Denise took this opportunity to cry and plead with Nathaniel. “Grandpa, I know I was wrong. Please punish me. Don’t get angry.”
Denise was his granddaughter, who he had watched grow up. Jenifer had been too soft-hearted, which was why, as the youngest daughter, Denise had been spoiled.
Nathaniel could tell when Denise was telling the truth.
He closed his eyes for a long time before he calmed himself down and opened them again. He looked at Denise and said, “It doesn’t matter if you know you were wrong or not. I’ve told you over and over again but you never listened to me. I don’t want to tell you anything anymore. Now, it’s time to teach you a lesson.”
Nathaniel then looked at a servant beside him and said, “Kenny, take a whip. Whip Denise until she pleads for mercy!”
The color drained from Denise’s face at Nathaniel’s words. She collapsed, frightened, as she pleaded, “Grandpa, please! I know I was wrong! Please, Grandpa!”
Nathaniel ignored her and looked at Carl as he said, “Help me back.”
Denise was his granddaughter and Nathaniel couldn’t bear to watch her suffer.
But she did need some discipline, or the Jones family might not be able to cover up her mistakes the next time.
Kenny bowed and turned to take the whip.
“Grandpa, wait a minute.”
A familiar voice sounded just as Nathaniel got to his feet.
It was Gordon.
Nathaniel creased his eyebrows while looking at Gordon. “Stop defending your sister. She has crossed the line! If the Ramos family holds her accountable for what she did, we’ll all be humiliated.”
The Jones family’s reputation wasn’t that reputable. If Stevie were to go through with it, things could get ugly between the Jones family and the Ramos family.
Lately, the Ramos family was in the limelight, and Ashlyn’s uncles were prominent men within the political world. Nathaniel didn’t want to make enemies with the Ramos family. If not for that, he wouldn’t have tolerated Ashlyn for giving him the cold shoulder during dinner.
At his age, the only thing he cared about now was the Jones family’s prosperity.
Denise was surprised to see Gordon. She thought that he was here to defend her, so she quickly clung to his leg. “Gordon, please put in a good word for me. I’ve learned my lesson. I won’t hurt Ashlyn again. I mean it this time! I was just angry that she was dating Devin while she was proclaiming that she loved you so much. Gordon, I post those things for your sake!”
Denise’s words made Gordon’s face turned grim. He looked down at her as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Is that so?” he asked, visibly displeased. “The reason you hurt her is because of me?”
It was then that Denise realized that Gordon wasn’t here to plead her case.
Once she wiped away her tears, she found that he was glaring at her with an icy gaze.
Denise trembled, quickly releasing his leg. “I’m sorry, Gordon. I never meant to…”
It was obvious that she did it on purpose, because of her excuses were practically idiotic.
Gordon averted his gaze from her and went straight to Kenny. The latter had a whip in his hand. Thereafter, Gordon took the whip from him, turned to Nathaniel, and said, “You’re right, Grandpa. Denise needs to be disciplined. I’m her brother, so let me be the one to punish her.”
Nathaniel thought that he had misheard him. Looking at Gordon in disbelief, he asked, “Gordon, are you kidding me? Your foolish sister spread rumors on the Internet that Ashlyn was the other woman in your relationship with Raina, and people are cursing her! Ashlyn was married to you for three years, during which she was always obedient. She has done a lot for you. Now that you two are divorced, there’s no reason for you to ruin her name like this.”
Nathaniel wouldn’t have said these words before, but Ashlyn had become completely different. In all honesty, he still wanted Gordon and her to get back together, so he didn’t want to see them sever all ties with each other.
The Joness doted on Denise, and Gordon was no expcetion. For that reason, