But instead, he let out a sharp scream, crouched on the floor with his hands over his head, and cried for help.
His reaction was so strange that Daniel froze in shock.
“Stop pretending! Tell me where Emily is!”
“She was perfectly fine two months ago. Why has her Social Security identity been terminated?”
“What did you do to her? I’m warning you—this marriage alliance doesn’t change the fact that Emily is a daughter of the Miller family. If you dared harm her, I’ll be the first to destroy you.”
Ryan, who had been trapped in his own nightmares, suddenly focused on the man before him.
His pupils cleared, the terror in his eyes slowly fading as he recognized Daniel.
“Daniel Reed, didn’t you marry that imposter from the Miller family?”
“Get this straight—Emily Carter is my wife. How I deal with her is my business. Don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong—”
Before Ryan Brooks could finish, he took another solid punch from Daniel.
“I won’t ask a second time.”
Daniel gritted his teeth, forcing out the words.
“Where is Emily Carter?”
Beaten into submission, Ryan clutched his head, no longer daring to mouth off.
“I sent her back to the Miller family two months ago. I haven’t seen her since. Why are you asking me? Go to the Millers!”
Daniel refused to believe it. He raised his fist again, ready to strike, when Ryan screamed for his butler.
“If you don’t believe me, check the surveillance. This was two months ago. That day, she looked so sour I couldn’t stand it. I gave her a beating and had her thrown out.”
Daniel stared at the footage, unblinking.
Ryan wasn’t lying.
But the longer he watched, the paler Daniel’s face became, his eyes gradually reddening.
“She’s a woman. How could you beat her so viciously?”
Ryan choked under Daniel’s grip, but still sneered.
“What’s this? Feeling sorry for her?”
“If your wife sees you care this much about another woman, won’t she get jealous? She might even kill someone.”
Daniel rolled up his sleeves, yanked off his watch, and pummeled him mercilessly this time.
I floated not far away, watching.
So, Daniel had always known I was beaten.
But he had clung to the belief that Ryan, for the sake of appearances between the Brooks and Miller families, wouldn’t strike too hard.
He never imagined that I would vanish entirely for two months.
He thought I was hiding at Ryan’s place, or nursing injuries in the countryside.