffic to a level it had probably never seen before.

Wrapped in the blanket, Ethan finally lost all patience and lunged at her. He snatched the phone out of her hand and smashed it hard onto the floor.

Natalie bent over laughing, almost delighted. "Wow. That’s all it takes to make you mad?"

Ethan shot her a vicious look. "You’re asking for it. Don’t push me into killing you."

Natalie wasn’t scared of his cheap threat in the slightest. She crossed her arms over her chest and said coldly, "When you were sneaking around with my sister behind my back, did it ever cross your mind that I might want to kill both of you too?"

"You—"

"Even rabbits know not to eat the grass near their own burrow. Ethan Mercer, you can be trashy, sure, but did you really have to drag your filth into my family?"

Ethan glared at her, eyes burning. "Get out. Get out right now. From this day on, we are done. We’ll have nothing to do with each other ever again."

Natalie lifted a hand and cut him off before he could keep going. Her face was full of mockery. "Please. With a body like yours, I wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot pole. And the one hiding under the blanket, stop pretending. Like mother, like daughter, huh? The older one stole my mom’s place, and now the younger one steals mine. Blood really doesn’t lie."

"Natalie Harlow, are you done yet? We’re ending the engagement. Stop clinging to me from now on. Get out!"

Natalie Harlow slanted a cold glance at the motionless lump under the blanket, then said with a sneer, "Trash belongs with trash. May you two stay locked together forever. Let me be the first to wish you a long, happy marriage. Seriously, don’t ever let go of each other. Consider it your little contribution to society."

Bang.

The suite door was slammed shut so hard it practically shook the wall.

Natalie was trembling from head to toe with rage, but she still kept her chin up, back straight, and walked forward without looking sideways once.

She was the eldest daughter of the Harlow family. No one got to step on her head and show off.

"Natalie, Natalie, over here."

Outside the hotel, the dry rustle of falling leaves swallowed up most of the stray noise in the air.

The second she stepped out, someone grabbed her by the arm and quickly pulled her beside a parked sedan.

Molly Sinclair lowered her voice. "Your livestream totally blew up. The reporters got wind of it and they’re all rushing over."

Natalie gritted her teeth. "You were right, Molly. Serena Harlow really is messing around with Ethan Mercer."

"It’s been all over school forever. You were the only one still trusting that jerk like he hung the moon. Now you saw it with your own eyes, so you believe it, right?" Molly sighed, then frowned. "But you made such a huge scene out of this. How are you going to clean it up?"

"What am I scared of? I’m not the one cheating." Natalie lifted a hand and smoothed her bangs, trying to look calm. "Are there a lot of reporters?"

"Yeah. They’ve basically blocked the whole front entrance." Molly looked even more uneasy. "If your dad finds out, is he going to kill you?"

Natalie looked totally unbothered. "Please. In his eyes, all that matters now is that shameless mother-daughter duo. Even if I’m the one getting cheated on, as long as Serena sheds a few tears, he’d probably want to hang me up and beat me himself."

"This really is a nightmare to deal with, but at least you got some revenge out of it. Why don’t you stay at my place for a couple days and hide until things cool down?"

"You can hide for a day, maybe two, but not forever. That bastard Ethan Mercer actually said he wants to break off the engagement." Natalie yanked hard at the hem of her dress, her eyes burning. "The nerve of him, seriously. He still has the face to bring up our engagement?"

"That engagement was set by your grandfather and his grandfather. Who would even dare say the words 'call it off'?"

Natalie lowered her head, and for a second the pride on her face cracked. "They’re just bullying me because my grandfather’s gone."

Molly pulled her into a hug. "Honestly, getting away from that kind of trash is better for you."

"But I’m not okay with this." Natalie bent down, picked up a stone, and threw it forward hard. "I’m not about to let that cheating pair get off easy for free."

"What else are you planning to do? You already pulled off a livestream stunt. Now the whole city knows Ethan Mercer and Serena Harlow are together. What more do you want?"

Natalie went quiet and thought it over carefully. Then all of a sudden, a sly little grin curled at the corner of her lips.

Molly Sinclair was so thrown off by that dark, creepy smile on Natalie Harlow’s face that her scalp practically went numb. Looking stunned, she blurted out, "Babe, if you’ve got something to say, just say it. Please stop smiling like that. It’s seriously freaking me out."

Natalie narrowed her eyes slightly. "If I remember right, Ethan Mercer is scared to death of his third uncle, yeah?"

Molly nodded at once. "Everyone in Ningcheng knows about Third Master Mercer. He’s the kind of big shot who could stomp once and make the whole capital shake. Who wouldn’t be scared of him?"

Natalie tugged at the neckline of her top with a smug little flourish and lifted her chin. "So, what do you think? How attractive am I?"

Molly nearly choked on her own breath and coughed hard. Her eyes went wide. "Wait, don’t tell me you’re planning to—"

Natalie cut in without even trying to hide it. "Doesn’t Ethan think he can do whatever he wants just because the Mercer family owns the sky over Ningcheng? Fine. Then I’ll rip that sky open for him. Let’s see what gives him the right to act so arrogant in front of me after that."

"Natalie, did that scumbag cheating on you short-circuit your brain or what?" Molly raised a hand and pressed it to her forehead, checking her temperature. "You seem normal..."

Natalie brushed her hand away and said with a straight face, "Help me find out when Third Master Mercer is coming back. I need time to get ready for our first encounter."

Molly stared at her like she’d just heard something insane. "Natalie, you do know the name King of Hell Mercer didn’t come out of nowhere, right? Over the years, who knows how many women tried to get on his radar, but nothing ever happened. People are practically starting to wonder if the man has some kind of... special preference."

Natalie gave a cold snort. "What’s there to be scared of? I already got humiliated by Ethan putting a green hat on me. If I can survive that, why would I be scared of one Third Master Mercer?"

One Third Master Mercer?

Inside the car, the air turned painfully heavy.

The driver, sitting in the front seat, looked more and more strained. A few times, he almost rolled down the window to politely suggest that the two women whispering by the car should maybe pick another place to chat. But every single time, the sharp look from the back seat shut him right up, forcing him to play the role of a blind, deaf professional.

Dominic Mercer lazily turned the ring on his finger, looking completely unconcerned as he listened with obvious interest to the lively discussion happening outside.

Seduce Third Master Mercer.

Then use him as a move in the game and blow the whole thing sky-high.

Honestly, not bad.

Pretty promising, actually.

The driver’s back went ramrod straight. Sweat slid down his temples as he carefully glanced at his boss through the rearview mirror. This man never showed anger or pleasure on his face, but come on, he had to give some kind of reaction, right?

If those two young ladies kept talking, the next topic might be getting pregnant first and marrying after.

What the driver truly could not wrap his head around was this: who on earth had given these two the guts to stand right next to Third Master Mercer and openly discuss how to sleep with him?

That level of courage...

Really was something else.