But he maintained his kind fa?ade, chuckling, “Their arrival was so sudden, and you have children at your house, so we were worried that they might not feel comfortable there. I’ve already invited them to sleep at our place during their stay here.”
“There’s no need for that,” Anthony cut in. “The presidential suite at The Jade is permanently reserved for me. That should be more than enough to accommodate them.”
The corner of Nicolas’ mouth quirked up slightly in contempt as his eyebrows furrowed together. It was obvious to anyone that he didn’t think highly of Anthony.
After a brief pause, he spoke up. “Young people these days. Your children have already grown up, and yet you still haven’t learned to respect your elders? The trip here from M Country was more than ten hours long; do you want to see them go through even more trouble? Besides, your parents-in-law live so far apart from us that we’ll need to make sure to keep in contact with each other from now on. It’s decided that they’re staying here. I’ll take good care of your wife’s family, so don’t worry too much.”
“And what if I won’t let them stay here?” Anthony asked, his tone sharp and dangerous.
“That’s up to you,” Nicolas shrugged. “If you’re able to take them out of here, then I can’t say much. Although, I will remind you: these fellows here are quite old and frail. If anything happens when you leave with them, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Are you implying that you’ll make them stay here by force?” I had grown sick of his mask of kindness.
Chanaea was no place for him to be dogmatic.
Nicolas gave me a sidelong glance, the disdain in his eyes from before still there. “As Anthony’s wife, you should at least call me ‘father’. Did the Stanhope family nor the Moore family teach you such basic manners? Or did you forget to respect your elders after a six-year-long nap, Sienna?”
He didn’t need to elaborate any further for me to realize that he already knew my true identity.
Anthony’s efforts to make the Hall family think that I was nothing more than another expendable replacement for Sienna had all gone to waste.
That single word had been enough of a warning.
He was determined that he would win against Louis because he knew that I was Sienna, and he knew that Louis, Cameron, and Zachary were the best bargaining chips he had against Anthony and me.
Although, a small part of me felt fortunate that Nicolas wasn’t targeting my three children instead.
The tension in the air was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. If anyone said one wrong word, it might trigger a full-on screaming match.
Just then, the housekeeper entered the living room and bowed. “Dinner is ready, Mr. Hall, Mrs. Hall.”
The imminent crisis was instantly averted.
Each keeping their own emotions and burdens to themselves, everyone slowly gathered around the dinner table.
Anthony and I both didn’t speak during the entire meal.
As for Cameron and Zachary, they’d already agreed beforehand that if Nathaniel wanted to take them away by force, they would not resist. Naturally, that plan had not changed, even if the person making them stay was Nicolas instead of Nathaniel.
The Hall couple seemed completely fine on the surface, starting and continuing one topic after the other just as they’d perfected before. Cameron and Zachary also participated in the conversation, effortlessly picking up wherever the other couple would leave off.
In the end, Cameron could only cling onto my arm as we stood by the roadside right before we were about to leave. She went on a long, emotional tangent, following the script accordingly.
Anthony looked back over his shoulder as he was opened the car door, coldly warning Nicolas, “I hope you’ll follow through with your promise and treat Letty’s family well. If not, I will bring down the entire Featherstone Corporation with me to my grave.”
We came as three people, and we returned as three people.
Even though this was all a part of Anthony’s plan, I couldn’t help but feel anxiety prick at my heart as I watched Louis’ and everyone else’s silhouettes slowly grow smaller and smaller on the horizon.
Noticing my unease, Anthony reached out and pulled me into his arms, handing me an anti-anxiety pill. “Your family will not be harmed in any way. I promise you that.”
Anthony was not someone who made promises lightly, let alone make a promise about something he had no confidence in. Knowing that helped ease some of my stress.
“Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves,” John glanced at us through the reflection of the car mirror. “Looks like we have a long night ahead of us.”
The sentence had barely left his mouth when lightning struck outside. The trees on both sides of the road were shaking violently due to the strong wind as the deafening sounds of thunder filled the electric air.
This was not going to be a normal night.
After arriving home, I quickly washed up and put the kids to sleep before putting on a warm coat, heading downstairs to the living room.
John and Anthony were both already there. The former was resting his chin in one hand as he sat on the sofa with a gloomy expression, while the latter’s back was turned to me as he stood in front of the floor- to-ceiling window. Every time there was lightning outside, the sudden flash of brightness would cast a striking, lonely shadow of Anthony on the floor.
So they haven’t gotten any updates yet.
Waiting was always the hardest part of doing anything.
If all went well, Anthony’s men would find Nicolas’ secret hideout tonight and ambush it.
If not, a sleepless night like this one would likely be our daily routine for many days to come.
Nothing happened for the entire night. My body was starting to display signs of fatigue, but my brain was still fully alert.
The darkness outside eventually turned into light, and the rain turned from a heavy downpour into a faint drizzle.
John, unable to sit still, abruptly got to his feet and pulled his coat on. “I’m going to pull the Hall residence apart brick by brick if it’s the last thing I do,” he declared, heading for the door.
This was what we’d agreed on when putting together this plan: if an accident happened, we would go all out and not hold anything back anymore.
But that was merely the backup plan. If we really did take matters into our own hands now, Nicolas might team up with the police and we would end up being the ones at a disadvantage. That’s why we wanted to avoid taking last-resort measures as much as possible.
“Let’s wait for a while longer,” I called out, stopping John in his tracks and glancing at the clock. “There’s still half an hour left to the time limit we gave them. Maybe there was a delay because of the heavy rain.”
“I don’t have the patience for that,” John grumbled but stayed where he was. He seemed deep in thought for a second before finally looking at Anthony, letting him make the final decision. “You came up with this idea. You tell me: are we still going to sit around doing nothing?”
He wasn’t explicitly blaming Anthony, but I could hear an undercurrent of frustration.
I doubt he’d meant to direct his anger at Anthony; after all, our relatives were in danger, and we were all growing desperate.
I trusted that this version of Anthony whom I’d reconnected with after six years was no longer the man from before: a cold, nearly robotic person who was willing to sacrifice anyone and anything in order to achieve his ambitions. John’s impression of him, however, was still stuck in the past.
I opened my mouth in an attempt to defend Anthony when I suddenly heard his deep voice speak up from behind me: “I’ll go with you.”
The time limit had been set in place by us to ensure that we’d be able to bring our relatives back home safely by a certain time, even if the plan had failed. Before the time limit was over, any action we took that the Halls might notice would risk hurting the very people we were trying to save, thus setting us back.
But Anthony had just agreed to go out and take that risk with John.
He glanced over at me, picking up a thick blanket and draping it over my shoulders. “Go upstairs and try to sleep,” he whispered, his voice soft and husky. “I promise that I’ll bring back your parents and Uncle Louis home safely.”
Parting with a reassuring smile, he let go of me and walked towards the door.
Even John was surprised by Anthony’s response, frozen in shock for a second before quickly following on his heels.
The two of them passed by me and headed for the staircase. At that exact moment, the ringing of the phone broke the long, tense silence of the past few hours.
John wasted no time in pulling out his phone and placing it next to his ear. He listened intently, his expression slowly growing solemn.
“What is it?” I hurriedly asked.
He gave me a sidelong glance, nodding. “The mission was a success.”
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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