The car ride home from the gala was a tomb on wheels. The silence was so thick it felt suffocating. Mr. and Mrs. Chen sat stiffly, staring straight ahead, unable to process the seismic event they had just witnessed. Their useless son-in-law had casually bid half a million dollars. The number echoed in the luxurious interior of their aging sedan, a absurd, impossible sum.
Jia stole glances at Leo, who sat beside her, looking out the window as if he'd just bought a cup of coffee, not a rare book. The calm certainty he had displayed was more unnerving than any outburst of anger could have been. Who *was* this man?
It was Meiling who finally broke, her voice a hysterical whisper. "Five hundred thousand! Where did you get that money? Did you steal it? Are you going to get us all arrested?"
Leo turned his head slowly. "The money is legitimate, Mrs. Chen. The book is an investment."
"An investment?" Mr. Chen found his voice, a strangled croak. "In what? Bankruptcy? Do you have any idea what you've done? The Weis will destroy us for this humiliation!"
"David Wei was already set on destroying you," Leo replied, his tone chillingly matter-of-fact. "I merely showed him that the mouse he thought he was cornering has teeth. And that perhaps he should reconsider his prey."
He was speaking a language they didn't understand—a language of power, strategy, and dominance. They fell back into a stunned silence.
When they arrived home, a different kind of shock awaited them. Taped to the grand front door was a large, stiff envelope. Mr. Chen tore it down with trembling hands. Inside were formal, legal documents. The heading was stark: **PETITION FOR DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE.**
It was from David Wei's law firm. But it wasn't a simple petition. Attached was a vicious addendum: a motion to have the marriage annulled on the grounds of "fraud," claiming Leo had entered into the union under false pretenses, with the intent to infiltrate and destabilize the Chen family. The motion cited his "suspicious financial activity" at the gala as evidence.
The final blow was a handwritten postscript from David: *"Your 'husband' is a fraud and a criminal. Sign the papers, send him away, and my family's offer still stands. You have 24 hours. Or I will have him arrested, and your family will be dragged down with him."*
The trap had been sprung. The public humiliation at the gala was now being used as legal leverage. It was a masterstroke of cruelty.
Panic erupted. Meiling collapsed onto a sofa, wailing. Mr. Chen paced, running his hands through his hair. "He's right! He's a criminal! We have to distance ourselves! Jia, you must sign these papers! It's the only way to save us!"
Jia stood frozen, holding the divorce papers. They felt like lead in her hands. She looked at Leo, who was watching her, his expression unreadable. There was no plea in his eyes. Only a question.
This was the moment of truth. The moment she had to choose between the family she loved and the mysterious stranger she had married.
"Jia, listen to your father!" Meiling cried. "He's not one of us! He never was! He's brought us nothing but trouble!"
The old arguments, the years of scorn, pressed in on her. But they were drowned out by newer memories. Leo standing up to her father at dinner. Leo warning her about Selina. Leo facing down David Wei in a den of wolves with unshakable calm.
She thought of the locked door. The scent of ozone. The quiet authority in his voice when he told her to trust him.
She looked down at the divorce papers. Then, slowly and deliberately, she tore them in half.
The wailing stopped. The pacing halted. Her parents stared at her as if she had lost her mind.
"I won't," Jia said, her voice quiet but firm, resonating in the sudden silence. "I made a vow. And I am not going to be bullied into breaking it by David Wei."
"Jia, he's a criminal!" Mr. Chen shouted.
"You don't know that!" she fired back, a fire in her eyes they hadn't seen in years. "All we have are accusations from the man who is trying to ruin us! Leo has done nothing but try to help, in his own way. I won't abandon him because David Wei tells me to."
She turned to Leo. "You said to trust you. I'm trusting you. Now, I think it's time you started trusting me. Who are you?"
The faceslap had been delivered, but this time, it was Jia who had wielded the hand. She had chosen him. The romance, born of a contract, was now a conscious, defiant alliance. The suspense was at a fever pitch. Leo was backed into a corner, with the woman he was coming to love staring him in the eye, demanding the truth. The walls he had built around his identity were crumbling. The next move was his, and it would change everything.