My wife is a CEO, she always hates me for being lazy and wants to divorce me. But she doesn't know that her success is bestowed by me.
"Dustin, here is the divorce agreement prepared by Ms. Nicholson, please sign it."
In the president's office of the Quine Group, Lyra Blaine, the secretary, placed a piece of paper on the table. A man sat opposite her, dressed in plain clothing.
"Divorce? What do you mean?"
"Your marriage with Ms. Nicholson is over. You're not even on the same level anymore. Your existence is nothing but a smear on our CEO's reputation!"
"A smear on her reputation?" Dustin frowned. "Is that what she thinks of me?"
Dahlia Nicholson and Dustin Rhys had been married for three years. After Dahlia's meteoric rise to success, she was about to abandon Dustin as a burden and filed for divorce. Unbeknownst to her, everything she had ever achieved was actually bestowed by him.
Back when they first got married, the Nicholson family was in ruinous debt. He was the one who helped them when they were at their rock bottom. Now that they became rich, Dahlia Nicholson was ready to kick him out.
With the sound of the door opening, a pair of enchanting high heels came into his view.
"You're finally here."
Dustin felt complicated when he saw the beautiful woman. They had been married for three years, during which they treated each other with care and respect. But this was how it ended. He still didn't know what he had done wrong.
"I'm sorry for being late, I was caught up with something else."
Dahlia Nicholson sat down. Her expression was as impassive as ever.
"You certainly are busy, if you need your secretary to help you deal with your divorce," Dustin said.
Hearing this, Dahlia frowned slightly. However, she did not explain herself. Instead, she said, "Since you're here, let's end it on a pleasant note. You can have the car, the house, and 8 million dollars as alimony. How does that sound?"
At that, she placed a card on the table.
"Do you really think our relationship can be measured by money?" Dustin asked.
"Too little? That's alright. Let me know what you want. I'll give you anything within my power," Dahlia said placidly.
"Are money and power that important to you?" Dustin was truly bewildered.
"Dustin, that's where you and I diverge in philosophy. You'll never understand what I really want." Dahlia shook her head in disappointment.
"You're right." Dustin nodded without any emotion. "I heard that you've been close with the heir of the Nolan family. Is it because of him?"
Dahlia was about to deny it when she gave it a second thought. In the end, she nodded.
"You can say that."
"Okay. I hope you're happy with him." Dustin smiled and signed the divorce agreement without any more hesitation. All he felt now was disappointment. Ironically, today was also their wedding anniversary. There was cruel humor in divorcing him on the day they had gotten married.
"I don't want the money, I just want that crystal necklace back. My mother left it to me before she died so that I can give it to my wife."
"Okay."
Dahlia nodded and gave him the necklace.
"From today on, we will have nothing to do with each other!"
Dustin put on the necklace and left. He had no more gentleness in his expression, all that was left was distant aloofness.
"Did I do the right thing, Lyra?" Dahlia asked hesitantly.
"Of course you did!" Lyra nodded. " Dustin does not deserve you at all. You're destined to be the most powerful woman in Swinton!"
Dahlia did not answer her. As she watched Dustin leave, she felt as if she was losing something precious.
Chapter 2
In the elevator, Dustin stared at the crystal necklace dejectedly. It was time to awaken from this prolonged daydream.
Suddenly, his phone rang, breaking him out of his trance.
A familiar voice raised, "Mr. Rhys, I'm Hunter Anderson from the Swinton Group. I heard that today is your wedding anniversary with Ms. Nicholson, so I've prepared a gift for you. I'm just wondering if you have any time today?"
"Thank you for your kindness, but I'm afraid we won't need the gift any more," Dustin said.
"Why?"
Hunter could sense something wrong.
"Is there anything else you'd like to talk about, Mr. Anderson?"
"Actually, yes." Hunter cleared his throat awkwardly. "I've got a friend who contracted a strange illness. He's seen a lot of doctors, but none of them could do anything about it. I was hoping that you could help."
"Mr. Anderson, you know my rules."
"Of course! I'm sincere in my request. My friend owns some canscora, which I remember you were looking for. I'm sure he'll be willing to part with it if you help him," Hunter said.
"Is it true?" Dustin asked seriously.
"Yes, it is!"
"Alright, then I'll be willing to take a look." Dustin immediately agreed.
He wasn't interested in money or jewels, but rather some rare plants, as he needed them to save lives.
"Thank you, Mr. Rhys! I'll send someone to pick you up immediately!" Hunter smiled in relief.
As the CEO of the Swinton Group and one of the Mighty Three of Swinton, Hunter acted exceptionally timid in front of Dustin.
"Great, one more done, five to go. I should have enough time," Dustin muttered to himself. His mood was lifted a little by this news.
