Staring at me, he hesitated for a moment before he spoke with a foreign accent. “I’m here to ask for your forgiveness.”
“What?” My forehead puckered. What is he trying to do?
“Chanaeans say that one must be humble and admit his fault if he has done something wrong. I mulled over what happened the other day and I shouldn’t have been so stubborn and restrained you and your family with that attitude of mine. I hope you can forgive me.” Zander then took two tickets to a concert out of his suit jacket. “My colleague said that the women in Chanaea love this idol group from my country, so I asked someone in K Nation to buy these tickets. Please accept this as my way of apologizing.”
For some reason, the way he spoke in my native language was weird, but I simply couldn’t tell why I felt that way.
Lowering my head, I glanced at the tickets in his hand. It was indeed a rare opportunity, but I was not a fan of any idol group.
I reached out my hand to push the tickets back to him. However, before I could touch them, a big hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the tickets away.
Glancing up, I saw Anthony stood on my left with a sullen expression. His sinister gaze was fixed on Zander.
“I remember you’re the man who accompanied Ms. Stanhope to take her exam. Nice to meet you again.” Zander seemed oblivious to his sulkiness. With a friendly smile, he held out his hand for a handshake, just like the first time he met us.
“No,” Anthony said curtly. “I’ll speak in your language since you can’t understand mine well. Not only do Chanaeans admit their faults, but we don’t covet others’ loved ones as well. Sienna is my woman. Even though we’re divorced, she’s still the mother of my children. Whatever you’re planning in your head, you’d better not do it.”
Astonished, I stared at Anthony with widened eyes. I felt as if I just knew him today. Since when did he learn a new language?
It was only then that Zander noticed Anthony’s hostility. His hand froze in the air for half a minute before he withdrew it in silence. He appeared embarrassed when he spoke again. “I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. I just feel that Sienna has the potential to become an excellent lawyer. Tinsel Group is my father’s blood, sweat, and tears, so I yearn to recruit more talents. I sincerely hope that Sienna can work with me to uphold my father’s legacy.”
This reason didn’t sound valid to me.
Judging from how well he could speak our language, he knew our culture deeply, but he didn’t understand what Anthony meant. Hence, I wasn’t convinced when he said that he meant no harm, even though he often tried to cozy up to me.
Meanwhile, Anthony was showing his aversion to Zander brazenly.
Lifting the tickets in his hand, he tore them right in front of Zander and threw the pieces onto the ground. Right after that, he took out a checkbook, scribbled on it, and tore it off the book. Marching over to Zander, he slipped the cheque into the pocket of the man’s shirt and patted it.
“There. You can leave now.”
Zander turned to look at me. His brows snapped together, and his gaze was full of grievance. Nevertheless, he could do nothing but accept the cheque and leave.
As soon as he got into the car, Anthony turned around and headed toward the house.
He quickened his steps. Thanks to his long legs, it only took him a few strides to leave me far behind him.
“Anthony, wait for me.”
It wasn’t until he reached the room upstairs to see the babies that he finally stopped and I was able to catch up to him.
Gregory was asleep. On a couch in the bedroom, Anthony was holding and playing with Audrey, gazing at her affectionately. The one-month-old baby looked tiny in his arms. The corner of my lips curled up as I looked at his gentle demeanor, acting as if the baby was made of porcelain.
The second I stepped into the bedroom, the grin on Anthony’s face vanished. With a poker face, he turned to glance at me indifferently as if I was a stranger. Meeting his gaze, I shuddered instinctively.
“Didn’t you say that you’re coming over tomorrow?”
He remained silent, but his expression turned grimmer. His forehead creased as he asked sternly, “Are you trying to say that I came at the wrong time?”
Unexpectedly, John’s voice sounded behind me just then. “There you are. Come to the study. Uncle Louis has something to say.”
With that, he didn’t linger around and disappeared behind the door.
There was pin-drop silence for two seconds. Then, Anthony gently put Audrey on the bed and strutted past me out of the bedroom.
What’s with that attitude? Why did he give me the cold shoulder all of a sudden? What had I done to offend him?
