Emma did not respond and looked at him impassively as if she was just blurting out her observation and could not care less about Joe not choosing her.
The dinner had not started yet, and the atmosphere was already so awkward that I could cut the tension with a knife.
However, Zelene was completely indifferent as if she was not involved in the situation. She ordered her food politely and turned to me. “Mrs. Featherstone, do you want to order anything? The steak here is really good. Do you want to try it?”
I smiled. “Since you have recommended it, I will definitely try it. Ms. Harrett, you seem to be very familiar with this restaurant.”
She replied with a smile, “Not really, but I’ve been here a few times. So, I remember the ones that I like and always recommend them to friends that come here.”
Surprisingly, Zelene was nothing like Rylee. With Joe’s personality, I thought he would find someone similar to his ex-crush, but Zelene and Rylee were like chalk and cheese.
After chattering for a bit, I stood up from my seat and headed to the restroom. When Anthony saw me leaving, he quickly stopped his conversation with Joe and wanted to accompany me, but I declined as I did not want to interrupt them.
A few minutes later, I stepped out of the restroom and bumped into Joe, who was leaning against the wall of the corridor. I thought he was waiting for someone, but I looked around and saw no one. Hmm, who is he waiting for?
After hesitating for a moment, I walked towards him and asked out of politeness, “Are you waiting for Ms. Harrett?”
He lifted his gaze and looked at me coldly. “I’m waiting for you.”
I furrowed my brows, puzzled. “Why?” I don’t think we have anything to talk about. Joe had never liked me. All these years we rarely interacted with one another even though he was my husband’s close friend.
“Can I help you with anything?” I asked, stopping in my tracks.
He arched an eyebrow and cut to the chase. “Can we talk somewhere else?”
I don’t think I have a choice, do I? So, I nodded and gestured. “Sure.”
As we arrived at the stairwell, he put his hands in his pockets and leaned his tall figure against the wall, giving off an aura of grimness. I remained silent and stared at him, waiting for him to speak first.
After a pause, he lit a cigarette and took a long drag on it. “Were you the one who reported Rylee to the police?”
I frowned. Gosh, is he here for Rylee? I thought he had moved on! Apparently, he still cares about her.
“I found her by accident, so I called the police,” I told him truthfully. That night, Hannah and I went to the alley out of curiosity. I never thought Rylee would be like that.
He exhaled slowly and cast an icy gaze at me. “Anthony has given his heart to you. What else do you want from her? Why do you have to push her over the edge? You just want her to die, don’t you?”
Hearing his accusation, I was stupefied. I could not help but ask, “Mr. Quinn, don’t you think there’s something wrong with your logic? She was the one who committed the crime. I did not force her to do it. And I have never harmed her. That night, I saw her purely by chance. I called the police because she was doing something terribly wrong. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Are you expecting me to ignore what I saw and let her continue to ruin herself?”
He scoffed, “It’s up to her to decide what to do with her life. Besides, you could have solved the problem in another way, but you chose the one that made her suffer the most. You caused Anthony to completely give up on her and took away the light in her life. Sienna, you’re even more wicked than I thought.”
I blinked in bewilderment. What? Is there something wrong with him? What does he mean by “you can solve it in another way?” Exasperated, I said, “So, you think that it was my plan to get her arrested so that Anthony would give up on her? Joe Quinn, you’re freaking ridiculous! What makes you think that I would use my precious time to do something that would bring me no benefits but harm?”
Then, I continued, “To be honest, I don’t care about Rylee at all; she isn’t worth my attention. She’s nothing but a woman who only knows how to cling onto men and leech off them. She could have improved herself over the years, but she didn’t. Even if Anthony likes her, I don’t think any man could put up with a woman like her for long. What kind of man could tolerate her and love her forever? Speaking of which, Joe, didn’t you give up on her as well? What makes you think that you have the right to question me?”
Taken aback, he stubbed out his cigarette and stared at me blankly. After a long while, he replied coldly, “Don’t change the topic. It’s your fault. You didn’t have to send her to the police, but you showed no mercy and did it anyway. Her reputation and her life are ruined because of you. Even if she could get out of jail one day, how can she survive in society? Sienna, you’re such a cruel woman.”
“Hahaha!” I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at his preposterous reasoning. How ridiculous can he get?
He was stunned by my sudden outburst of laughter, furrowing his eyebrows at me. “What are you laughing about? Do you find this funny? Did I say something wrong?”
It took me a long while to calm down, wiping away tears from my eyes. “There’s no way you believe the words that are coming out of your mouth, right?” I said sarcastically. “How could you say such a thing so confidently? You say that she’ll lose everything if she goes to jail, but I honestly want to ask you: are you absolutely sure that you have no way of getting her out of there? Is the Kane family so powerless that they can’t rescue a single person from prison?
