Catherine's married life became more and more enjoyable. Sean could be overbearing sometimes, but he was sweet and gentle.

Catherine was still a bit scared of Sean. But as long as she didn't do anything wrong, and he didn't pull a grim face, Catherine found him easy to get along with.

​​

Life continued. The summer vacation was about to end in the blink of an eye. Catherine was about to go to college.

Sean's mansion was far from the campus of Kings College. Catherine was wondering whether she should talk Sean into letting her stay in the dormitory. But she was worried he would misunderstand it as her another attempt to run away from him.

Catherine gradually knew what a man Sean was after spending a long time with him. She knew what to say and what not to.

Margo has been busy lately and couldn't give Catherine daily classes. She could show up three or four days a week. Catherine was paying attention to the classes and made progress.

Catherine also talked to Clara all the time. From here, she knew what outfits were in and tried to understand what fashion elements were popular. And she would make drawings whenever she was inspired.

One day at the end of August, Catherine got a call from Maria. The news came out of the blue and brought Tom and Linda back to her life, which she already forgot about.

"I'll be there right away!"

Catherine hung up and got changed. She called Geoffrey, and they left Sean's mansion together.

The thing wasn't easy to be dealt with. So Catherine called Sean.

Sean was out for business negotiation. He frowned after receiving Catherine's phone and said, "Don't do anything you are not capable of. If you hurt yourself, I won't let you off the hook."

Catherine nodded and promised she wouldn't.

But Sean didn't believe her because she was too impulsive. She thought she could take care of everything. Giving him the call was a big step for her.

"I'll ask Drew to come over. Don't do anything on your own, or I will ask them to bring you back."

Catherine could feel how stern Sean was.

Sean said more in case Catherine decided to go rogue. Then he ordered Geoffrey never to leave her side nor let her do anything.

"Okay, I promise I won't be reckless. Besides, even if I want to, I have to ask for their permission."

Catherine used to go against normal people or some rascals. But this time was different. They were professionals.

When Catherine and Geoffrey arrived at the house Tom's, they saw that it was almost torn apart. Everything inside it was smashed. It was a mess.

Linda was on the ground with swollen eyes from crying. She looked horrified.

Maria was next to Linda with the same swollen eyes.

"Catherine!"

Catherine took a look at the messy house. Then she turned to the rough man sitting on the only intact chair.

He was tall and had dark skin. He had a knife with him and looked ferocious. He looked like a tough character.

Behind him were some more men with unfriendly looks.

"Aunt Maira, Aunt Linda."

Linda came to Catherine like she was the savior and said, "Catherine, help Tom. He must be okay."

Catherine didn't see Sophia nor Tom. She had some ideas and whispered to Geoffrey.

Geoffrey nodded and left the house. And he returned soon.

"Who sent you guys? What you did was breaking in, and I can call the police to have you arrested."

The second Catherine finished talking, the man with dark skin laughed out. His men laughed satirically.

All Aunt Maria told Catherine on the phone was that some guys came to Tom's house and smashed everything. Linda was hurt. But she didn't say what it was about.

"What? Am I making a mistake? You have to give me a good reason for what you did!"

The man sneered, "You are the savior they have been expecting. That's ridiculous."

"Be serious if you want to solve the problem. Being young doesn't break any laws. I am capable of making your troubles go away."

"That's great. Do you think how much Tom owed us?"

"How much?"

"20 million dollars! No. Plus interest, it's 35 million."

Linda almost passed out hearing the number.

Maria gasped too. She couldn't think of anything because she was too surprised.

It was 35 million and not 3,500.

How could Tom owe them so much money? He couldn't pay them back in several lifetimes.

"Why should I believe you? Do you have any proof?"

Catherine sneered. Tom was too good at causing problems. He wasn't blessed to be rich, but he had to live the life rich people did. How capable was he to lose tens of millions on gambling?

"You want proof? I'll give you proof. Here you are.

The man clicked open a video. Tom was signing his name and putting his thumbprint on IOU.

"I, Tom, make this IOU to this casino that I owe them 20 million dollars."

Catherine frowned, "He said 20 million. How come you say 35 million?"

"We have to add interest."

"There is more interest than what he owed you. You should rob a bank."

The man smiled, "It breaks the laws to rob the bank. But being a loan shark doesn't."

"Where is Tom? Do you have him?"

"Yes. If you want him alive, pay us what he owed."

"Then you're messengers. Why do you have to smash things?"

"These bitches won't pay us back. There is nothing valuable in the house. So we smash up."

The man got upset, realizing he was explaining to Catherine. He said, "If you can't pay us back by the end of the month, Tom will be dead!"

"I don't have the money."

"What?"

Catherine said calmly and coldly, "I don't have the money. You can do whatever you like to Tom. He is useless anyway. All he does is drag his family down. He wastes food when he's alive and wastes space when he dies."

Linda cried as she murmured Catherine's name.

"Aunt Linda, do you still have hopes for him? You thought he reformed and tried to have a life with you. See, this is a good life. Tom kept gambling and borrowed money to make bets. How are you doing?"

Linda felt guilty.

"It's a good thing that he dies, especially for Sophia."

The man said, "What are you talking about? Tom is a family."

"Not to me."

"Then why are you here?"

"His life should cancel out what he owed you. We won't pay for his life. And you can tear the IOU."

"Try again!"

Catherine said coldly, "What do you want?"

"His life has no value. But I hear he has a daughter."

"Don't even think about it!"

"But Tom has used his daughter as a bet and lost her to our boss."

At the time, the man's phone rang.

"Hey, we didn't catch her."

"What? How did it happen?"

"We had her at first, but she was taken away..."