Chapter 3

Elara's POV

The day after moving out of the villa, I received a call from my mother.

The moment she answered, her abuse came through. "Elara, have you lost your mind?! What did you do to make Cole angry? This morning he cancelled three collaboration projects with our company! Are you trying to destroy our whole family?!"

I gripped my phone tightly, saying painfully, "Mom, they forcibly froze my accounts just to promote Serena, and they tried to steal my work..."

"I don't care!" Mom's shrill voice stabbed my eardrums. "What use is a woman doing social media? Your job is to please the Hunt men and successfully marry them! I order you to go apologize to them right now. Even if you have to kneel to that woman, you need to get those collaborations back for me!"

Before I could speak, she hung up.

I looked at the darkened screen, my lips twisting into a smile uglier than crying.

This was my family. In their eyes, I'd never been a daughter, just a bargaining chip for profit.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed down the bitterness and took a cab to Hunt Corporation.

I wasn't going to apologize. I was going to retrieve my personal hard drive. It contained all my original footage and unreleased work from the past few years. My only capital for rebuilding my accounts.

When I reached my former private office, I was shocked.

The office door stood wide open. The minimalist decor that had been mine was completely gone, replaced with frilly lace and stuffed animals.

Serena sat in my chair, playing with my personal hard drive in her hands!

"Who said you could touch my things?" I strode in, demanding coldly.

Serena jumped in fright. Her hand slipped, and the hard drive hit the desk with a clatter.

"Elara..." Serena's eyes instantly reddened like a startled rabbit's. "I'm sorry. Cole said this office is mine now. I didn't know this was yours..."

"Give it back to me." I was too lazy to listen to her talk. I reached out directly to take it.

Just as my fingertips were about to touch the hard drive, Serena suddenly cried out. Her body lurched backward, and along with it, the hard drive in her hand fell heavily toward the massive decorative fish tank beside her!

Splash!

The hard drive sank instantly to the bottom, releasing a few bubbles before being completely ruined.

"My hard drive!" I screamed in shock and pain. That contained five years of my work!

"What are you doing?!"

An enraged male voice came from the doorway. Cole rushed in quickly, shoving me aside and carefully helping Serena up from the floor.

Nathan and Ethan followed behind them. Seeing this scene, their expressions instantly darkened.

"Elara, have you gone crazy?!" Ethan rushed forward, pointing at my nose as he cursed. "You not only ran away from home, now you're coming to the company to attack Serena? Are you sick?!"

"I didn't push her. She fell on her own and threw my hard drive in the water!" I pointed at the tank, my whole body trembling. "That had all my footage!"

"Enough!" Cole cut me off, his eyes as cold as if looking at an enemy. "Serena is so kind. How could she deliberately destroy your things? You're clearly jealous she took your office!"

Nathan pushed up his glasses, his tone cutting. "Elara, you're getting more and more insane. It's just a hard drive. How much could it be worth? You scared Serena like this. Apologize to her immediately!"

Looking at these three stupid men, I suddenly felt absurd.

I used to think that if I just tried hard enough, was enthusiastic enough, I could eventually move them.

But now I understood. Idiots can't see the truth.

"Apologize?" I stared at them, the light in my eyes extinguishing bit by bit, turning into a desolate wasteland. "Impossible."

I didn't look at the hard drive in the tank again. I turned, straightened my back, and walked out of the office step by step.

Ethan's shout came from behind. "Elara, if you dare walk out that door today, even if you beg us on your knees later, we'll never forgive you!"

My steps didn't pause.

Forgive me?

You don't deserve to.