After Awakening, I Taught My Adoptive Sisters and Fiancée a Lesson

The day I took over the Ashford family, a man from another world took over my body. He used my identity as head of the Ashford family to fawn over my three adoptive sisters and devote himself to winning them over. "The original owner of this body was far too cold-hearted. A thoughtful man like me, who knows how to treat women well, is the one who can win their hearts." But his efforts ended with my three adoptive sisters pushing him into the ocean after the nanny’s son shed a few tears. When I opened my eyes again, my two sisters were already storming in to accuse me. "Stop pretending. You knew Cade is afraid of water, yet you still pushed him into the pool.” "You only swallowed a few mouthfuls of water. Don’t think this little pity act will win you any sympathy!" "Kneel down and apologize to Cade right now." "Smack!" I slapped them both across the face. Then I wiped my hands. "When did the people living under my roof start thinking they could challenge me? The Blackridge mining project needs workers. You two will do." Chapter 1 “Ah! Mr. Ashford, don’t hit Alice and Abby!” Cade Shaw, the housekeeper’s son, rushed over and shielded Alice and Abby. I frowned when I saw him wearing the haute couture outfit Dad gave me. “Someone, strip that outfit off him!” “How dare you!” Alice and Abby suddenly flew into a rage. They pulled Cade behind them and glared at me with disdain. “What kind of stunt are you pulling now? “Oh, I know. You’re angry because we gave your plot of land in Southgate to Cade to build a water park, aren’t you? “We didn’t ask for your permission, but did that give you the right to push Cade into the pool? I shot my head up. The plot of land in Southgate? The one Dad had carefully planned for me despite his trembling hands when he was on his deathbed? I had no time to argue about whether Cade had fallen into the pool on his own. I grabbed Abby by the collar. “What did you say?” Abby shoved me away with a look of disdain. “Cade hasn’t had a proper birthday in twenty years. What’s wrong with helping him fulfill a dream?” Alice sneered as well. “Ace, I advise you to be sensible. If you keep nitpicking and targeting Cade, you’ll have no value to us whatsoever.” Before I could say anything, Cade suddenly knelt on the floor with tearful eyes. “Mr. Ashford! This is my fault! I shouldn’t have casually mentioned that I wanted to visit a water park! “I never got to enjoy the things you did when I was growing up. I was just envious, and I couldn’t stop myself from saying it! “If you’re angry, blame me! I promise I’ll never say things like that again!” He then slapped himself twice. “Smack! Smack!” Alice and Abby hurriedly caught his hand before he could strike himself a third time. “That’s enough! Ace was spoiled by your affection and treated you and your mother badly. How could this be your fault?” They frowned at me. “Kneel down and apologize to Cade right now, or don’t blame us for cutting you off as our brother!” Cade tugged at their sleeves with tearful eyes. “Alice, Abby, please don’t fall out with Mr. Ashford because of me. I—I came into your lives later. He was your brother first…” “Cade…” The two of them looked at him with aching affection. “When the bond is real, it doesn’t matter who came first.” “That’s right. Ace was the reason we didn’t meet you sooner. A vicious man like him deserved to atone for what he did to you.” She glared at me angrily. “Didn’t you understand? Kneel!” Cade made a half-hearted attempt to grab their sleeves and lowered his head. Yet the moment he did, he cast me an almost imperceptible glance, a cold sneer curling at the corner of his lips. As I watched my two sisters fume with righteous indignation, I was so furious that I laughed instead. The two women who had once been reduced to kneeling and catching my cigarette ash in their hands now dared to order me around? Cade, whom I had once taken by the hand to every major amusement park in the world, could now claim that he had never experienced the things I had? Chapter 2 They wanted me to become like the man who had taken over my body, willingly handling everything for them while pleading for their sympathy. They wanted me to beg for their sympathy by letting them abuse me. Instead, I merely lifted my chin. “Before we cut ties for good, someone take all of them to Southgate!” The three of them froze. I stared at them coldly. “You’d better pray that damned water park hasn’t been built yet!” … As soon as we reached Southgate, the enormous water park made it hard for me to breathe. The starry-sky art complex Dad designed for me was nowhere to be seen. The patterns he painstakingly drew, and the artwork he struggled to create for me while hooked up to a ventilator, had all been reduced to dust. “After people die, they become stars. “Son, you’ll be able to see the stars whenever you look up inside the buildings I designed. “If you miss me, go