Elise pulled out her phone. She tapped on the news headlines and showed the screen to Samuel. "You were set up by Sophia from the very beginning. Since you've been stuck here since yesterday, you probably haven't seen the news. Here, take a look."

Samuel had a sinking feeling about what she wanted to show him. He refused to even glance at the screen, growling through gritted teeth, "Are you finished mocking me?"

"It's not exactly mocking..." Elise paused deliberately. "Well, actually, I suppose it is."

While Samuel seethed, Elise tapped on the photos within the article, enlarging them for him. "That said, I'd prefer you to see the truth. Why don't you take a good look at these pictures?"

Finally, Samuel's curiosity overpowered his pride. He looked. His eyes widened, then turned bloodshot with disbelief.

"I'm sure you're intelligent enough to realize William or I didn't release these photos, right?" Elise continued calmly. "This all happened before William even arrived."

"What are you implying?!" Samuel snarled, his jaw clenched tight.

"You still don't understand, do you? Sophia orchestrated everything," Elise stated plainly. "She deliberately engineered your downfall, ensuring you lost your reputation and everything else. She did all this just to break up with you cleanly and leave you to suffer public scorn."

"How could she have gotten those photos if she wasn't even there?!" Samuel retorted, still desperately clinging to his defense of Sophia.

"Why don't you think it through logically?" Elise said, patiently laying out the facts. "The place you took me was your and Sophia's secret spot. A location only she knew about. Doesn't it seem likely that after Sophia found out what you planned to do, she set up a hidden camera in advance to capture the whole scene?"

"No! That's impossible!" Samuel cried out in denial. He refused to believe the Sophia who had professed such deep love for him could betray him so completely—to set him up like this! She had been utterly devoted to him! She cared for him so deeply she would never want to see him hurt!

Elise watched his reaction with cool detachment. It was clear he understood the truth on some level. He was simply refusing to admit how foolish he had been, how completely Sophia had manipulated him.

"And this isn't even the first time Sophia has pulled something like this," Elise continued, her voice steady despite the old anger simmering beneath the surface. "Who do you think arranged for me to be drugged and end up in a stranger's bed? Who caused the scandal when I got pregnant?"

The memories, though distant, still carried a sting. Her entire life had been derailed because of Sophia's jealousy and selfishness.

Samuel stared back at her silently, his lack of response an admission in itself. But Elise wasn't about to let him off that easily. She wanted him to hear every damning detail, to understand the full extent of his idiocy in falling for Sophia's act.

"It was Sophia. Ever since we were children, she could never stand it when I had something better than her."

"Because I got into a prestigious university and she only managed a second-rate college, she lured me to a bar, drugged my drink, and arranged for a man to take advantage of me. She never anticipated her plan would hit a snag when I didn't leave with the man she'd chosen. That's also why she failed to get the incriminating video she wanted."

Samuel was visibly trembling now, his composure crumbling with every word.

Elise pressed on, relentless.

"However, I did get pregnant. She used that against me, leaking the story to turn everyone against me, just like they've turned against you now. The Scott family subsequently disowned me and shipped me abroad."

"That way, she didn't have to compete with anyone for the family's fortune."

"What she didn't expect was for me to meet you and return to the country with you."

"To everyone else, we were the perfect couple."

"That ignited her jealousy all over again, so she did everything in her power to steal everything I had."

"Enough, Elise. I don't want to hear any more..." Samuel's eyes were red-rimmed, his voice shaking.

But his pathetic state was his own doing. Elise felt no pity. She continued, unmoved.

"When our wedding was called off, you two got together as if it were the most natural thing in the world. But Sophia wasn't satisfied, because I started a relationship with William Levine at that time. You probably didn't know she was trying to seduce him while she was still dating you, did you?"

Samuel's entire body trembled. He was breaking apart inside.

"But this time, she hit a wall," Elise said coolly.

"William wanted nothing to do with her. She didn't even get a chance to bat her eyelashes at him. She only realized she was completely out of her league when Victoria Stuart appeared on the scene. That's when she finally gave up on William. Or maybe she was just satisfied knowing that I wouldn't end up with him either."