Five Years After Jumping into the Sea, I Returned with a Mini-Billionaire to Shock Everyon

Everyone in the capital's elite circle knew that Liam Farley would spin any lie to protect Evelyn Fox.

He had even torn my ultrasound scan to shreds in public at a family gathering.

I'm sterile, Nora. If you want to trap me, you'll have to come up with a better lie than pregnancy.

Under the mocking gazes of the crowd, he had gently wiped a tear from Evelyn's eye.

That was the moment I finally understood: *When a man doesn't love you, even carrying his child is a crime.*

Hand resting on the slight swell of my lower belly, I turned toward the railing of the luxury cruise ship and let go.

"Liam, since you claim you can't have children, then consider this baby a gift from a ghost."

Five years later.

A miniature replica of Liam snatched a plot of land right out from under him at an auction.

Liam demanded a DNA test, his eyes red with fury, but the child just smiled.

"Mister, you're sick. You couldn't possibly produce a seed as brilliant as me."

Dead silence.

The childish voice landed harder than a physical blow.

In the front row, Liam's handsome face twisted. The plastic bidding paddle in his grip snapped with a sharp *crack*, crushed into worthless scrap.

His stare cut toward the boy swinging his short legs in the front row.

A face exactly like his ownthe ultimate mockery in this gilded room.

Liam moved.

He vaulted over the seats, murder radiating from every pore.

Security didn't dare stop him. The guests forgot how to breathe.

His hand shot out, fingers hooked like talons, aiming straight for the child's collar.

The boy didn't flinch. He simply looked up, eyes holding the same frozen indifference as mine.

Just as Liam's fingers grazed fabric

A black shadow surged from the side.

My hand, clad in a tactical glove, clamped down on his wrist.

I squeezed. Full force.

Tendons strained across the back of his hand. Bones gave a crisp *pop*. He wrenched, twistedmy grip didn't budge an inch.

His gaze traveled up my arm.

Crashed into my stare.

Liam's pupils contracted to pinpoints.

He looked at me like he was seeing a corpse walk, forcing two words through clenched teeth. "Nora Henson?"

The room detonated into chaos.

"Nora Henson? Mr. Farley's ex-wife? The one who jumped into the sea five years ago?"

"I thought they never found the body. How is she still alive?"

"Rumor has it she was pregnant with a bastard and killed herself out of shame..."

The whispers buzzed like a kicked hornet's nest.

Expressionless, I flung his hand away hard enough to send him stumbling.

I bent down. Straightened the child's bow tie. Rose to my full height.

Slowly, I peeled off the glove, revealing a palm roughened by years of saltwater and hard labor.

"Mr. Farley, you're mistaken." My voice was void of anything human. "I am this child's father, not your ex-wife."

Behind Liam, Evelyn Fox covered her mouth and screamed. "A ghost! Liam, she's a ghost!"

She cowered against his back, trembling violently.

Liam pulled her into his arms without thinkingmuscle memory carved into his bones.

After murmuring something soothing, he turned back to me. The shock in his eyes had already curdled into pure disgust.

Five years later, his gaze still knew exactly where to stab.

He looked me up and down, sneering at my cargo pants and combat boots before his attention settled on the child.

"You didn't die, just hid for five years? What, did you run out of money? Did you drag this bastard back to beg?"

He studied me like I was a dog wagging its tail for scraps.

"Nora, that outfit doesn't even cost five hundred dollars. Can your lover not afford to keep you anymore?"

Snickers rippled through the crowd.

I didn't look at him. I took the Rubik's cube from the child's hand and set it on the table.

Then I raised the bidding paddle.

My voice sliced through the venue, cool and clear. "Fifty million."

The room erupted.

That was the land Liam had been determined to win. The starting price was only twenty million.

The mockery on Liam's face froze solid.

The auctioneer brought the gavel down, nearly vibrating out of his skin with excitement.

A staff member sprinted over clutching a card terminal.

I rolled up my sleeve, exposing the jagged scar running down my wrist.

Decompression sickness had left its brandproof that I had fought with my life every single day for the past five years.

I swiped my card. Signed. Movements fluid as water.

