“Yeah, right…” Armond seemed unperturbed. He shook his finger at us in mockery. “Look how confident you are in yourself. Aren’t you afraid that you might have to bow down to me one day?”
“Go back to your swamp if you want to entertain those pipedreams. You’re an eyesore to society,” John hissed, gearing up to attack.
“I’ll go only if Sienna tells me to. In my opinion, however, she won’t want to see me go because of her two daughters.”
Armond gazed at me with his dark eyes, which were so black that they looked like an abyss. The hellish aura radiating from him grew even stronger.
Had my worst nightmare happened after all?
Clenching my fists, I gritted my teeth and forced myself to remain calm. Knowing that I was very agitated, John turned to me quickly and said reassuringly, “Sienna, don’t trust him. He’s lying to you. After the last time, I increased the level of security around the house, and even hired a number of mercenaries for protection. No one can get to Summer and the baby.”
Tears were already swimming in my eyes. I fought them back and clung onto John’s arm, nodding seriously.
However, Armond plodded on. He snorted and continued, “How ridiculous. Sienna, are you really going to buy what he says? Think carefully about this. If he’s right, how did my men manage to cart your son off before?”
This jabbed at the weakest spot in my heart.
I looked up at John, begging him silently for help.
Seeing this, John shot Armond a scathing look. He looked as though he wanted to pummel him. However, he was more worried about my mental state, so he took out his phone instead and gave our house a call. “You’ll stop worrying once you hear Summer’s voice. Don’t worry.”
However, the phone rang on and on, with nobody coming to answer it. John’s grip tightened nervously around the phone, his face clouding over horribly.
Armond laughed ominously. “Sienna, I’ll give you another two minutes to decide. If you come with me, I promise that you’ll be reunited with your children, and you can carry on living with them. If you leave… humph! You know the consequences.”
I couldn’t remain seated anymore. I grabbed John’s phone and pressed the receiver against my ear.
Ten seconds of static later, I stood rooted to my spot, completely frozen.
“Well, have you thought about it?” Armond jumped out of his seat impatiently, dusting off his suit jacket. He seemed as though he couldn’t wait anymore.
“I’ll come with you,” I promised.
“Then, come along with me. The car is already outside. Come out by yourself.” Armond let out an expression of self-satisfaction as he turned to leave.
“Stop right there!” John snapped. “I’m going with Sienna too.”
Armond shrugged and said with mock generosity, “Do as you wish.”
The prey was already in his hands. Why would he bother with another one delivering himself to his doorstep?
“No, John, you have to take care of the Stanhope family. You can’t come with me,” I retorted.
“If you don’t return home, the Stanhope residence will be nothing more than an empty cage. I have watched you being brought away once, and I told myself then that I’ll never let that happen again!” John looked very calm, but his voice was pressing.
“But…”
“What a heartwarming scene between brother and sister!” Armond sneered. He stood at the doorway and pointed impatiently at his wristwatch. “Unfortunately, I don’t have so much time. If the two of you don’t come right now, you can bear the consequences yourself!”
In the end, John and I couldn’t argue over each other. We headed outside and into Armond’s car.
The moment the doors shut, Armond flung two blindfolds in our direction.
John and I weren’t stupid. Without a single word of instruction, we obeyed quietly and blindfolded ourselves.
Compared to the last time, I felt more peaceful now with John by my side, despite the fact that I couldn’t see anything. In fact, I was looking forward to meeting my son again.
After an hour, the car rolled slowly to a halt.
The bodyguards shuffled us off the car and into an elevator.
When we finally took our blindfolds off, we were standing in an office with modern decoration. Its design was minimalist, but that gave it quite an ambience.
Armond was seated in his swivel chair with a lit cigar between his fingers. I hadn’t noticed when he lit it up.
“Where are the children?” I asked boldly. I had only come with him for this reason, and thus jumped straight to the point.
“Sienna, you’ve always been so impatient. Sit down first and we can have a chat.” Armond blew a smoke circle, looking infuriatingly unperturbed. Seeing his unchanging expression, I felt a wave of anger wash over me.
I had run out of patience. Taking out a letter opener that I had hidden in my pocket just now, I pressed the blade against my chest and said, “I want to see my children now. Otherwise, you can take my corpse and threaten Anthony with it!”
“Letty, what are you doing? Put down that letter opener immediately!” John tried to grab the letter opener from me in shock, but I ducked away deliberately.
“Don’t come near me!” I hissed, backing into a corner. Even John looked rather apprehensive now.
Unexpectedly, Armond’s face changed a little when he saw this. The change was almost imperceptible, but I saw it anyway.
“You wouldn’t dare, Sienna. Are you willing to abandon your children like that?” Armond asked testily, his eyes narrowing.
“So what if I’m unwilling?” I retorted, giggling coldly as I held the knife against my chest, looking as though I might plunge it into my flesh. “Everything was my fault to begin with. As long as I die, my kids will be alright. I don’t want them to live the rest of their lives in danger. I might as well die earlier to make up for all the harm I’ve caused them!”
“John, I’m sorry. Tell Anthony to find our children and take revenge for us!”
As soon as I finished speaking, I raised the letter opener up in the air, preparing to bring it down into my chest.
Armond and John yelled out at the same time. “Stop right there!” “Letty, no!”
In the end, John was faster and managed to strike down the letter opener from my hand. As he grabbed hold of my hand, he kicked the letter opener a few meters away, where I was unable to reach it.
“John, let go of me! If I don’t get to see my kids today, I’ll bite my tongue and commit suicide!” I struggled futilely, my eyes trained on Armond.
Seeing that John had managed to get me under control, Armond let out a visible sigh of relief. However, he only took another two drags of his cigar before putting it out irritably.
“Letty, can you please calm down?” John begged, panting slightly. I was still squirming frantically in his arms.
Armond couldn’t stand it anymore. “That’s enough!” he snapped. We glanced over and saw the most disgusted expression on his face, as though someone was holding a pile of dung under his nose. “Sienna, what remained of my interest in you has completely disappeared!”
With that, he picked up the telephone on his desk. He pressed down on the speed-dial button and ordered almost immediately, “Bring the children over.”
Very quickly, a dark-skinned caregiver walked into the room, carrying an infant in her hands.
Immediately, I rushed over and snatched the child from her, cradling it in my arms as though he was a precious jewel.
The child was a little chubbier than before, but his nose and eyes looked exactly like Anthony’s. This was my child alright.
It had been one month since I lost a vital part of my life, and I had finally found him again.
The baby didn’t look afraid of me at all. He waved his arms affectionately, trying to get even closer to me. Blood relations were rather amazing—despite having been apart for so long, we had not lost the bond between us.
“Sienna, I’ve come to my senses now. After giving birth to your children, you’re the same as those boring women I’ve loathed my entire life—normal, low-class, and completely devoid of any taste and interest,” Armond said scathingly, as though the very sight of me was an affront to his eyes.
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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