Deirdre's gaze turned cold. A layer of frost covered her mien. "Oh, you're telling me all of this because you think your plan has already won, right? You think I can't touch a single hair on your head?"Emily was nonchalant. "Oh, Ms. McKinnon, I can assure you… I'm not in the same league as that idiot Charlene McKinney. I don't intend to give you openings the moment my plan starts getting into action. Go ahead, amass your 'evidence'! You think Brendan's gonna believe you?"Deirdre froze, her teeth grinding against each other. There had been a chance, but Emily… Emily was the one who had forced Shea into admitting guilt! Deirdre clenched her fists as rage rocked her chest. She glared at Emily, who smiled and raised her chin, beaming."What, you want to punch me now?""Punch you?" Deirdre closed her eyes. "As if I'm interested in dirtying my hand!"Emily's face darkened, but Deirdre did not care. Her throwing hands were exactly what Emily wanted. Thus, Deirdre turned on her heels,
Sam basically explained away why Deirdre slapped Emily, causing the latter’s eyes to grow cold. She managed to remove Shea from the picture, only for Sam to get in the way!She cupped her swollen cheek. It hurt so bad her own touch caused her entire face to twitch. She laughed in pain. “I really think Ms. McKinnon’s prejudice against me was too much. I just wanted to… make some clarification, you know. It’s why I wanted to talk to her in private. It’s no good for doctors and patients to misunderstand one another. In fact, it’s bad news to how effective the treatment could work…“I guess… Ms. McKinnon hates me too much, huh?”Deirdre gritted her teeth and snarled, “Miss me with that bullsh*t! Go ahead and tell everyone what you said to me right now!”Emily’s eyes reflected innocent confusion. “Ms. McKinnon, I—”“That’s enough!” Brendan snapped. All of this was giving him a migraine, and his patience was running low. “Didn’t I tell you to get Dee home, Sam?”Sam hung his head. “Sor
Brendan climbed the stairs and returned to his room. Deirdre clenched her jaw and followed suit.When Brendan found Deirdre sitting on his bed after he emerged from the bathroom, wiping himself dry, he knew there was no getting out of the discussion. He flipped his matted hair back and asked, "Okay, what is it?"Deirdre clenched her hands. "Remember how I slapped Emily at the gate of Night City? That was because she confessed to coercing Shea! And that's not all, Brendan. Do you know that Mrs. Engel is innocent? She was threatened into confessing she was the mole! Think about it! If Mrs. Engel was a mole, she would have had ample time to hurt me. She never needed to work with Emily at all!"The room fell into a prolonged silence. Brendan seemed rather unperturbed and unruffled until shades of fatigue appeared on his face. "I see. Okay. Now, time to sleep."Deirdre froze. "You… don't believe me, do you?"Brendan set his towel down, revealing conflict in his eyes. "It's not that I d
Brendan was apathetic, distant, and even a little impatient.He did not believe her. Deirdre felt weight crushing her chest. For some reason, she was reminded of what Emily had said to her. 'You shouldn't blame anyone for this. If anything, blame yourself for being so useless. You can only rely on Brendan to do anything at all. Think about it. What happens when he stops trusting you?'Deirdre understood the thorn in her words now. It felt like cotton had been stuffed into her throat. A long moment later, Deirdre finally spoke again. "What happened, Brendan? What did she say to you that just… makes you trust her so much? We both already know that she likes you! So why is it so hard for you to believe she would do anything to get you?"Brendan caressed her cheeks. He looked like he was grappling with his own confusion, too. "Dee, I love that you're wary about her existence. I love that you're jealous of her, but jealousy doesn't mean someone has to be this evil demon you're making
"If you care about me, then do what I say. Do not ever have any contact with Emily Collins! "She quit being my doctor, right? That means there is no reason for the two of you to contact each other anymore! You are to treat her like a stranger! And if you need to talk to her, then talk to her only when I'm there with you… and you'll have to report to me before meeting her!"Deirdre's lips were trembling. She no longer cared if what she asked would make her seem unreasonable and preposterous. Brendan's opinion about her was nothing compared to the gravity of Emily steadily taking everything Deirdre had away from her.She would do all she could to unmask Emily. She would show Brendan just who she really was!"Dee." Brendan's frown seemed to be stuck in his forehead. "Why do you hate her so much?"Deirdre smirked. "No reason. I just hate her guts. Happy?"He would not believe anything she said, anyway."The point remains." Deirdre emphasized. "If you care about me, then listen to w
"Ms. McKinnon, it's me."Shock shadowed Deirdre's features. She had been waiting for this. "Sam! What did you find out from Mrs. Engel's side? Any leads?"Sam was audibly excited. "Yes! I've got it! Mrs. Engel's eldest son had been abducted a month ago and released with threat, so his company faced a serious crisis at that time. It was then that someone suddenly provided monetary aid and saved her son's company from being destroyed."My investigation showed that none of it was coincidental. It was premeditated! And now, Mrs. Engel's son tells me he's willing to work with us to unmask Emily for who she really is!""That's great!"Deirdre was overjoyed. Emily's plan was not as foolproof as she touted it to be, after all! "Where are you now?""In the city where Mr. Mark Engel lives, though I'm technically buying a return ticket back to Neve. I'll be bringing Mark along with me for a confrontation with Emily."Part of Deirdre was concerned. "Do we have enough iron-clad evidence that
Food was also a great way to bring back the zest and passion in their relationship, especially after both of them had let it cool off on the side for this long.Ophelia was quite surprised to see Deirdre working hard in the kitchen. "Uh, shouldn't I help?""It's fine." Deirdre smiled, wiping little beads of sweat off her face. "I can do these. It's blurry, but it's good enough for me."Realization and understanding shadowed Ophelia's smile. "You hardly cook these days, so… what's up? Got motivated by some celebrity cook on the TV, or are you doing this only for a special someone?"Deirdre's cheeks warmed up a little. "Mom!""I know, I know. My daughter finally learned to put some effort into maintaining a relationship! As a mother who is very in the know, I won't interfere with this very special moment, so I am going to eat out."Deirdre was surprised. "Huh? But where? You don't have to!""I'm going to eat at a nice restaurant, sweetie. I won't stick around to see the two of you
Emboldened, Deirdre banished her hesitance and set her fork down. "Yes. I want to talk about something.""I'm all ears." Brendan took a sip of the soup and looked at her as tenderly as ever. "Can't say I'm not at all curious about this whole thing. It must be pretty big since you went to lengths to ask me to come home early."To his knowledge, Deirdre was never the type to take the first step in anything."Remember what I told you the last time? That Mrs. Engel is innocent?" The tenderness in Brendan's face gelled into something mechanical. His eyes cooled—they were now more placid than tender and perhaps even a little annoyed. He frowned. "Must you harp on this forever, Dee? It's all in the past now. Emily herself left us."Deirdre clenched her hands under the table. She cast her eyes down, but her tone remained serious. "Yes. It's all in the past. I could never mention it again if I didn't want to, but just because it happened doesn't mean it was nothing, was it? "I'm going t