‘CEO Winfield, the marriage certificate checks out.’
The officer glanced around the lobby, freshly renovated this year.
‘Look, just sign the property over to her. Makes her happy, makes your life easier. You're family—sit down, hash it out, and get this settled.’
‘Family?’
I spoke quietly, my tone level but firm.
‘Officer, whether a marriage actually exists isn't determined by a single certificate. It's determined by the registration system at the County Clerk's Office. Isn't that right?’
The officer blinked, clearly unsure why I was pressing the point, but nodded.
‘That's correct.’
Anita didn't flinch at that. If anything, she burned brighter.
Hands planted on her hips, she let out a cold laugh aimed straight at me.
‘Fine, let's go! You think I'm scared? That certificate is real. Check wherever you want—it'll say married!’
Louis tugged the corner of his mouth into a smirk, his voice threaded with smug certainty.
‘Carmen, if you insist on pushing this to the bitter end, don't say I didn't warn you.’
He took Anita by the arm, turned, and followed the officers out to the car.
Watching their smug retreating backs, I let out a silent, cold laugh of my own.
None of them knew I was already holding a certificate proving no marriage existed.
The trump card was in my hand. I couldn't lose.
The atmosphere inside the car was wound tight enough to snap.
Louis's relatives jabbed fingers in my direction the entire ride,
spraying spit as they cursed me for being ungrateful, for letting money change me.
Louis kept glancing over, calculation and pressure packed behind every look.
Anita never stopped running her mouth, playing the victim for the officers the whole way,
selling herself as the poor, pitiful mother-in-law bullied half to death by her rich daughter-in-law.
I kept my eyes closed the entire ride and said nothing.
Just before we reached the County Clerk's Office, my phone buzzed with a message from my assistant.
【CEO Winfield, practically every reporter in Sterling City is camped outside the County Clerk's Office. Let me go handle it first.】
My hand was steady. I typed back two words.
【No need.】
The car pulled slowly into the County Clerk's Office grounds.
The moment we passed through the gate, reporters swarmed us from every direction.
In the rearview mirror, Louis's lips curled into a satisfied grin.
I swept a glance over the crowd. Major outlets, bottom-feeder tabloids, every size of media in between—all present and accounted for.
Assembling this many cameras in one place wasn't easy.
I shot Louis a cold look.
Quite the little scheme.
The second I stepped out of the car, reporters closed in, cameras and microphones shoved right into my face.
‘CEO Winfield, is it true you're sitting on your fortune and refusing to take care of your own mother-in-law? We want an explanation!’
‘CEO Winfield, in an interview last year you said filial piety comes before all else. Then why are you treating your mother-in-law this way? The public deserves an answer!’
‘CEO Winfield……’
I pushed through the crowd without a word and walked straight toward the County Clerk's Office lobby.
A thousand explanations weren't worth what the next few minutes would reveal.
The officers went ahead and briefed the staff, and the clerk behind the window stood up immediately, polite and professional,
guiding us over to the records inquiry counter.
Anita planted herself in front of the counter with her chin tilted so high it could have scraped the ceiling.
She slammed her palm on the countertop over and over, barking at the clerk to hurry.
‘Hurry up! What's the holdup? Look it up already! Carmen Winfield and my son Louis Fox. Are they legally married or aren't they!’
Louis was right behind her, sliding the bright red marriage certificate across the counter, his tone open and perfectly innocent.
‘If you could verify this as soon as possible. We just got legally married a few days ago.’
The clerk took the certificate. Fingers settled on the keyboard—and began to type.
The whole hall went dead silent.
Nothing but the click of the clerk's keyboard.
Anita's mouth curled with the smile of someone who'd already won—just waiting for the results so she could force me to sign over the property and shares.
Louis's gaze was locked and certain. In his mind, I was already cornered.
The reporters huddled nearby were whispering among themselves, clearly convinced my public collapse was seconds away.
The clerk's eyes settled on the screen. Her fingers went still.
She adjusted her glasses, looked down at the marriage certificate in her hand, then leaned forward to check the monitor again.
‘You found it?!’
Louis lunged forward and seized the clerk's wrist, barely able to contain himself.
‘You found it, right?! Tell me!’
The clerk wrenched her hand free.
She looked up, her gaze sweeping over Anita's smug expression and Louis's triumphant face,
then slowly turned to me.
The next second, she picked up the microphone. Her voice cut across the hall—cold, official, every syllable deliberate:
‘Per system inquiry, Ms. Carmen Winfield is unmarried, with no marriage registration on record.’
