The front door clicked open, and Steven walked in. He looked different today—the usual elegant smile lingered on his lips, but his eyes were cold as a frozen lake.
"Daisy, tell me everything." He unlocked his phone and held it out to her, tapping the screen.
It was a video. It showed the entire process of Daisy using the delivery form to make Lily disappear.
"You made Lily vanish forever, didn't you? I have backups of this video." Steven pocketed the phone and spoke to the ashen-faced Daisy. "Let's make a deal. Give me all your remaining delivery forms, and I'll destroy the video."
"How... how did you..." Daisy was trembling so hard she could barely speak.
"To figure out where your priceless antiques were coming from, I installed pinhole cameras in your apartment. The footage streams directly to my phone." Steven gave a light laugh. "You trusted Lily even less than you trusted me—though, then again, having a friend like you, she was pretty unlucky."
"What do you mean?" Daisy frowned.
"Lily was meeting with shareholders privately to lobby them not to kick you off the board. She was patient—meeting them one by one, negotiating terms, and finally getting it done. You were still in the hospital at the time. She decided to wait until you'd recovered to tell you the details, so you wouldn't worry. Who would've thought—she went to all that trouble for your sake, and this is what she got." Steven sprawled on the sofa, his long legs draped over the coffee table.
"Don't make excuses for her. You think I don't know about you two?" Daisy spat bitterly. "While I was sick, you claimed you were too busy with work—you were going on dates with her every day!"
"Which just proves the shareholders are right about you." Steven sneered. "You're like every other foolish woman—nothing in your head but romance. Even though Lily and I broke up, I'll say this: she's a grateful, kind woman, and very dedicated. She always appreciated everything you did for her. When you were in the hospital, the company had financial problems. Lily ran herself ragged, reaching out to everyone, pulling strings to save the company—including me. Honestly, I still had feelings for her and hoped to rekindle something. But Lily had completely moved on. She said she'd known about us for a while, and thanked you for showing her my true colors. She's not like you—she wouldn't steal someone else's partner."
Daisy shrieked, losing all composure. "What are you, then? A cheating scumbag! You have no right to lecture me!"
"I may be a scumbag, but that makes us a perfect match." Steven smiled elegantly. Then his expression turned vicious. "If you don't hand over the delivery forms, I'm sending this video to the police. This case would shock the entire world, wouldn't it?"
Daisy dropped to her knees, breaking down in sobs. "I was just afraid of losing! Whenever I had something good, I couldn't enjoy it—I could only live in fear of losing it! I'm sorry, I was wrong! I was wrong!"
Tears washed away her makeup, revealing a bare face still carrying a hint of childlike innocence. She looked pitiful.
Steven sighed and pulled her into his arms. "Stop crying. Just give me the delivery forms, and I won't hurt you."
Daisy buried her face in his chest. "I'll do it. But you have to promise me one thing too."
Her pale fingers traced his shirt buttons. "Wei, it's been so long since we were together. My mind is such a mess right now. I just want you."
Steven smiled and searched her body thoroughly. His fingertips were ice-cold, devoid of any warmth of desire. After a moment, he scooped her up and carried her toward the bedroom.
It was the most passionately she'd ever given herself. Eyes closed, she soared through the heavens; eyes open, she plummeted back to earth. Steven usually kept his eyes open during sex, savoring her expressions—only squeezing them shut at the climax.
"I'm almost there," Steven murmured, eyes tightly closed.
Fireworks burst brilliantly before Daisy's eyes, then turned instantly to ash.
Gray January skies drifted down fine white snowflakes. The hazy winter light from the massive bay window fell upon Daisy, lying flat on the bed. She was naked, her skin a sickly pale—almost corpselike.
Steven's body heat seemed to linger on her skin, while the man himself had already fallen into Mount Vesuvius, reduced to ash.
Steven hadn't trusted her either. Even seduced, he'd insisted on patting her down, afraid she might use the same trick on him that she'd used on Lily.
What he didn't know was that she'd hidden a Flash Express form inside her pillowcase. She'd filled it out the moment she learned about his secret meetings with Lily. Anyone who betrayed her would be obliterated—body and soul.
Now no one else in the world knew about the delivery forms. But Daisy couldn't understand why she still couldn't feel happy or at peace.
She didn't want to stay in Haicheng anymore. Maybe starting over somewhere no one knew her would be better.
Only two delivery forms remained. She'd have to use them carefully. She ran her fingers over the smooth surface of the forms and sank into thought.
Just then, her brother and sister-in-law arrived with Xiongxiong. Since Daisy had come into money, they no longer asked her to babysit. Instead, they came over whenever they could to tidy her place and cook.
They headed straight for the kitchen and soon had a lavish dinner on the table.
They ate while watching a wildly popular fantasy drama. The beautiful heroine glared and declared: "I'll send you to the eighteenth level of hell!"
"Hehe, I'll send you to the eighteenth level of hell!" Xiongxiong repeated mindlessly, barely eating before running off to play.
Daisy was slowly savoring her pork rib and lotus root soup when she suddenly choked. Xiongxiong had gone to the study—where that delivery form was sitting on the desk. She'd forgotten to put it away!
Daisy bolted up and rushed to the study. She entered the room—Xiongxiong was nowhere to be seen, and the delivery form was gone.
"Take that!" Xiongxiong's voice rang out behind her. Before Daisy could turn around, she felt the boy slap something hard against her back.
The entire world seemed to explode in that instant—fireworks everywhere, blindingly bright.
Daisy's brother and sister-in-law were startled by Xiongxiong's earth-shattering wails. They hurried to the study and found the boy sitting on the floor, bawling. The windows were shut tight. Daisy was gone.
"Why are you crying? Where's your auntie?" her brother asked.
"Waaah—it wasn't my fault!" Xiongxiong wailed even louder. "I just wrote 'eighteenth level of hell' on a piece of paper and stuck it on Auntie's back, and then she just disappeared!"
Daisy's brother and sister-in-law stared at each other in bewilderment. In the study, the sound of the child's sobbing echoed on and on.
Outside the window, snowflakes drifted down through the dark sky—seemingly endless, infinite.