THE DISABLED HEIRESS, MY EX-HUSBAND WOULD PAY DEARLY.

Chapter 394

At that moment, upon hearing the words Cora had just spoken, Oliver found himself staring at her with genuine surprise written clearly across his face.He had been bracing himself for something difficult.

Something complicated. Something that would require significant resources or careful planning or the kind of favor that carries weight and consequences. He had expected her to ask for something that would make him pause and think through the implications, something that would require him to pull strings in ways that were not entirely straightforward or risk-free.

But this?

This was almost absurdly simple.

He cleared his throat and leaned back slightly, still holding her hand, and when he spoke there was something between amusement and disbelief in his voice.

"Is this all you want?" he asked. "Just this? This is what you are asking me to do?"

Cora nodded immediately, her expression serious and unwavering.

"Yes," she said firmly. "This is exactly what I want. Exactly. I do not want anything more than this. You have already given me so much tonight - you saved me, you protected me, you dealt with Lovi in ways I could never have managed on my own - and I am not asking for anything beyond what we already agreed on." She squeezed his hand slightly. "Just this. Just what we bet on. Just making sure Penelope understands exactly how wrong she was."

Oliver could not help himself - he smiled slightly and shrugged in a way that communicated just how easy the request actually was from his perspective.

"You want me to cancel the marriage?" he said, and his tone was almost casual. "With one phone call? Because I can do that right now. One call, and the entire arrangement ceases to exist. The engagement dissolves. The wedding does not happen. It would take me less than five minutes." He tilted his head slightly. "Do you want me to do it immediately? Right now, sitting here?"

Cora’s eyes widened, and for a moment she just stared at him as though trying to process whether he was serious or exaggerating for effect.

"You can actually do that?" she said slowly. "You can make one phone call - just one - and everything gets dissolved? Just like that?"

Oliver nodded without hesitation.

"Yes," he said simply. "And it would not even be a burden. It would be considered a favor that I called and asked for it. They would dissolve it immediately, without question, without pushback, and they would consider it a privilege that I reached out to them directly." His voice was matter-of-fact, as though he were describing something as mundane as ordering food. "That is how far the reach goes, Cora. That is what I was trying to help you understand earlier."

Cora was quiet for several long seconds, absorbing the implications of what he had just said, and then she shook her head slowly.

"I believe you," she said, and her voice carried complete sincerity. "I do. After everything I saw tonight, I have no doubt you could do exactly what you are saying." She paused, choosing her next words carefully. "But I do not want it that way. I do not want it to happen quietly, behind the scenes, with a phone call that makes everything disappear before anyone even knows what happened."

Oliver raised an eyebrow slightly, waiting for her to continue.

"We made a bet," Cora said, and now there was something fierce and anticipatory in her expression. "You told me - you promised me - that we would be guests of honor at Penelope’s wedding. That we would walk into that event with our heads high, that we would be treated with respect and deference, and that Penelope would see exactly how wrong she was to dismiss you the way she did."

She leaned forward slightly, her eyes bright.

"That is what I want. I want it to happen exactly the way you described it. I want to be there, in that venue, surrounded by all those people, watching Penelope’s face when everything falls apart in front of her. I want to see the shock. I want to see the confusion. I want to see the exact moment when her spirit leaves her body and she realizes that everything she thought she understood about power and influence and where her family’s reach stops - all of it was wrong."

Her grip on his hand tightened.

"I want to see the absolute devastation in her expression. I want to watch her shake. I want her to understand - really, truly, deeply understand - that all the things her family has accumulated, all the status they believe protects them, all of it stops at a certain point. And where their influence ends, yours continues. I want her to feel that in a way she will never forget for the rest of her life."

Cora’s voice dropped slightly but lost none of its intensity.

"So on that day - on the day of her wedding, exactly as we planned - I want all hell to break loose. I want the chaos and the spectacle and the public humiliation of watching everything she built collapse in real time." She paused, and a small, sharp smile crossed her face. "And you leave the part that comes after to me. You deliver the destruction. I will handle making sure she learns the lesson."

At that moment, Oliver looked at Cora with an expression that was searching and slightly skeptical - as though he were trying to gauge whether she fully understood what she was asking for and whether she was genuinely prepared to follow through on it.

"Is that really what you want?" he asked, his voice carrying a note of careful inquiry. "Are you absolutely certain that is the approach you prefer? Because I can handle the discipline myself. I can make sure Penelope learns exactly what happens when someone crosses the wrong person, and I can do it in ways that leave no room for doubt or repetition." He paused, watching her face. "But you are telling me you want to be the one to do it. You want to handle that part yourself."

Cora nodded without hesitation.

"Yes," she said firmly. "That is exactly what I want."

Oliver tilted his head slightly, still studying her.

"Are you sure you will not have mercy on her?" he pressed. "Because I can tell - I have seen it clearly - that this person has been a thorn in your side for a long time. She has caused you pain and frustration and humiliation in ways that run deep. And when the moment comes, when you are standing in front of her and she is broken and begging and looking at you with desperation..." He let the sentence hang for a moment. "Are you sure you are not going to feel sympathy? Are you sure you will not let her walk away freely because some part of you feels like she has suffered enough?"

Cora’s expression did not waver.

She looked at Oliver with a clarity and a focus that left no room for misinterpretation, and when she spoke her voice was steady and cold and carried the weight of someone who had spent a very long time building up to this decision.

"I have never been more serious about anything in my entire life," she said. "Never. Not about my education, not about my career, not about any goal I have ever set for myself. When it comes to dealing with Penelope - when it comes to putting her exactly where she belongs and making sure she understands the full magnitude of her mistakes - I have never been more determined or more certain about what needs to happen."

Her eyes did not leave his.

"So leave that part to me."