I Took His Secrets and Ended His Empire

Chapter 5 I Hate You

Then Randy looked at me, his face full of disgust. "Jade came here out of kindness, worried about you, even brought money for your mom's treatment. And you still had the nerve to hit her?"

At that moment, everything around me went silent. The world lost its color.

All I could see was that box, the half that was left of my mom's ashes.

I stumbled forward, trying to grab it.

Before I could even touch it, Randy kicked the box across the floor.

"What the hell is this trash?"

Jade tilted her head, playing innocent. "I don't know. Maybe something your wife picked up off the street."

Randy looked at me, nothing but disdain in his eyes. "Della, look at yourself. Do you have even a shred of dignity left as a so-called rich man's wife?"

Right in front of me, he dumped the remaining ashes into a trash can.

Then he smashed the urn onto the ground.

It shattered into pieces.

The sound was so loud it felt like it was tearing my ears apart.

I dropped to my knees, frozen, staring at him with pure hatred as tears streamed down my face. "You think I don't look like a proper wife anymore? What about you? Do you look anything like a husband? Like a son-in-law?"

Randy had never seen me like this before. Shock flickered across his face for a split second.

I threw myself forward, trying to gather the ashes from the floor.

But my tears kept falling, mixing into them, making it impossible to collect anything.

"I'm sorry, Mom… I'm so sorry…"

"Della."

Seeing something was wrong, Randy stepped toward me.

"Get away from me!" I shoved him hard. "I hate you! Don't touch me! I hate you!"

Randy staggered back, staring at me in disbelief.

"Randy, are you okay?"

Jade rushed to steady him. "Madam, embarrassing yourself outside wasn't enough for you? Now you're talking back to him too? Don't forget, everything you have came from the Hall family. Without him, you wouldn't even have this kind of life!"

"This kind of life?" I sat there on the floor, clutching the broken pieces of the urn, and suddenly laughed.

A hollow, twisted laugh.

This life where I lived in fear every single day, where I couldn't even protect my own mother.

I didn't want it anymore.

"What are you laughing at? You think I'm wrong? Fine. Then I'll show you what your life was supposed to look like!"

Jade yanked me into a car, and Randy followed behind, clearly uneasy.

After a long, bumpy ride, we stopped in a slum on the outskirts.

Filthy beggars lay sprawled across narrow, suffocating alleys, their eyes lighting up the second they saw me.

"See this? Without the Hall family, this is where you belong!"

Jade shoved me out of the car. "Stay here for three days. Learn what it really takes to earn money!"

Randy frowned slightly. "Jade… isn't this a bit too much?"

"What, you feel bad for your wife now?"

He smiled faintly, then turned to me. "Della, I'll have someone pick you up in three days."

I looked at Randy one last time. "Randy, promise me you won't make things hard for Mary."

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

The Maybach sped off, leaving a cloud of dust behind.

The beggars rushed at me all at once, knocking me to the ground.

They tore at my clothes, rough hands grabbing everywhere as they closed in.

Laughter echoed around me, ugly and cruel.

My arms were pinned down. I couldn't move at all.

Thinking about my mom… about everything… I finally shut my eyes in despair.

And then, the next second, something warm splashed across my face…