Transmigration; Married to My Ex-Fiancé's Uncle-Chapter 156; Lu Yuze & Lin Shuyin (f)

His hand caught her wrist mid-motion, stopping the throw before it could happen. He held her there, suspended in that moment of destructive intent, his breath warm against her neck.

"How can a billion yuan just disappear like that?" Shuyin’s voice cracked, hovering somewhere between a shout and a sob. "How is this possible? I’m careful with money! I don’t just... throw it away!"

"You did last night," Lu Yuze said, gently but firmly lowering her arm, taking the phone from her grip, and setting it safely on the nightstand. "Very enthusiastically. There are videos. Apparently, you went viral. Again."

He pulled her back against him, tucking her into his chest despite her rigid resistance.

"Half a billion yuan," she whispered, the reality finally sinking in. "I’m half a billion yuan in debt."

"Yes."

"I don’t have that kind of money."

"No, you don’t."

"I can’t pay that back. Not quickly. Not..." Her breathing was getting faster, panic setting in as the full implications crashed over her. "They’ll freeze my accounts. The bank will demand immediate repayment. I’ll lose everything. They’ll...."

"They won’t," Lu Yuze interrupted calmly.

She twisted to look at him, confusion cutting through the panic. "What?"

"I covered the overdraft this morning," he said casually, like he was discussing the weather. "Transferred enough to bring your account back to positive. The bank has been notified that the debt is cleared."

Shuyin’s mind stuttered, trying to process this new information. "You... paid?"

"Yes."

"Five hundred million yuan?"

"Four hundred and seventy-three million, to be precise. The exact amount of your overdraft."

She stared at him, unable to form coherent thoughts. "Why would you...."

"Because you’re my wife," he said simply, as if that explained everything. "And I don’t let my wife carry debt. It reflects poorly on me."

The practical reasoning should have been comforting.

Instead, it made her feel trapped all over again.

"So now I owe you," she said flatly, understanding the real situation. "Instead of owing the bank, I owe you."

"Consider it a wedding gift," Lu Yuze replied, but his smile suggested otherwise. "Though you might want to reconsider that divorce you were demanding quite so insistently."

The trap snapped shut with audible finality.

She couldn’t divorce him while owing him half a billion yuan. It would make her look mercenary, opportunistic, like she’d married him just to access his money and leave. The optics alone would destroy any credibility she had.

And he knew it.

Had probably planned for exactly this scenario.

"You manipulative..."

"Husband," he supplied helpfully. "The word you’re looking for is ’husband.’"

Shuyin wanted to hit him. She wanted to scream. She wanted to do something violent and cathartic.

Instead, she just closed her eyes and tried to breathe through the rage.

"And why are you up so early in the morning?" Lu Yuze asked, changing the subject with maddening ease, as if they’d just been discussing something mundane instead of her complete financial ruin.

Before she could answer or protest, his arm shot out and wrapped around her waist, dragging her back down and into his arms with surprising strength.

She struggled immediately, hands pushing against his chest with real force. "Let go...."

"No." The single word was absolute, brooking no argument.

"I have work, I have to earn money..." she snapped, still trying to twist free. His grip was firm, unyielding, holding her against him like she weighed nothing, like her supernatural strength meant nothing against whatever made him so impossibly strong.

"Work can wait."

"I’ll be working at Lu Group South from now on," she said, still pushing, still fighting despite knowing it was futile. "And we need to get a divorce! No matter what, I will pay that money..."

"No, we don’t." Lu Yuze’s voice was maddeningly calm, completely unaffected by her struggles. "You need to calm down, think rationally, and accept that you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be."

"In debt to you?" she spat. "Trapped in a marriage I don’t want? Unable to even remove a ring you forced onto my finger?"

"Safe," he corrected, his voice softening slightly. "Protected. Provided for. Those are the words you’re looking for."

"I don’t need protection!"

"Last night suggests otherwise."

The reminder of her drunken generosity, of the half-billion yuan she’d carelessly spent, made her face burn with humiliation.

"That was one mistake...."

"That I fixed," he interrupted. "Because that’s what husbands do. They clean up the messes. They protect their wives from their own poor decisions. They ensure that momentary lapses in judgment don’t result in permanent consequences."

He shifted, bringing one hand up to cup her face, forcing her to look at him.

"You can hate me all you want," he said quietly, seriously. "You can fight this marriage, fight me, fight everything. But you will not divorce me. Not now. Not when you owe me half a billion yuan. Not when you need the protection of my name to keep the vultures from circling."

His thumb brushed across her cheekbone, the gesture almost tender despite the iron underneath.

His grip was firm, unyielding, holding her against him like she weighed nothing.

"I’ll be working at Lu Group South from now on! I guess I have to earn money.."

The words came out sharper than she’d intended, edged with the desperation of someone who’d realized they were trapped.

Lu Yuze’s expression didn’t change, but something flickered in his eyes, something dark and possessive.

"You don’t need to work," he said, his voice taking on that dangerous softness she was beginning to recognize.

"I can provide anything and everything for you. I have money and capabilities."

To emphasize his point, he bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek.

Shuyin jerked her head away, her face twisting with disgust that was perhaps a bit too theatrical to be entirely genuine.

"Aaaahh! I have to work!" she protested, renewing her struggles.

If she didn’t work, how was she going to deal with Lu Zeyan? And how was she going to clear the debt?