Besides, did you think that she was really going to become famous, even if she hasn’t been sent to jail? Of course not. Everyone in our circle is aware that she’s your and Anthony’s precious little doll. Did you think that she would find a partner among us when you let her fly out of the nest? You know more than anyone else that she’s just going to end up relying on some old man’s money to survive and become nothing more than a toy.
“Admit it. You’ve fallen out of love with her a long time ago and started to resent her. Why else would you tell her such horrible things at the hospital? You wanted to force her to leave you, yet didn’t want to be stuck with the reputation of an asshole, so you just let go of her reins and watched as she made mistake after mistake, until she’d finally reached the point of no return. You are half the reason why she’s turned out this way. You were satisfied with the outcome, but you despised the thought of having to take responsibility for your actions! So, in an act of fake self-righteousness, you came to interrogate me and pushed all the blame onto me, making me out to be the villain in the situation. Although, to be honest with you, you really shouldn’t have wasted your efforts. Even if you force me to take the blame for your actions, you’d still be regarded as a scummy human being in other people’s eyes. So please quit the whole good guy act, or I might just throw up.”
I hadn’t meant to verbally abuse him, but I couldn’t stop myself.
Joe was flushed all the way up to his neck in anger, and I let out an internal scoff at the sight. Nothing about this man was genuine. He’d already committed so many evil acts, yet still insisted that his hands were clean. How ridiculous!
There was no point in continuing the conversation any longer. “You better watch out!” I warned, turning on my heel and walking away.
“You have some nerve—forcing other people to take the fall for you!” he roared out from behind me. “No wonder Anthony is head over heels for you! You’re a conniving, sneaky witch!”
I glanced back over my shoulder at him, flashing a polite smile. “You flatter me, Mr. Quinn. Look, if you really can’t let go of this, I have a suggestion for you: wait until she gets out of prison, then you can bring her back home to be your precious little doll once more. But by that time, she’d be old and wrinkly, and you’d probably refuse to take her in. There’s no way you could appreciate a woman like that, right?”
After saying so, I left him and headed for the restaurant. Anthony was already waiting outside for me, approaching me as soon as he spotted me. “What took you so long?”
Looping my arm through his, I said cheerily, “Just met a familiar toilet and had a chat with him, so I figured I might as well take out the trash! My mood’s greatly improved, and I feel so refreshed.”
“What are you talking about?” His eyebrows knitted together.
“I meant to say that I had a nice trip to the loo!” I grinned.
Sighing in exasperation, he flicked my forehead lightly. “Watch your mouth.”
Joe, who was trailing behind me, brushed roughly past us as he stormed off towards the lobby, spitting out, “Shameless woman!” as he did so.
“What did he say?” Anthony looked at me, perplexed.
I shrugged. “It’s about Rylee. He didn’t want to abandon her in a distasteful manner and wanted to keep his image squeaky clean. When that plan failed, he got frustrated and took out all his humiliation on me.”
Anthony’s lips pursed as he stared at the back of Joe’s silhouette. “He’s getting married to that woman from the Harrett family soon, so it’s about time he moves on from Rylee. The Kanes and the Harretts’ future business cooperations will benefit each other greatly.”
I wasn’t interested in any of Joe’s business. “Rylee’s life has all gone down the drain. She didn’t have any good people around her, and she didn’t have a career of her own,” I lamented.
The worst thing a woman could do was to entrust all of herself to a man and spend all of her time and energy on him only to get dust in return. Then, there was nothing she could do except to wait until she had become useless to him and get thrown away like an old rag.
Perhaps Rylee’s misfortune had started from the moment Parker entrusted her to the group of friends.
The poor woman had never gotten a chance to plan her life out properly. She had not only lost her pride and independence because of love but had now also lost the motivation to continue living. There was nothing more she could do now except be another rich man’s eye candy, but her beauty could only last for so long. She had already ruined her own life with her own two hands.
“I have to go to A City tomorrow to handle some things,” Anthony suddenly spoke up. “It’s time we start living for ourselves too, Sienna.”
A little surprised by his words, I squinted my eyes at him. “A City?”
The corners of his lips quirked up into a smirk. I could see the bloodthirst and fury swimming deep in the depths of his eyes, even if he was doing his best to hide them.
“We can’t let the child’s pain be for nothing, can we?”
Oh. He was finally going to make a move on Armond. After a slight pause of hesitation, I asked, “Can I come with you?”
“Why? Will you miss me too much when I’m gone?”
I nodded, smiling up at him. “I guess. So, how about it? Can I go with you?”
As long as the issue with Armond was left unresolved, we would both have sleepless nights. Although we would have preferred to live a peaceful and mundane life, we knew that we might face even more pain and suffering in the future if we didn’t handle the issue as soon as possible.
So, Anthony agreed to let me accompany him on his trip.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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