"Oh, and one more thing." I shoved the black card back into my pocket and met Liam's gaze. "Mr. Farley, if you aren't using your eyes, donate them. Get out of my way."

I took the child's hand and turned to leave.

Liam's expression darkened to a sickly shade of iron. He jerked his chin at his bodyguards.

*Boom.*

The main doors slammed shut.

A dozen men in black suits sealed off the exit.

Liam shoved Evelyn aside and advanced on me, teeth grinding. "You think you can just leave? Explain yourself. Whose bastard is this?"

A trembling finger jabbed toward the child, eyes venomous. "Here to scam me? I don't mind verifying it right here and making you disappear for good this time."

In the auction house's VIP lounge.

A dozen burly men ringed the boy and me, leaving no room for escape.

Liam sprawled across the sofa, legs crossed, radiating arrogance. He twisted the signet ring on his finger, his glare gloomy and sharp.

"Speak, Nora."

A document slammed onto the coffee tablea private detective's report from five years ago.

"Who did you sleep with to get that fifty million? Or did you sell your body to get it?"

Every word was designed to draw blood.

Evelyn cradled a cup of tea, eyes rimmed red, looking delicate and pitiful.

"Sister, don't be angry with Liam. Just tell us who the father is, and the Farley family will give you some money."

Her gaze drifted to Liam's lap, voice dropping to a stage whisper loud enough for the entire room.

"After all, everyone knows about Liam's... condition."

"Insisting the child is a Farley is just twisting the knife in Liam's wound, isn't it?"

She really knew how to drive the blade in deep.

My son laughed.

Crisp. Cold. Unnervingly adult.

He unwrapped a piece of gum, chewed twice, and regarded Evelyn with clinical detachment.

"Auntie, your perfume is strong. It smells like the cheap toilet cleaner we use at home."

Evelyn's face stiffened, her tears freezing mid-wobble.

Liam shot to his feet and swung his hand, aiming a slap at the child's face.

"You uncultured little mongrel! You think you're worthy to speak to her?"

The slap cut through the air.

I grabbed the phone off the table and smashed it into the back of his hand.

*Bang!*

The screen shattered against bone. His hand swelled instantly, flushing an angry red.

He hissed, stumbling back, cradling his fingers. "Nora! You dare hit me for this bastard?"

I pulled the child behind me, gaze unyielding.

"Watch your mouth, Liam. Whether this child is a bastard or notdon't you know the truth in your heart?"

Liam laughed.

A sound bordering on madness.

"Fine! Good!"

He roared at the bodyguards. "Drag this brat to the lab! I want a DNA test right now!"

"I want the entire capital to see whose mongrel you were carrying! I will prove my innocence! I will prove I never touched a bitch like you!"

To humiliate me, he didn't hesitate to announce his own alleged infertility to the world.

His logic was twisted beyond repair.

The bodyguards stepped forward.

My son didn't flinch. He plucked a single hair from his head and held it out.

I stopped the guards, took the strand, and walked up to Liam.

I dropped it onto the coffee table. Looked at him as if he were trash.

"Test it."

My voice was terrifyingly calm.

"But Liam... you won't be able to handle the result."

Just as Liam was about to explode, Evelyn suddenly clutched her chest and let out a pained moan.

"Liam... I don't feel well... my heart..."

Her face went deathly pale, and she collapsed like a wilted flower.

Liam's rage vanished instantly, replaced by panic.

He shoved me aside and scooped her up.

"Evelyn! Where's her medicine? Get the car! Move!"

He rushed toward the door with her in his arms. As he passed me, he didn't spare me a single glance.

Only threw a cold order over his shoulder: "Watch this crazy woman and her bastard! They don't leave until the results are in!"

The room emptied in a rush.

I stood there, watching his frantic retreat.

It was the same five years ago.

If Evelyn frowned, the world had to stop.

Even when I was bleeding out in the delivery room.

I pulled a crumpled old newspaper from my bag. It featured a photo of Liam in the hospital, tearing my ultrasound scan to pieces.

I crushed the paper into a ball and tossed it into the trash.

Then I dialed an encrypted number.