there and take a look. “I’ll always be with you as a star…” “Dad…” My eyes reddened, and tears threatened to spill over. “Dad!” But the entire plot of land had been taken over by Cade’s water park. The hundreds of square meters served only Cade. Dad’s starry sky… was gone. Dad’s stars… had fallen, too. “Ace! Let go of us!” Alice and Abby were still furious, while Cade’s eyes had also turned red. “Mr. Ashford… If you’re angry, blame me. I was the one who wanted to play at the water park. Their mistake was only loving me too much…” I seized him by the throat and leaned over him as he stared at me in shock. “You like playing at water parks. You can’t swim, can you?” Cade’s eyes widened. Before he could say anything, I clapped my hands. “Raise the water level by fifty centimeters. Cade is going to try the high-altitude water slide!” “What? No!” Cade screamed. The water slide stood more than a hundred meters high. Alice and Abby flew into a rage. “Ace! Raise the water level by fifty centimeters? Are you trying to drown Cade?” “Stop! You’re insane! Do you really think we won’t have a formal agreement drawn up to cut ties with you right now?” I had someone bring over a chair and sat down, ignoring their shouting. “Take my two adoptive sisters over there. Let them watch their nanny’s son enjoy the slide they designed!” “What?” The two women’s eyes widened. “No! Alice! Abby! Save me!” Cade was dragged onto the slide. The two women looked ready to tear the world apart as they struggled against the bodyguards, but their efforts were useless. “Ah!” His scream rang out as he plunged from the sky. Cade shot down from a hundred meters in the air and crashed into the pool with a loud splash. He sank heavily beneath the water. The lifeguard could have pulled him out in time. Instead, he deliberately let several seconds pass while watching his watch before finally going over and dragging Cade out. Cade had barely caught his breath when the bodyguards onshore dragged him back up the stairs. “Cade!” The two women screamed themselves hoarse. They watched as Cade plunged into the water, swallowed mouthfuls of it, got rescued, and was dragged back up again and again. The slide had been poorly designed, so Cade was injured every time he went down. By the tenth time, there wasn’t a patch of uninjured skin left on his body. “No more… I don’t want to do this anymore! Mr. Ashford! I’m done!” Cade burst into tears. I merely raised a hand, and the bodyguards dragged him up again. “Ace!” The two women ground their teeth in fury. “Stop this right now, or we’ll never forgive you!” “We’ll have nothing to do with you for the rest of our lives! I’ll make you wish you were dead!” I cast them a cool glance. “Have you been spoiled rotten by life here?” Chapter 3 “Blackridge needs workers for its mines. I think you two will do nicely.” The two women drew a sharp breath. At that moment, they finally seemed to realize one thing. I was the one in charge of the Ashford family. I could humble myself and curry favor with them. But if I truly wanted them dead, I had more than enough power to make it happen. I couldn’t understand how that transmigrated man had managed to turn himself into a pathetic man despite holding absolute power and having the final say. “A… Ac…” Alice’s voice trembled. She was terrified of snakes, insects, rats, and other vermin. Blackridge was crawling with them. “Ace…” She finally managed to say his name when a cold voice rang out. “Save Mr. Shaw.” “Anna!” Alice and Abby’s eyes lit up. “Anna! Save us!” I looked up. The tall woman in a suit was approaching me with a cold expression. “Anna…” Cade lay weakly in Anna Ashford’s arms. She wrapped him in a large towel and gently dried him. She applied ointment to the dark bruises covering his body while working the blood clots out of them. Then she spoke coldly. “Ace, apologize.” She acted like the head of the family, so I sneered. “When did the people living under my roof start thinking they could challenge me? “ She looked up. Her eyes remained calm, but they held a clear threat. “If that’s the case, we’ll have no choice but to remove you from the Ashford family business.” I thought I had misheard her. “Remove me from the Ashfords? “Ha. Miss Ashford, are you insane, or am I—the legal heir to Ashford Enterprises—the one who’s lost his mind?” “Oh?” She arched a brow. “Have you forgotten? I’m the Ashfords’ largest shareholder now.” A share-transfer agreement lay before me. Forty percent of Ashford Enterprises… I stopped breathing for a moment. The forty percent of shares in my name had been transferred to Anna?! The handwriting didn’t belong to me, but the fingerprints did. It suddenly clicked. This was the work of the man who had taken over my body. I searched my memories and finally remembered. He had once been falsely accused of pushing Cade down the stairs. When no explanation could clear his name, he resorted to this nearly self-destructive form of self-abuse. He