With a ding, the elevator doors opened. As soon as he stepped out of the building, he saw two familiar figures walking to him. It was Dahlia's mother and brother, Florence Franklin and James Nicholson.
"Mom, ..." Dustin greeted.
"Did you and Dahlia get divorced?" Florence did not waste any breath.
"Yes, we did." Dustin gave her a forced smile. "It's not Dahlia's fault, it's mine. Don't blame her."
However, hearing this, Florence snorted coldly.
"Of course it's your problem. I know my daughter well. If you hadn't done anything wrong, why would she divorce you?"
Dustin was stunned. What was this? Victim blaming?
"Mom, stop wasting time." Suddenly, James stepped forward. "Listen, Rhys. I don't care whether you divorce my sister or not, but you're giving me all the money you got from her."
"Money? What money?" Dustin was flabbergasted.
"Stop feigning ignorance! My sister gave you 8 million dollars as alimony!" James said coldly.
"That's my daughter's money! Give it back!" Florence stretched out her hand in demand.
"I didn't take any money from her," Dustin denied.
"Do you take us as idiots?" James did not believe him.
"Rhys, you'd better be tactful. Don't make me angry!" Florence warned.
"You can ask Dahlia if you don't believe me." Dustin did not want to explain himself any further.
James dove straight into Dustin's pockets.
Florence followed suit.
"Mom, do you have to do this?" Dustin frowned.
Florence spat on the ground in disgust.
"Who are you calling Mom? Who do you think you are?" As she spoke, she continued searching Dustin's pockets.
After some time, they didn't find what they wanted.
"Did he really not take it?" James said, displeased.
Suddenly, he spied Dustin's crystal necklace and pulled it off roughly.
"Isn't this my sister's necklace? Why is it here? You steal it?" James demanded.
"This is the Rhys family heirloom. Give it back!" Dustin said, expression darkened.
"A family heirloom? Does this mean that this is valuable?" James'eyes lit up.
"Then it can be your repayment for these three years that you've been living with us. Let's go!" Florence gave her son a look and prepared to leave.
"Stop!" Dustin grabbed James'wrist. "Give me back the necklace!"
Seeing that he had no chance of freeing himself from Dustin, James threw the necklace onto the ground. With a crisp clink, the crystal necklace broke into pieces. Dustin blanched. This was the only thing he had to remember his mother by.
"How dare you lay your hands on me! I'd rather break it than give it back to you!" James said as he rubbed his sore wrist.
Dustin clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles popped. His eyes were red with anger.
"Screw you!" Outburst, Dustin punched James in the face.
James was punched so hard that he spun back uncontrollably before falling to the ground. He was so dizzy that couldn't stand up.
"Let me teach you manners!" Dustin grabbed him by hair and lifted him. Then, he punched him several times.
James' face soon turned bloody from the punches.
"How dare you hit my son!" Florence screamed as she tried to help her son.
"Get off!" Dustin turned and glared at her. The glare was so intense that Florence froze in her tracks.
Chapter 3
"Get off!"
Those two words were enough to scare Florence motionless.
When she finally got her wits back, Florence began screaming, "Help! He's murdering my son!"
Soon, the Quine Group's security guards gathered around them.
"What happened, Mrs. Nicholson?" The head of the security guards recognized Florence and stood at her side immediately.
"Tom! Lock this guy up at once!" Florence yelled.
Just as they were about to act, a voice sounded.
"What do you think you're doing?"
A curvaceous woman in a silver dress barged into the crowd with her bodyguards. With her lips painted a fiery red, she was stunningly beautiful. Every move she made was alluring.
"She's gorgeous!"
The security guards stared at her dumbly.
"Mr. Rhys, are you okay?"
The woman ignored the looks and headed straight toward Dustin.
"Who are you?"
Dustin narrowed his eyes at her, his anger dissipating.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Natasha Harmon. Mr. Anderson sent me here," the woman said with a smile.
"Natasha Harmon? Is she the heiress of the Harmon family?"
"Oh, my God! Why is she here?"
Natasha Harmon was a well-known name around the city. She was pretty, influential, and smart. At 22 years old, she had already gained control of the Harmon Group and built her own business empire within five years.
"Ah, it's you."
Dustin nodded.
He had heard of Natasha before, but he hadn't expected her to be involved with Hunter.
"Mr. Rhys, please wait in the car. I'll deal with this."
Natasha snapped her fingers. Behind her, her four bodyguards whipped out their batons and advanced toward the crowd. The security guards back off.
"After you, Mr. Rhys."
Seeing that no one else dared to move, Natasha smiled and held out a hand to lead Dustin to the car. Without a word, Dustin picked up the pieces of his necklace and left with Natasha. No one dared to stop him.
