Ryan’s face turned pale,

but after a moment, he regained his composure.

"Claire, he’s the son of an important business partner for my family. If you send him to jail, it’ll be hard for me to explain to them."

I wasn’t planning to engage with him.

Since the moment he said those words,

I had begun reevaluating our relationship.

Is someone this insincere still worth my love?

If I weren’t strong enough to defend myself, I might’ve been assaulted.

And yet, Ryan wasn’t concerned about me—he just wanted to get his friend out of trouble?

What am I, a saint?

I chuckled to myself,

wondering why it took me this long to see through his false kindness.

Seeing that I wouldn’t budge, Ryan gritted his teeth and handed me a bank card.

"There’s 180,000 dollar in here, money I saved to marry you."

"Don’t worry, I’ll definitely get my parents to agree!"

I was so angry I saw stars. I slapped his hand away.

"Stop flattering yourself!"

Everything he did seemed innocent on the surface, but underneath, it was rotten.

Ryan stood there, holding the card, dumbfounded. His eyes began to redden.

This trick had worked on me countless times before.

By now, I would’ve felt sorry for him and comforted him.

But this time, I was numb to his antics.

" Ryan, I’m giving you two options."

"One, he apologizes to me and gets it on record, and you stop bothering me."

"Two, I write a settlement agreement, and we discuss compensation."

Ryan hesitated, holding the card.

"Claire, how about you write the settlement and he apologizes? Would that work?"

He frowned at me, "I don’t want my family knowing my friend got arrested for harassing you. It wouldn’t look good for any of us."

"Especially for you, Claire. You’ll be entering our social circle, and this could hurt your reputation."

I didn’t respond and signed the settlement for his friend.

Watching Ryan smile with relief, I unhesitatingly slapped him across the face.

"We’re done. Stay out of my life from now on."

I took a step closer and whispered,

"By the way, your friend said you’re just a weak little chicken compared to him!"

Leaving him with a black face, I walked away in a surprisingly good mood.

While driving home, the editor-in-chief called me, which was unusual after work hours.

"Hey, Claire, the Hale family pressured us to fire you…"

I went silent.

Damn it.

I should’ve thrown the interview script in Ryan’s face.