threw the transfer agreement onto the table, then dragged his suitcase toward the door. The outcome had been exactly what he wanted. The three sisters softened when they saw how determined he was and chased after him. It had been raining heavily that day. The three sisters used their sports cars to block the car taking him to the airport. The dramatic pursuit ended with them winning him back. I laughed sarcastically. A dog that bit the hand that fed it deserved to be put down. Why waste my breath explaining myself? I flung the transfer agreement to the floor. “The Ashford family has a rule. An insider must witness any transfer of shares. This agreement only has your signatures. How do I know it isn’t forged?” Anna hesitated. Then she curved her lips into a faint smile. “Are you sure you want an insider to witness it?” I lifted my chin. “Of course.” I wanted to see which member of the family was arrogant enough to overestimate themselves. But the person who soon walked in left me breathless. “Ruby?” I called out her name in disbelief. Ruby frowned when she saw me, and the disgust in her eyes was impossible to hide. She walked past me without acknowledging me. Ruby Lowe was my fiancée. She placed the finalized agreement in front of me. Her clear signature and fingerprint made my heart tighten. The woman who had once shielded me with her body from an enemy’s machete now stood on Cade’s side as well. “I never thought it would be you.” My voice trembled. Ruby avoided my gaze. Her tone no longer held the love it once had. “I know who my savior is now.” Chapter 4 “Stop pretending. You make me sick.” I froze. I looked at Cade, whom she was shielding tightly behind her. I immediately understood. She thought Cade was the one who saved her back then? “Ace, now that you’ve seen the witness, you can see yourself out.” Anna’s voice was cold. “The Ashfords have no place for you after what you did to Cade.” Alice and Abby had already been untied. They stood protectively in front of Cade with looks of disdain. “It’s long past time for the Ashford heir to be replaced.” “Exactly. If a calculating, cruel, and jealous man like him leads the Ashfords, they’ll end up ruined sooner or later!” “What can he do besides putting on a pathetic act to gain our sympathy and plotting against Cade behind our backs?” “A man like him doesn’t deserve to call us his sisters or become a Lowe family son-in-law!” “Once we drive this bastard out, Cade can take over everything that belongs to him. It’s what he owes Cade.” Anna listened to them and turned coldly toward me, who stood completely still. “What is it? Do you want my people to throw you out?” Alice and Abby were filled with righteous indignation. “Don’t forget! This is Cade’s water park! You’re an outsider!” I suddenly laughed. “On Ashford land, you’re calling me an outsider?” Anna frowned. “What are you planning to do?” I tore the agreement in half. Everyone frowned. I clapped my hands. “Throw every one of them out!” “Ace Ashford.” Anna stood up. “Do you even know who actually controls the Ashfords now?” I sneered. “I only know that the security team Dad left me takes orders from me alone!” At my command, my head of security kicked Alice to the ground. Before she could say anything, Abby was kicked to the ground on top of Alice. “Ah!” Cade hid behind Ruby, who shielded him tightly and called someone. More and more people arrived. Fortunately, every person Dad left me was one of the best. An hour later, I stood covered in other people’s blood and tossed the broken wine bottle onto the floor. Blood stained the corner of Anna’s mouth. She wiped it away with a cold laugh. “Ace, you still haven’t outgrown your spoiled brat temper. “Do you still think you’re the one in charge of the Ashfords?” Cade stood unharmed behind Ruby and looked at me with tearful eyes. “Mr. Ashford, Anna originally planned to give you some money as compensation. “But you injured so many people just to vent your anger. Now you’ll be cast out with nothing, and you won’t even receive the money. Was it worth it…?” Anna made a call. “This is Anna Ashford. Revoke all of Ace Ashford’s authority at Ashford Enterprises, and…” “Wait.” I slowly pulled out a document and slapped it onto the table. “What is that…?” Anna drew a sharp breath. I sneered. “If I, Ace Ashford, dared to do something, I was prepared to face the consequences.” It was the Ashford Share Transfer Protection Declaration. Dad personally signed and authenticated it. Any share transfer made without the signature and fingerprint of Dad’s designated witness would be deemed coerced and invalid. Anyone who accepted the transferred shares would be held legally responsible. And Dad’s designated witness wasn’t Ruby. It was his lawyer. “Anna.” I looked at her mockingly. “According to the agreement, you accepted the transfer of my shares. That means you’re going to…” I hadn’t even finished saying “prison” when a sharp pain suddenly shot through my head.