Nathaniel had gone to great lengths to destroy the beautiful image of Anthony in my heart. He wanted me to be so disappointed in Anthony that I would stop loving him.
Since he regarded love as a video game, where it can be withdrawn at will, I would turn myself into a bug in his game in order to frustrate him.
By putting myself out there, I could force Anthony into revealing his true intentions.
I didn’t want to be in his way, but I couldn’t tolerate the world turning its back on him either. Hence, I had no choice but to elicit a response this way.
In the midst of the long silence, Joseph had lost consciousness due to the overwhelming effects of the drug. As the cold breeze filtered through the building, tension started to build up in the surrounding atmosphere.
Nathaniel’s gaze was constantly trained on me, like an eagle eyeing a rabbit.
Just like Anthony, he was good at seeing through people. I reckoned he was hoping to read something from my facial expressions. Luckily, I had picked up a thing or two from John’s nonchalant attitude as Nathaniel drew a blank in his search.
Just as expected, he averted his gaze in defeat after a two-minute staring contest. Closing his eyes, he lost himself in his own thoughts.
As the seconds ticked by, Joseph’s chances of survival grew increasingly slim.
Sneaking a glance at him from the corner of my eye, I clenched my fists and decided to negotiate the terms under false pretenses.
“Hey,” I called out to Nathaniel as if I was the wife of a mafia boss. Then I went straight to the point as I continued, “Don’t think that I will work for you for nothing in return. If you want to leverage the resources of the Featherstones and Stanhope Corporation to expand your business, you have to agree to my two conditions.”
“There’s no place for you to interfere in men’s affairs.” Anthony tried to stop me. His expression was as icy as ever.
I tilted my head and looked at him with a mischievous smile. “What else can I do? I wish to stay by your side forever. In fact, both my body and soul desire it. Didn’t you feel it from the kiss just now?”
I winked at Anthony in front of Nathaniel as I spoke.
“Your career is at home. Raising kids is what you should be doing.” Anthony’s frown deepened. In fact, the look of disgust on his face couldn’t be any more obvious.
However, I shrugged to express my defiance.
“Are you two putting up an act in front of me?” Nathaniel finally responded. He was emitting such a frosty aura that one could feel a chill down the spine just by looking at him.
He felt that Anthony and I were colluding with each other.
If one’s betrayal was for the greater good, it was a choice worth considering. After all, Nathaniel was someone extremely guarded.
Taking a deep breath, I cast my emotions aside and stared earnestly at him. “What about it? What will satisfy you, then? Let me remind you that I am the one who’s being monitored, not you. Where do I find the opportunity to conspire with Anthony? Or perhaps you want to hear me lie to you that I no longer love Anthony? Fine, if that’s what you want, I’ll say it out loud. I am utterly disappointed and have lost faith in him. From now on, we will not have anything to do with each other… Are you happy now?”
Nathaniel’s eyes flashed with disdain, as he knew those words were nothing but falsehoods. Nevertheless, he was hoping that those lies would become the truth so that no one would love or dare to love Anthony anymore, just like him.
Gaining momentum from his volatile emotions, I continued my performance with a smirk.
“Look, even you don’t buy it. Love isn’t something that one can control. Yes, I admit Anthony’s recent actions are despicable. Just as you wanted, I’m disappointed in him. Still, you didn’t take into consideration the bond we have built over the years.
“His name no longer belongs to him alone. Instead, it has been seared into every fiber of my body. I have grown to love and trust him so much that I will stand by his side even in the face of Armageddon!
“If you have loved someone, you will understand how powerless it feels when one is being swept away by one’s emotions. I have gone through too many separations in my life, so there’s no way I’m going to let go of Anthony. Even if it means going to Purgatory, I will gladly follow him there.”
“You are someone who has never been loved before. I understand if you don’t comprehend this. But since you believe you can put a price on everything in this world, I am willing to give you all my assets in return for you staying out of our marriage. It should be an easy choice for you, shouldn’t it?”
Nathaniel’s eyes widened as he exploded, “Do you not care if the Stanhope and Featherstone families are destroyed along with you?”