"Hello."

"The asset is recoverable."

Three days later. The seaside docks.

The wind was bleak, cutting through fabric straight to the bone.

Liam's car was parked near the water's edge. He stood in the wind, clutching the unopened paternity test in one hand.

Evelyn huddled beside him, wrapped in his cashmere coat. Her complexion was rosynot a trace of her recent "heart attack."

I led the child forward, but a bodyguard blocked our path.

Liam shook the manila envelope, smile sinister. "You want this?"

He pointed to the dark, churning water at his feet.

"Evelyn accidentally dropped her heirloom ring. It's a Farley family treasureit can't be lost."

His gaze locked onto mine, lips hooking into a cruel smirk. "Nora, I heard you do deep-sea salvage abroad?"

"Since you're so capable, go get it for her."

A blatant power play. Naked humiliation.

The late autumn water was cold enough to induce hypothermia in minutes, and the currents here were treacherous.

Evelyn tugged at Liam's sleeve, feigning concern. "Liam, forget it."

"If it's lost, it's lost. The water is too cold. Sister's body is weakdon't make her go."

Her mouth said *no*, but her eyes danced with anticipation.

"It's your wedding ring," Liam said coldly. "It must be found."

"Isn't she a professional? If she can't handle a little dip, what was she doing acting tough with fifty million dollars?"

I ignored their performance. Bent down and handed the child to my assistant.

Shed my coat, revealing the black wetsuit underneath.

"One condition."

I checked the oxygen tank, voice flat.

"I retrieve the ring; you destroy the DNA test on the spot. Unopened. From then on, the Farley family and I are even. This child has nothing to do with you."

Liam froze, then scoffed. "So eager to destroy it? You know the result will ruin you. Fine. I agree."

In his eyes, my bargaining was just an admission of guilt.

I pulled on my goggles. Bit down on the regulator.

Jumped.

I broke the surface without a splash, vanishing into the gray-black water.

On the dock, the monitoring screen flickered to life, displaying the real-time feed from my suit.

My heart rate: a steady, flat line.

Liam stared at the readout, brows knitting together.

The water was forty-six degrees. My calm irritated him.

Visibility was almost nonexistent.

Suddenlya powerful surge slammed into me.

*Sabotage.*

The air supply hose shuddered violently, and the flow from the regulator cut off.

Suffocation hit instantly.

I looked up. Through the murky water, the operator under the boat was violently shaking the line.

Evelyn had bribed someone.

She wanted me dead.

On the monitoring screen, my heart rate didn't even flicker.

I didn't scream. I didn't struggle.

Deadly calm settled over me like a second skin. My fingers found the main air supply hose, severed it, and twisted open the backup mini cylinder.

Child's play.

The water's momentum became my weapon. I flipped hard, breaking the undercurrent's grip, and plunged straight into the seabed silt. Rusted scrap metal. Rotting nets. And therea faint glint.

My fingers hooked like talons and snatched the ring with vicious precision.

Three minutes later, I broke the surface.

I hauled myself onto the pier, drenched and pale, but my eyes cut sharper than tempered steel.

Liam Farley stumbled back a step.

Like he'd seen a ghost.

I strode straight toward Evelyn Fox. Right in front of him, I raised the so-called heirloom ring.

My fingers tightened.

*Crack.*

The gemstone setting buckled, metal pinching into a distorted oval. I tossed it casually. It rolled across the concrete and came to rest against Evelyn's custom leather shoe.

"Fake." I ripped off the respirator, a sneer curling my lip. "Just like your peoplegold-plated trash."

The scrape against concrete had peeled away a patch of plating, exposing the cheap, ugly brass beneath.

Evelyn's face drained of color. She looked at Liam in panic.

He stared at the ring on the ground, stunned, then shifted his gaze to my dripping face.

He forgot to breathe.

Slowly, he bent down and retrieved the deformed ring. The mottled copper rust seemed to stab at his eyes. His face turned a livid shade of gray. He whipped his head around to glare at Evelyn, the accusation lodged in his throat like broken glass.

Suddenly, the giant LED advertising screen on the pier blazed to life.