Whatever. Everyone was bound to lose their temper once in a while. Perhaps he’s dealing with some problems at work. I decided that I would talk to him after meeting with Uncle Louis.
When I arrived at the study, everybody had taken a seat. The three domineering men looked in my direction in unison. If I were an ordinary person, I would’ve gone weak in the knees.
I was supposed to sit by Anthony’s side. However, he averted his gaze on purpose. I could tell that he didn’t want to be close to me, so I sauntered over to the single-seat couch beside John and sat down.
“Uncle Louis, John said that you have something urgent to discuss with us.”
“Yes.” Louis nodded. He then turned to look at John, who immediately understood him. “Armond told Holden that his men had developed the antidote. He guaranteed that you would be healed, providing that we return the petroleum exploration agreement to the Murphys.”
Louis then added, “What I mean is, Armond’s reputation is in tatters, overseas and locally. Even if he gets the agreement, Meudari might not want to work with a man with many criminal records. As such, it probably doesn’t hurt to give it to him. Besides, the toxin in Letty’s body is like a time bomb and we can’t afford to wait any longer.”
He heaved a long sigh and asked Anthony, “What do you and Letty think?”
The moment he finished his sentence, the study room fell into an awkward silence.
Armond had revealed his trump card. Now, everyone was aware of his ambition to make a comeback by leveraging on petroleum.
“No,” I replied in a serious tone. “Armond’s reputation is in tatters, but how will we know if he won’t somehow reinvent himself and make a comeback? If he gains control of the oil, that would be equivalent to getting the backing of all the countries within Meudari. By then, the shockwaves he may cause won’t be something that we can handle.”
It doesn’t matter if I die. If my death could guarantee my family’s safety, then it would be well worth the risk. Even if I could somehow survive by a stroke of luck, I still couldn’t bear letting everyone else fall into such a dangerous predicament.
Armond had gone crazy. Since that was the case, he should be imprisoned for life instead of allowing him the opportunity to recover.
Louis and John remained silent. All they did was furrow their brows and looked at Anthony skeptically, waiting for his response.
It was obvious that they were considering Armond’s demands, or else I would not have heard about it. The Stanhope family was only concerned about my survival and not about how great the risks were.
“Anthony.” I gave him a pleading look and shook my head solemnly. “We can’t do this.”
Pursing his lips in silence, Anthony remained expressionless, making me wonder if he could read the look in my eyes. After a long while, he turned around and answered Louis. “I agree with Letty that being controlled by someone is bad. Armond’s greed is boundless. Even if we give him the contract, we might still not get the antidote. Separately, I have contacted the most advanced medical researchers in the world and invested huge sums of money for them to analyze her disease. I believe we can look forward to some positive news soon.”
“Huh?” I was surprised. “Why didn’t you tell me about it before?”
“I did.” Anthony’s expression remained distant. “I told you that you can trust me. And that you won’t die without my permission.”
I was stunned by the look he gave me. It was true that ever since I knew I had a terminal disease, I was always worried about my death despite claiming otherwise. Hence, I was mentally prepared for it to occur at any time because I knew how vicious Armond could be.
Before I could reply, Anthony’s tone grew more solemn. “Don’t tell me you’re considering nobly sacrificing yourself? Thinking that your death would somehow grant us some ridiculous form of ‘stability?’“
Feeling my heart sink, I furrowed my eyebrows as I had nothing to rebut him with. He didn’t care whether I believed him or not. Instead, he was more concerned that I subconsciously wanted to leave him by dying.
With his eyes fixated on me, his gaze felt like a bottomless lake, ready to drown anyone that fell into it.
Sensing the tension in the atmosphere, John quickly eased the situation. “Alright now, since we already have a solution, let’s just ignore Armond. Anyway, it’s getting late. So let’s go down and have dinner.”
Anthony’s cold stare swept across the room as he scowled. “How can you still have any appetite? I’m not hungry at all, so I’ll take my leave first.”
Just as he spoke, he stormed out of the room without even saying goodbye to Louis nor turning back to take another look.
It was a long while before everyone else regained their senses.
“What’s up with him?” John asked curiously. “Did you two argue again?”
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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