Brandon sneered. “Love me? You only love yourself! I gave my ex-wife a two billion dollar settlement to live a good life with you. Meanwhile, you’re two-timing me. I won't let you get away with it!”His face was filled with malice as he grabbed her hair and struck her again.Amber cried out in pain. “Ah! Brandon, stop it. I's true, he threatened me.”“He threatened you?” Brandon retorted. “And were those words his threat too? You shameless woman!”Amber's scalp began to hurt as she struggled. “Brandon, please listen, I didn't want to, but what could a woman like me do? You know how many people he has under him, what he wanted me to do was as easy as pie. I had no choice but to comply.”“You're still lying!” Brandon, furious, grabbed Amber’s hair and threw her out like a ball.Clutching her stomach, Amber cried out, “Brandon, please stop, I’m carrying your child.”Brandon was enraged. “My child? I don't even know if that brat is mine!”“It's yours, the child is yours!” Amber ple
Sophia could not believe it. It was Vanessa and her little entourage. She lifted her chin, exuding superiority, not even sparing her a glance. She seemed like a completely different person compared to her gentle demeanor in front of Elliot.Moreover, the clothes in this store were all unique pieces. Was Vanessa deliberately provoking her?The sales assistant politely asked Vanessa, "Miss, are you sure about this dress?""Absolutely," Vanessa replied, throwing a snide glance at Sophia.Sophia was ticked off. Regardless of whether she liked the dress or not, she did not want to let Vanessa have it since she dared to provoke her.Sophia’s expression darkened when she saw the assistant take the dress off the mannequin. "Do you have another one?"The assistant explained, "I'm sorry, we don't. This is a unique design by Xena. Each piece is one of a kind, and it's the pride of our store."Sophia looked surprised. "This is designed by Xena?""Yes," confirmed the assistant.Vanessa a
Ethel looked at the smug Vanessa and then at the gloomy-faced Sophia, feeling confused. "What's going on with you two?"Sophia’s face was grim. "She's trying to steal this dress from me."Vanessa snorted. "Who's trying to steal anything? You're the one who insisted on stealing it from me. You have no money but still want to buy, trying to save face and acting rich when you're not!"Ethel’s expression also turned serious. "She's Elliot’s wife. Do you think she doesn't have money?"Vanessa retorted, "Ethel, even if Elliot has money, it's his. What's it got to do with her? People must know where they stand. A penniless hillbilly will always just be nouveau riche even if they're dressed in expensive clothes."Sophia did not want to argue, but Vanessa was irritating her. "The government gave you an ID out of humanitarianism, and you really think you're somebody. I'm curious, it's not Halloween yet. How did you manage to come out and wander around in the mortal world for so long? Don'
Vanessa had not even come out of the mall when she got the call from Hamish. He did not say much except to ask her to go home and wait for him. However, she could not shake the sense of unease that she felt about the call.Perhaps she was worried that Sophia was secretly a wealthy lady or that what she said on the telephone would come to pass. In any case, she could not quell the uneasiness ever since her brother called her. She did not even dare to stay in the mall a second longer and went straight home.Hamish was already there when she reached home. He was sitting on the couch. It looked like he was merely fiddling with his phone, but she knew that he was frustrated. He always fiddled with the phone or his lighter when he was frustrated.She looked around and found that her parents were not home. Hamish was the only one there. That made her feel even more anxious.“I’m back, Hamish.”He raised his eyes and looked at her. “Sit.”She obeyed and sat on the couch. “W-What’s the ma
Sophia raised her eyes and saw Elliot. She stopped what she was doing and leaned on the wall, panting heavily and wordlessly. He felt guilty and he could not explain why. Walking towards her, he grabbed a towel to dry her gently. “There’s no need to be mad. I’ll always back you up.” Sophia had been extremely agitated earlier, but she began to simmer down and rested her head listlessly on him. He held her tight and patted her back repeatedly.She muttered, “She was so mean. I was just trying to buy a dress for Grandma. Why did it have to turn into such a huge deal?”He said, “I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.”Sophia was still trying to decipher what he meant when a servant knocked on the door to the gym and said, “Mr. Hamish and Ms. Vanessa are here.”Elliot uttered coldly, “Let them wait!”Sophia raised her head slowly and looked at him, “Vanessa?”“Mm-hmm.”“Did you ask them to come?”“You can say that.”“Did you know what I went through already?”“I’ve just found out about
Sophia calmed down after listening to Elliot. She stopped crying and leaned on his chest wordlessly. He lifted her chin so she could look at him. “Calm down. I’ll make them regret upsetting you. You slapped me for making you angry, after all. Can we make up?”Glaring at him, she said, “Well. you should've just said that Hamish was to be blamed. I don’t know why you lead with the fact that you're the boss.”“You’re right. I’m not the boss, Hamish is.” Grabbing her hand, he put it on his cheeks, “It hurts. I need comfort too.”She did not fight back. Instead, she let him drag her hand across his cheeks.“You can just leave me alone when I’m mad next time. I need some time to cool down.”He stared at her. “Can you cool down, though? If I had let you go earlier, you would’ve thought of something ridiculous.” Patting her head, he said, “You can get as mad as you want with me, but you have to let me explain myself. “My dad used to comfort my mom and said that it isn’t good to carr
Hamish did not even know where to begin. He could not think of anything to defend Vanessa with after watching the footage.Did she really say Sophia was a pretentious hillbilly who only knew to ask for money from the Pattons?Both he and Elliot needed Xena’s designs to make money now!Damn it! What kind of a fucked up situation was this?Elliot was waiting for an explanation. The contents of the footage were far more infuriating than he had imagined. The look on Vanessa’s face was much meaner than what Ethel told him. If she had not insulted Sophia the way she did, there was a chance his wife would have called him instead of Xena. Things would not have been as bad as it was now.Everyone in the living room remained quiet for more than a minute before Hamish started shoving Vanessa a little. Now that things had come to this, Vanessa knew she had to say something. She finally learned that Elliot was the real owner of the mall on her way here.She acted the way she did because she t
Sophia said, “Yeah. I met him at Grandpa’s party.”Hamish said flatteringly, “That’s right. You have a good memory, Sophia. I’m sorry we met under these unfavorable circumstances. It was all my fault. Vanessa gave me a call and said that she had her eyes on a dress. “I didn’t give it much thought and asked the manager to keep it for her. It never occurred to me that she was trying to take it away from you. I scolded her and even hit her for that. We’re both here to apologize to you.”He turned to Vanessa and said, “Apologize now, Vanessa.”She could just kill Sophia right there and then. There was no way she would apologize to her. So, she trained her gaze at Sophia wordlessly. On the other hand, Sophia did not even grace her with a glance. She said coldly, “That won’t be necessary. I don’t enjoy the idea of forcing people to do what they don’t want to. I can just strike back at the people who irritate me and I’ve done that. So, it’s all water under the bridge.”Hamish did not