"What's wrong? Why did you just let them go?" Florence yelled when she realized what was happening.
None of them dared to lay a finger on Natasha.
The security guards looked at each other, not daring to speak.
"What happened?"
Dahlia and Lyra came out to see what the commotion was.
"Dahlia! You're here! Look at how badly your brother's been beaten up!"
As soon as Florence saw her, she began to cry, as if she was the one who had been beaten up.
"What happened? Who did this?"
Seeing her brother's wounds, Dahlia's expression became chilly.
"It's that Dustin!" Florence cried. "We met him just now. James picked up a crystal necklace that he dropped and tried to give it back to him, but he tried to turn it around and said that your brother stole it from him. After some argument, he beat up James! My poor James, he just did what he thought was right. What has he done to deserve this?"
She began crying harder.
"Dustin?" Dahlia frowned.
After three years of marriage, she knew Dustin's personality well. He was normally calm and collected and rarely lost his temper. He wouldn't just beat someone up for no reason.
"Look at your brother! Is the truth not clear enough? If you don't believe me, ask the security guards. They saw everything!" Saying this, Florence gave the security guards a look.
"Ms. Nicholson, your mother is right."
The head of security understood his assignment perfectly.
"You hear that? I'm not wronging that person!" He even has a new woman now!"
Hearing this, Dahlia frowned. Could Dustin really do such a thing? Maybe he was furious about the divorce and wanted to exact revenge on her through her brother. If so, then she had to admit that she had misjudged him!
Chapter 4
"Mom, take James to the hospital. I'll deal with this."
"What do you think, Lyra?"
Dahlia rubbed her temples. She felt a headache coming on.
"It's obvious, isn't it? It was Dustin who assaulted them first. The security guards were witnesses, so that can't be a lie," Lyra said.
"But my mother's not exactly an honest person…" Dahlia began. She knew her mother and brother well. They were a hot-tempered and ruthless duo.
"Either way, it's still wrong for him to throw the first punch!" Lyra said righteously.
Dahlia's frown deepened along with her doubts. Lyra was right. It would seem like her decision to divorce him was right.
She took out her phone and called Dustin. At the same time, Dustin was sitting in a silver Bentley and frowned when he saw the call coming in. Despite his reluctance, he still picked up the call.
"Dustin, I need an explanation!" Dahlia demanded. "Are you taking revenge on my family just because I divorced you?"
Hearing this, Dustin was taken aback. He hadn't expected Dahlia to be so aggressive. She hadn't even stopped to listen to what he had to say. After three years of marriage, she was treating him as if he was a mere stranger, or worse.
"Dustin, I'll give you another chance. Go to the hospital right now and apologize to James, and I'll pretend that nothing happened. Otherwise…"
"Otherwise what?" Dustin retorted. "Are you going to call the police on me, or hire someone to take me out?"
"Dustin! Are you really going to throw away my goodwill?" Dahlia snapped.
"Goodwill? Are you sure it's goodwill?"
"You…" Dahlia's retort was cut off as Dustin hung up.
She almost threw out her phone in anger. Dahlia had always been good at hiding her true emotions. It was one of the reasons why she had managed to get to where she was today. But right now, she was having a little trouble in that regard.
"How rude of him." Lyra was about to say more when Dahlia stopped her.
"That's enough of this. I need to work on more important matters, like the charity ball with the Harmon family."
"The charity ball? Has that got anything to do with our partners?"
"That's right. I just received news that the Harmon family has shortlisted the Quine Group. If we do well at this ball, we could be the Harmon family's next partners!"
"That's great! I'll go make the arrangements right now!"
...
After hanging up the call, Dustin arrived at Swinton Primary Hospital. Natasha brought him into a VIP ward, where an old man was laying on the bed, looked dying. Several doctors surrounded him, but none of them looked optimistic.
"Natasha! You're finally here!"
Suddenly, a young woman ran up to them. She was the second daughter of the Harmon family, Ruth Harmon, and the old man on the bed was Andrew Harmon, her grandfather.
"Ms. Harmon, we've already done everything we could." a doctor said helplessly.
"Mr. Rhys will take over." Natasha said coldly.
"Mr. Rhys?"
Dustin looked too young to be a good doctor.
To be frank, she wasn't quite sure about Dustin either, but if Hunter recommended him, then he had to have his merits.
"Could Mr. Anderson have been conned?" Ruth still looked doubtful. "Hey, you, are you really a doctor?"
"I know a little about medicine," Dustin replied.
"Just a little?" Ruth pouted.
"I won't believe in you unless you can prove to me," Ruth said with her head held high.
"How?" Dustin asked nonchalantly.