Raising the corner of my mouth, I turned to Anthony and looked at him fondly. “Despite being the daughter of the Stanhope family, I cannot bring myself to abandon Anthony. Every moment I spend with him turns into sweet memories. If both families are ruined because of me, I’m willing to pay for my sins with my life. At the end of the day, the choice isn’t mine. Just go ahead and do what you want. I hope you would force me to my doom so that I wouldn’t even need to think about this anymore…”
As soon as I finished, I heard the sound of someone flicking his sleeves. When I turned around, all I could see was Nathaniel’s leaving silhouette.
With no time to celebrate with Anthony, I knelt down at once and gently slapped Joseph’s face. “Mr. Campbell, wake up! Joseph…”
Joseph didn’t respond to my calls. I had no choice but to drag him up and take him to a private hospital. Given the statuses of the Featherstone and Stanhope families in K City, I figured it wouldn’t be difficult to keep the matter from the police.
“Anthony, help me, quick! I’m not strong enough to get him up. If we delay any longer, Joseph won’t survive.” Putting Joseph’s arm around my shoulder, I tried my best to pull him up.
Suddenly, a bag containing a syringe was thrown to my side. After picking it up, I turned to look at Anthony whose expression was frosty as ever. “It contains atropine. Inject it into his chest and it will stabilize his condition for a while.”
I heaved a sigh of relief and smiled at the fortunate turn of events.
Worried that Nathaniel would return, Anthony declared scathingly, “Only I can decide whether my man lives or dies.”
With that, he walked away without even bothering whether I knew how to inject the syringe or not.
Realizing how weak Joseph’s breathing had become, I had no other choice but to make every possible effort to save him. I opened the package, ripped off his shirt, and stabbed the needle into his heart.
Since then, Anthony and Nathaniel never showed up again.
Joseph woke up the next afternoon and the first thing he did when he opened his eyes was to grab my hand and ask about Savannah and his child.
“Don’t worry. They’re fine.” While consoling him, I poured him a cup of warm water. After making sure he was fine, I said, “Anthony was the one who saved you.”
“I know.” Joseph’s expression was calm as he held the cup. “It means that I am still of use to Mr. Featherstone.”
From this reaction, it was obvious that he wasn’t surprised at all.
It also helped to confirm one of my suspicions—Joseph was aware of the hidden agenda behind Anthony’s drastic change in temperament.
“We are not being watched by Nathaniel’s men here, so there’s no need to say such ridiculous words. No one wants to hear them.” I tried to lighten the atmosphere as I spoke in a joking manner.
Joseph looked better, but he didn’t reply.
I knew how good he was at keeping secrets, so I wasn’t surprised at all. Consequently, I just treated him as a messenger since he excelled at it.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it. I can see it with my own eyes. After all, we will be spending a lot of time with each other going forward.” Picking up an apple, I began to peel it leisurely.
Not knowing what I meant, Joseph looked up and shot me a glance. Then, he casually remarked, “Mrs. Featherstone, that’s the way you should see it. Ultimately, Mr. Featherstone will return to your side. With that, all of you, including Ms. Audrey and Mr. Gregory, will be reunited.”
If it wasn’t for the incident at the abandoned factory, I would have thought Joseph was being sarcastic on purpose. But now that I thought about it, Joseph’s implicit and explicit words had always been reassuring. It was the different state of mind that I was in that caused me to misinterpret it.
Men everywhere were the same. Once they had a plan, they would give it their all to make it a success and they would be paranoid that revealing just a little would cause their plans to fail entirely.
I shook my head with a smile. As I continued peeling the apple, I said casually, “If it was as easy as you say, you wouldn’t need to be so fearful of telling me the truth.”
Not one to be good with words, Joseph was stumped by my remark.
Anyway, I wasn’t in a hurry to force him into telling me the truth. After peeling the apple, I handed it over to him.
He took it and held it in his hand without the intention to eat it. Instead, he stared blankly into space, visibly shaken by my words.
“I’m not trying to accuse you of anything. I’m sure you have your reasons for keeping mum, and I understand that. Still, I hope you can empathize with me. As both a wife and a lady, I don’t want to and I can’t stay out of this matter. Tell Anthony that I will continue to muddy the waters until he can strike when the opportunity arises.”
“I don’t really understand what you’re trying to say, Mrs. Featherstone.” Joseph furrowed his brows, his eyes filled with concern.
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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