Chapter 2

It was raining cats and dogs out there. As Aaron sped through the wet roads, drops of rain pitter-pattered on his car windows. Soon, Esther called. Aaron's phone vibrated continuously as it lay on the passenger seat, but he ignored it. He was not in the mood, and neither did he have the energy to bother with her. There was something else he needed to attend to as soon as possible. After her eighth attempt, Esther seemed to finally give up and stopped calling him. Nevertheless, the caller ID "darling" on his list of missed calls was such an eyesore to Aaron. The rear-view mirror reflected the exhaustion on his face that made him appear as if he had just come back from the dead. "You have a new message—" His phone vibrated. The photo Esther sent to him was actually the date on their wedding certificate. "Aaron, it's our wedding anniversary today. Must you make such a fuss? "I really don't get it. It was just a meaningless joke. Do you have to get so mad? "I've told you so many times that Russell is just like a younger brother to me. Could you stop getting so suspicious over everything?" After taking a glance at her messages, Aaron felt insulted and ridiculous. But in the next second, he heard a bang from behind him. Through the rear-view mirror, he spotted a white Maserati coming at him in the rain. Its side mirror scraped past his car door, giving off an ear-piercing screech as the metals scratched against one another. Aaron immediately turned his steering wheel to the right and slammed on the brakes. Only then did he manage to prevent an accident from happening. He encountered such a close call when he was already in such a horrid mood. He burned with so much rage at that moment that he was on the brink of losing it. The moment he pushed his car door open, the rain beat down on him and on his face like daggers. The driver of the Maserati was in a blue suit. He emerged from the car with an apologetic look on his face. "Hello, sir. I'm really sorry for my mistake while I was changing lanes. We'll bear all costs involved. "But my employer is in a rush at the moment. How about I leave our contact number with you? Once you've calculated the compensation amount, you may send it to us right away and we'll compensate you accordingly." While the driver suggested a resolution, he tilted his umbrella over Aaron's head. Aaron noticed the platinum lapel pin that the driver had on his collar. Its simple design reflected a cold gleam in the rain. That did not look like an accessory that a regular driver would have. He looked back briefly at the scratch mark on his car. It didn't look like a particularly bad scratch. "Sure—" "Share my personal number with the man." Suddenly, a woman spoke up from the back seat, prompting Aaron to hold his breath momentarily. Her voice was soft and gentle yet a little icy. He couldn't tell how she was feeling through her voice. Aaron felt like the voice sounded familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before. The car window was lowered an inch. The hand that reached out to hand Aaron a name card had an emerald bracelet around it. The extremely simple-looking platinum ring around her index finger gave off a cold gleam. "I'm sorry. Were you hurt?" Surprisingly, the woman's voice carried a tone of concern. Aaron accepted the name card from her and replied, "Nope." There was only a phone number on the name card. It seemed like she wasn't willing to reveal her identity to him. Aaron couldn't be sure if he had misheard, but he felt like he heard the woman let out a soft chuckle. "Feel free to contact me at any time." Right after the woman said that, her driver walked Aaron back into his car under the woman's instructions. Thereafter, they sped away in the rain in the white Maserati. While Aaron was still caught in a daze, his phone rang all of a sudden. It was Esther calling once again. Feeling extremely annoyed, Aaron decided to just turn his phone off. Half an hour later, he arrived at the restaurant that Dolores had made a reservation at, just as they had agreed. Dolores sat at the head of the table, looking calm and composed. Seeing that Aaron had entered the private dining room, she scrutinized him from top to bottom with a look of disdain on her face. Even though Aaron noticed the look in Dolores' eyes, he wasn't bothered by it. Calmly, he removed his wet coat and hung it on the rack beside. Without waiting for Aaron to sit down, Dolores presented him with a non-disclosure agreement. "I gave it some thought and figured that we should put it down in writing," Dolores said with an arrogant expression on her face, as if she were looking down at Aaron from a position of superiority. Staring coldly at the agreement before his eyes, Aaron asked, "Is this necessary?" He had done lots for Butterfield Group throughout all these years. He would give his all to fight for everything that should belong to him. But he wouldn't want anything that wasn't his. Dolores took a sip of her tea. "Of course, it's necessary. Esther is not like you. She's the only daughter in the Butterfield family and has been very loved since she was young. She's also the executive CEO of Butterfield Group now. One day, all of the Butterfield family's assets will belong to her. So…" Her gaze turned sharp. "I'll remove anything and everything that might threaten her reputation, including you." "I'm just taking what I deserve." Aaron maintained his neutrality and confidence. "I won't take even an extra penny." However, Dolores clearly did not believe him. "How can I be sure of that? There are so many men who want to find success after getting involved with a rich family. Moreover, people change. I'm sure that you're very well aware of this." Dolores' implied meaning made Aaron ball his hands into fists. "Fine. I'll sign it." He signed his signature on the final page of the agreement at the speed of lightning, then rose to his feet. "Please don't contact me again moving forward. I'll find time to get the divorce with Esther finalized as soon as possible." Upon saying that, he spun around and left. Getting a sense that Aaron was dissatisfied, Dolores was displeased with his attitude. So, she immediately called out to him to stop him. "Aaron, truth be told, you don't deserve Esther at all." Aaron stopped in his tracks. Dolores curled her lips into a smug smirk. "When she chose you back then, we didn't approve of you. Based on her qualities, she deserves someone better. As for you, you're just a poor man who was born into a low social class. But she really adored you, so we had no choice but to agree to your marriage. "Now, your divorce is simply putting everything back in its place. I'm sure you've met Russell. In that case, you should be aware that they're a match made in heaven. I hope that you'll keep your promise not to affect their relationship. Get out of their lives as soon as possible." The way Dolores said all this made it sound as if Aaron was the shameless man Esther was having an affair with. He quivered in anger, and his knuckles cracked. Suddenly, he let out a scoff. He looked back and replied in a mocking tone, "Don't worry. Your daughter isn't that popular of a catch. Plus, she's a woman with horrible morals." Upon saying that, Aaron slammed the door shut behind him and left. When he got back into the car, he gave his steering wheel a punch to let out his anger. If Esther hadn't persistently gone after him during their college days and used all sorts of methods to attract his attention, he never would have agreed to get together with her. Back then, he was so naive to have thought that he had found his true love. So, in order to support Esther in her career, he gave up on a high-paying job overseas. He studied finance management all on his own so that he could assist Esther in managing Butterfield Group. Within seven short years, he managed to push Butterfield Group to the top of its industry. In order to please Esther's parents, he was even willing to keep his marriage with Esther a secret and put up with the judgmental looks from the people around them. Nonetheless, the Butterfield family had looked down on his background since the very beginning and had never even looked him in the eye. Deep down, a great sense of dissatisfaction grew within Aaron. He dialed Dolores' number. Succinctly, he said, "Sixty million dollars and nothing less." Without waiting for her response, he ended the call.