Cordy sneered. "You made me do it, didn't you?""I didn't think that you were investigating me in secret!" Kyle growled viciously. "Don't you ever tell me again you trusted me unconditionally. We're the same—get off your high horse!""Don't try to pull me down to your standards, Kyle. You're far beneath me," Cordy retorted coolly. "And I never asked for those photos." "What, are you saying you didn't ask someone to get them for you?! Do you think I'd believe—""Don't think for a second everyone else is despicable just because you are!" Cordy cut him short right then. "There are plenty of good people in this world—people who stand up for justice and who are utterly repulsed by your behavior! That's why someone took photos of you cheating on me, because they could not stand watching you brazenly fool around with my sister while I worked myself to death for Jessop Corp!"Kyle's hand was shaking even as he held his phone.Who was it? Who could have betrayed him?!"Don't ask me who
"Kyle Jessop, no wicked deeds ever go unpunished!"And with that, Cordy hung up, not wanting to waste her time with Kyle any further.Kyle's phone was shaking even as he held Mandy's phone.He was not about to stop after what Cordy did to him!And yet, the priority right now was to stop the media from publishing more damning content on him… and he certainly could tell how terrible they were going to be even without reading anything yet.Even so, there was no way he could try to defend himself in front of the media. The more he spoke, the worse the coverage would turn out to be.As such, his only option was to keep a low profile and let everything cool off.But if it did not…Kyle narrowed his eyes. It seemed that he would have used another headline to snuff out all the content condemning him.-Noel locked herself in her office after the press conference, crying a storm.She had never been that humiliated ever since she was a child—and in front of the whole nation at that!
Smack!Cordy's eyes narrowed as Plum's slap landed squarely on her face, leaving a distinctly red palm print on her fair cheek."You shameless bitch! How could you do this to your own sister?!" Plum snapped at her right after that. "How can she or our family show our faces in public now?! How did we ever raise a swine like you, Cordy?!"Cordy simply pursed her lips seven as she felt the burning sting on her cheek.Many unpleasant memories abruptly appeared in her mind at the same time.She had been alone and helpless since her mother died.On the other hand, Noel won Simon and Plum's favor in every way, and abused Cordy however she could.As a child, Cordy was not good at resisting, and she had to just bear with it most of the time. Even if Simon or Plum knew that Noel was the one at fault, Cordy would be punished anyway. There was even a time when Plum locked her up, denying her food or drink for two days. She had been slapped before by Plum too—just like now, with every ou
Sue and Noel were watching Plum abuse Cordy with irrepressible delight. Noel's gloom was also slightly relieved in turn—so what if Cordy won that press conference? Plum was now tearing her a new one!Nonetheless, Cordy spoke with calm apathy. "Everyone knows how the Sachs gained their success. Naturally, I won't argue with you, because I'd be preaching to deaf ears, discussing such advanced stuff to a housewife who knows nothing about the world. I'd just be wasting my breath."The contempt in her tone left Plum's eyes turning red and she raised her hand again, intending on slapping Cordy again.This time, however, Cordy caught her hand.In the end, no one was obliged to keep being beaten up.One slap was enough for Cordy to give Plum a lesson to remember."Let me go, Cordy Sachs! You bitch!" Plum spat angrily. "You're not setting foot in my house ever again—there's no place for a bitch like you! You are a disgrace to our family's good name!"Cordy firmly flung Plum's hand away
With the evidence of bodily harm, Cordy had proof of deliberate physical assault.That meant she could pursue a legal course of action should she decide to press charges.Cordy finally turned on her phone then and sent the report from her medical examination to the police before getting herself admitted to the hospital.As she reclined in her hospital bed, she stared at the countless missed calls on her phone, but she ignored them anyway. She swiped through news articles and saw that all of the internet was condemning Kyle and Noel, using the foulest of words on them.With the drama having escalated to such an extent, the damage was not just on Kyle and Noel's reputations—both Jessop Corp and Sachs Enterprises would suffer more direct losses as well, including boycotts of their products and their stock prices plummeting.Naturally, Cordy was unmoved. She tapped on Twitter to check out the tweet Kyle had posted yesterday—the number of supportive replies to that tweet before was
Simon's voice was shaking even as he roared furiously, "Cordy Sachs! You're actually suing your own grandmother for assaulting you?! The cops just told me that you're taking a legal course of action instead of settling it privately! Forget the production plant riot—this is your grandmother! What do you think others would say?!" She had really gone too far this time! "Grandmother?" Cordy laughed coldly. "Didn't she tell you? She just said that I'm not a member of her family, that I'm not allowed in her house ever again.""She's just upset…""I'm upset too.""She's your grandmother! Your elder! How could you hold anything against her?!""So she gets to hit me without consequences?""Cordy Sachs!!! You're not listening to reason!" Simon shrieked.Cordy laughed again. Listening to reason? What part of anything he said was reason?Did he ever admit that Plum was at fault?Did he ask what actually happened or listened to her explanation, for that matter? Whatever.Cordy neve
Noel was sobbing at Simon's sigh. "How did it go, Daddy? Does she still want to press charges?""Of course she does!" Simon snapped, seething just then. "Weren't you saying that you're going to woo John Levine? It's already ages, and he's still with Cordy!" Noel appeared even more upset at that, and her eyes were welling with tears. "I wanted to do it to help our family, but Cordy is latching on to him so tightly, I can't even get close…""Oh, Simon, you shouldn't blame her," Sue chimed in, ever quick to her daughter's rescue. "You can't rush a relationship, and did you know that Noel almost passed out from crying? We should think about how we can convince Cordy to drop the charges, or it'll be a scandal for the family if the case was made against Plum and she gets sentenced to jail. Everyone will be laughing at us!"Simon naturally took that into consideration and a vein bulged over his temples in his fury. "It's all my fault. Grandma wouldn't have slapped Cordy if not for me."