"Tell me what ails me. If you're correct, then I'll believe in you!"
"Really? Show me your tongue," Dustin said.
Ruth did as he said.
After a quick look, Dustin said without any hesitation, "Your hormones are imbalanced, so you should be experiencing irregular periods and migraines. You're also showing some signs of food poisoning, which has affected your digestive system. You've been having diarrhea, haven't you? Oh, another thing, you have hemorrhoids…"
The more he spoke, the tenser Ruth became.
Chapter 5
"How did you know that?"
Ruth's eyes almost bulged out of her head. Everything from the migraines to diarrhea was spot on.
"There's a lot you can tell about a person just by looking at them," Dustin said nonchalantly.
"Do you believe him now, Ruth?" Natasha smiled. At the same time, she also heaved a silent sigh of relief. Thank goodness Dustin knew what he was doing.
"He just got lucky!" Ruth refused to admit defeat.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Rhys. Please ignore her," Natasha told Dustin apologetically.
"It's fine. Shall we begin?"
Dustin didn't take Ruth's attitude to heart. He walked over to Andrew and gave him a thorough check-up. It didn't take long for him to find out what was going on. It was obvious to him that the old man had been poisoned. Thankfully, it was discovered early on, so he could still be saved.
"Ms. Harmon, can you get me some silver acupuncture needles?" Dustin asked.
"No problem."
Dustin nodded his thanks, then began. His actions were light but firm as his hands flew deftly. With his skill, his patient would not feel any pain from the needles. Seeing this, Natasha was surprised.
"He's good!"
Once all 16 needles were in place, Dustin breathed a sigh of relief. It had been some time since he last performed acupuncture, but thankfully he was still familiar.
"Is that all? Nothing changed!" Ruth looked confused.
"It'll take about two hours to drain the toxin from his body; you shouldn't remove the needles before the two hours are up, or there might be serious side effects!"
Ruth pouted.
"I need to go to the bathroom. Please watch over him while I'm gone," Dustin told the occupants of the room before leaving.
Not long after he left, a group of doctors barged in. These were some of the most skilled doctors in the hospital. A balding man led the troupe.
"I'm Jansen, the executive director of the hospital. I'm here on orders to treat Old Mr. Harmon," the balding man introduced.
"Ah, you're that famous Dr. Jansen! The best doctor in Swinton!" Ruth was ecstatic.
Dr. Jansen said proudly, "yes, I am."
Ruth immediately moved out of his way. Clearly, she trusted Dr. Jansen more than she trusted a youngster like Dustin.
Dr. Jansen nodded. When he got nearer to the bed, he frowned. "What's with the needles? What nonsense is this?"
As he spoke, he made to remove the needles.
"Wait!" Seeing this, Natasha stopped him. "Dr. Jansen, I've already hired another healer. He said that my grandfather has been poisoned. We cannot remove these needles as there might be serious side effects."
"A pack of lies!" Dr. Jansen snorted derisively. "If these needles can cure ailments, then what are doctors for?"
"That's right!" Ruth agreed. "Natasha, that Dustin barely looks a day over 20. How could he be a skilled healer? Please don't tell me you believe what he said."
"Ms. Harmon, all of the best doctors in Swinton are here." Dr. Jansen took the next word. "Please don't believe in these superstitions. It would just make things worse!"
Their confidence weakened Natasha's resolve. However, she insisted, "We should wait for Mr. Rhys to come back."
"Ms. Harmon, I'm busy. If I pull out these needles and anything happens to Old Mr. Harmon, it'll be on me." With that, Dr. Jansen pulled out all of the needles.
As soon as the needles were removed, something strange happened.
Andrew's body began convulsing. His face began to turn black, and blood gushed out from his nose and mouth. The machines on either side of the bed began beeping.
"What's going on?" Dr. Jansen was surprised by the turn of events.
"What's this, Dr. Jansen?" Natasha frowned.
"That's strange, he was fine earlier…" Dr. Jansen felt uneasy.
"Sir, the patient is coding!"
"Quick, get the machines!"
Without delay, Dr. Jansen began emergency resuscitation. Even after a lot of effort, Andrew did not seem to get better at all. In fact, his stats were declining uncontrollably. Dr. Jansen was panicking.
"Ms. Harmon, I think… I think Old Mr. Harmon is… dying…"
"What?" Both Natasha and Ruth were shocked.
Chapter 6
"You liar!" Natasha was livid. She grabbed Dr. Jansen by the collar and yelled, "I told you not to remove the needles! Now that the worst has happened, this is all you have to say?"
"No, this has got nothing to do with me!" Dr. Jansen shook his head fervently. "It must be that other healer. His needles must have caused this to happen!"
