The woman was shocked. A sound should be made? That has to be real then! How can Kenny bear it? "If you’re reluctant, you can cancel it now. I dislike forcing others to do anything," Howard Yeats shifted his gaze to Ivy Linden, saying meaningfully, "A forced melon is not sweet. I prefer when people are willing. Right, darling?" Ivy’s face turned red to her neck, can’t he stop calling her "darling"? She wasn’t really his wife. What did he mean by his talk about "melon"? Knowing a forced one isn’t sweet, yet he sent people to investigate her and came to this town? In order to avoid Howard Yeats, Ivy had come to this small town and hadn’t even told Ivana Monroe temporarily. How did Howard find out? She couldn’t think of another way except hiring a private detective. Ivy shook her head in her heart. Samuel Lockwood wouldn’t let her go, and since Howard could find this place, it wouldn’t be long before Samuel did too. So she had to move again, to another city, a more remote countryside. She grew up in the countryside and could adapt to the township environment, but Howard, born with a silver spoon, wasn’t suited for the countryside, nor suited for her. From marrying Samuel to divorcing, Samuel and his mother taught her that a prince and Cinderella couldn’t stay together forever. No matter how hard Cinderella tries, the "Queen" will always look down on her, thinking she isn’t worthy of her son. And the "Prince," he’s always the prince. No matter how beautiful the vow, it can’t withstand the test of time, the temptation outside. Ivy thought if she had listened to her mother back then and married an honest guy in the township, her fate wouldn’t have been this tragic today. Even if the honest guy had a change of heart and divorced, she could at least live openly in a city she liked, not hiding like a "mouse" everywhere. The sound of a slap cut off Ivy’s thoughts. She saw the woman, tears in her eyes, raise her hand and slap the chubby boy’s face again: "Kenny, don’t blame mommy. It’s 12 million! In our lifetime, no, even with your lifetime, we wouldn’t earn that much money. Mommy has to earn it to buy you a house and get you a wife in the future." The chubby boy cried but still nodded, gritting his teeth to endure. About a dozen slaps later. The chubby boy couldn’t take it anymore: "Mom, I want to give up. Don’t hit me anymore, it hurts too much, let’s give up!" "No, we can’t give up, Kenny, hang in there! Think about your Nikes, think about your house, and then think about your future wife." "Mom, I don’t want Nikes anymore, nor a house or wife, stop hitting, it hurts so much! Wah..." The boy cried loudly, trying to escape, but the woman grabbed him back. "You can’t give up. I’ve hit 718 times already, only 184 left. If you give up now, all will be in vain," the woman said loudly. Seeing the chubby boy struggle, her slap mercilessly fell on his face, getting faster as if trying to finish quickly. The chubby boy’s face was red and his mouth was bleeding, but the woman seemed not to notice, only focused on counting numbers. The man’s fingers kept tightening. Ivy Linden couldn’t watch anymore and said to Howard Yeats, "Tell her to stop! Correcting her mistake with such cruel punishment on the child is excessive." Howard Yeats smiled and suddenly said coldly, "Cruel? If it’s not cruel, how else would he remember that his mother can disregard his life for money?" What he did was to make the boy remember the hatred. Howard Yeats never considered himself a good person. Those who crossed him never ended well. Ivy Linden was his beloved woman, and this mother and son hurt Ivy and Nicole more seriously than hurting him. He wouldn’t let this mother and son off — he wanted this chubby boy to use even more cruel methods later to punish his mother. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⁂𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢⁂𝔫𝔢𝔱 Ivy Linden looked at Howard Yeats in shock, breaking out in a cold sweat, never expecting he made the woman hit the boy to make him remember the hatred. Ivy could already imagine, ten years later, when the chubby boy grew up, he would return those slaps and punches to the woman. In Ivy’s world, a man as dark as Howard Yeats never existed. Samuel Lockwood might have been a scumbag, but in their years together, except for his mother, he always reasoned with persuasion. Samuel was too good at pretending, and because he could pretend, Ivy lived in a fairy tale all these years, believing their fairy tale would happily reach the end. "Seven hundred sixty-nine, seven hundred seventy, seven hundred seventy-one..." The woman counted excitedly, looking at her son’s swollen face, she had no time for guilt, only her desire for money filled her heart. "Stop." The man kneeling on the ground suddenly roared angrily, stood up, and punched the woman’s head. The woman was knocked to the ground. The man shouted at Howard Yeats, "Take your money away, I don’t care for it, and I won’t let you give it to this heartless b****." "You said it," Howard Yeats gestured to the bodyguard, "Take the money and go." "Ah~ don’t take the money," the woman cried out as she climbed up, cursing: "Jarvis, you b*******, how dare you hit me?" The man glared at the woman with hatred, "You b****, you beat our son for money, do you want to beat him to death? I tell you, if you dare touch our son again, I’ll beat you to death." Enraged, the woman jumped up, seeing the bodyguards collecting money, she stomped and shouted, "Don’t touch my money, I will complete the task." The bodyguards looked at Howard Yeats and stepped aside. The woman, still furious, shouted at the man: "Fine! I’m going to hit him today, and I want to see if you will really kill me." She didn’t believe that Jarvis would actually go that far. The woman ran like a shrew, grabbed the chubby boy again, and started slapping rapidly. million for her family; that was more important than her husband and son. The man was provoked, eyes red, grabbing the woman’s hair, gave her two hard slaps, and began punching and kicking her. Howard Yeats watched coldly, feeling Nicole tremble in his arms, he frowned, his warm hand gently patting Nicole’s back, soothing her: "Don’t be afraid, they’re just bad people bullying your mom. They deserve this. Uncle will take you to an amusement park, okay?" Nicole nodded. She didn’t want to stay in this place.