Cordy continued then, saying, "I couldn't protect myself when I was a child, but that's not the case now that I'm older." She was assuring John that she could protect herself even though she had no idea why she had to.Still, she probably thought that he was genuinely worried about her, and there were just a handful of people in this world who were."Does it hurt?" John suddenly asked, studying her cheek that was still slightly swollen.How much strength had Plum put behind that slap to cause so much swelling?Cordy appeared taken aback, but she soon shook her head.It really did not hurt… because this amounted to nothing compared to the things she had experienced as a child.And while her heart used to hurt because of that, she now understood that the Sachs did not deserve her tears—not a single drop.John pursed his lips, and the air around him suddenly seemed to turn chilly.He was a frightening sight, but Cordy was not afraid because she knew why he was angry. "I want a
Soon, another nurse emerged from the delivery room with a small bundle. "Is the mother's family here?""Yes!" John exclaimed loudly."The delivery was successful," the nurse said. "The baby weighs eight pounds—""How is she?" John asked in agitation, not caring about the child."She's fine. The doctor is just helping her clean up and she'll be out soon," the nurse replied.As John breathed a sigh of relief, the nurse reminded him, "Aren't you the father? Here's your child."John took the baby off her arms, staring at her for a moment as the others flocked around him. "Oh, she's so fair!" Zoe could not help exclaiming. "That's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen.""Are you saying that your son's ugly?" Bob teased."To be honest, yeah," Zoe replied without thinking.Jay cleared his throat—even if it was a subjective opinion, it still hurt to have his own baby called ugly."Let me carry her," Zoe volunteered just then, and John did not hesitate to hand her his baby.As Zoe
"What?!" Zoe exclaimed in shock.Beside them, John's face fell despite being usually stoic.Still, even before anyone could react, he scooped Cordy up in his arms and left.Zoe did not hesitate to follow, but Jay reminded her, "We're the hosts, Zoe.""Don't care." Zoe was completely unconcerned. "Ask my mom and your sister to handle the guests. I'm going with Cordy!"Jay hesitated for a moment before deciding to follow since there was no reasoning with Zoe.Sam and Quinn also realized that something was out of place.As they pulled away reluctantly, Bob shouted from below, "If you're done kissing, we're going to the hospital! Cordy's going into labor!"Quinn hurried after them as soon as she hurt, but Sam caught her. "Slow down. We can catch up."In fact, most of the guests were leaving as well—it was as if the banquet for Zoe's son was actually intended for everyone else.The poor boy was certainly unlucky to have such unreliable parents!-As everyone rushed to the hospit
"I'm swelling from my pregnancy," Quinn explained. "It's not your fault."Sam was left staring at her for a while before asking, "So, what should I do?""I'll put it on when I slim down.""Oh." Sam was a little disappointed, since he had always dreamed of having her put on the ring he had custom made.But this was fine—they had all the time they needed, and the most important thing for him is that Quinn was marrying him!He rose to his feet just then, and everyone was cheering as soon as he did. "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"Quinn blushed right then, and Sam could see that she was embarrassed.He did not want to make things awkward for her, even if he was quite eager at the moment.Heaven knows how much he missed that night's drunken fumble they had. In fact, during the times he remembered it in dreams, he had to wash his pants when he woke up.Still, just as he took Quinn's hand and started to leave, he felt a softness on his lips—Quinn was kissing him! Sam's heart pounded thunderous
Everyone waited patiently for the final outcome.Quinn's eyes were welling up with tears, threatening to gush if she so much as blinked.She did her best to hold back her tears—to be strong!Sam pursed his lips in turn, his Adam's apple bobbing.A long while passed, and it felt like a century for Quinn when she finally heard him say, "Yes."Quinn's tears started falling in happiness as Sam declared loudly, "I'll marry you, Quinn—it's what I've always wanted to do! I won't let you go even if you regret it eventually! You only get to be with me, and I'll never let any other man claim you! I'll become very overbearing… eventually!""I won't regret it," Quinn said, determined.She certainly would not regret marrying him!Zoe walked up to them with perfect timing just then, and Sam did a double take.He finally remembered that Zoe was the host of this luncheon and was going to leave with Quinn when Zoe whipped out a small red velvet box."You know what's in here, don't you?" Zoe a
However, Sam had already pushed Quinn away before she could tell him. But even if he did not love her or did not want to be with her, she would never stay with Ryan.She had been disappointed in Sam, wondering why he would give up so easily.Was she that unimportant to him?Therefore, if it were not for Zoe and Cordy showing her that video or telling her so much, she would never have known that he loved her for years…Sam's heart ached even as he looked into Quinn's tearful eyes.He reached out a hand, but soon withdrew it—would he not burden her?Even so, it hurt to restrain himself as he watched her, and he was actually getting the feeling that Quinn loved him…But she already had Ryan's child…Well, he was fine with that, as long as the child was Quinn's.But would she not mind?"I will marry you, Sam," Quinn said slowly and clearly then. "Not because you're a good man, not because you prepared so much for me, and not because of how much you prepared for me, but because I
Everyone in the hall was staring at Sam and Quinn, while Quinn took center stage, staring fixedly at Sam.He stood in the middle of the crowd, watching her silently.She in turn felt fear that he would turn and leave, just as she did not know if she had the courage to stand before him again and to declare her feelings for him in front of so many others.Nonetheless, amid the deafening silence, Sam suddenly walked toward the stage.His pace was slow as if his feet were made of lead, but he was also unusually determined.Quinn's heart raced uncontrollably right then!Everyone else was watching them nervously, especially Cordy and Zoe, with the latter being especially concerned that the cowardly Sam would bail.Fortunately, he was a man who showed responsibility. He would not leave Quinn alone and embarrassed.Hence, as everyone looked on, Sam stood before Quinn, his gaze flickering as their eyes met.He gulped ever so slightly, his emotions clearly ruffled even as he did his bes
The guests were encouraging, loudly asking, "Why?!""Because of a woman," Sam's recording replied."Who is it?""Quinn Summer," the Sam on the screen said slowly and clearly, leaving the Sam who was in the hall stunned.What the hell?! That was the proposal video he prepared before! Why did it show up here? Did Zoe make a mistake?!He knew it—leave anything to Zoe, and she would mess it up!He started striding toward the stage, intent on stopping the recording, when John and Bob intercepted him with a look of utter guilt while the recording continued. "Quinn is my wife, and we've been married for years, but I've never really loved her—not because I don't, but because I'm afraid to. I feel too insignificant in comparison to the one she loves, so I'd always hurt her… painfully and childishly. I regret that so much now, Quinn. How could I have abandoned you for so long because of my own jealousy? I'd rather hold you in my sleep every night, but my damned pride denied me that for y
At the banquet hall, Jay and Zoe were thanking their guests with their children in their arms.Then, Zoe announced excitedly, "Please give my best friend, who is also my son's godmother, a warm applause as she comes on stage!"Sam stood at a corner of the hall, watching as Quinn walked up the stage, only realizing just then that her belly was clearly swelling despite her baggy clothes.Time flies—he had not left that long ago, but she and Ryan already had a child.She was not worried about giving him a stroke, was she?He watched as Quinn took the mic and looked around below searching, seemingly searching.After a while, he thought she was looking at him, but by the time he looked up, she had already turned away.Maybe she was looking for Ryan before remembering that Ryan was not there?Nonetheless, Quinn spoke into the mic, saying, "I'm honored to be chosen as the godmother to Zoe's son, and she's been saying he'd be engaged to my child if it's a girl. I already love my godson
As their eyes met, Sam turned frantic and averted his. "Of course.""Really?" Quinn asked."Would I lie to you?" Sam asked a little grumpily."And you didn't bring her back?" Quinn asked."I'm on a schedule, and it'd be taxing for her if I bought her along," Sam said, making things up as he went along. "I'll bring her along when things are less busy.""Is she pretty?" Quinn pressed."What, have I ever picked an ugly one?" Sam snorted smugly. "You know I prefer curvaceous types, and there are plenty of those abroad.""Do you have a photo?"Sam was silent for a while and eventually said, "Yeah.""Can I see it?""What, does she have to pass your assessment?""Just curious about the girl who can tempt you to settle down," Quinn replied. "You'd be humbled." Sam hastily came up with an excuse."I won't," Quinn said, determined."You'll see her when I bring her home." Sam refused nonetheless."I would like to see a photo now.""No, she's not that photogenic. It'd be slander a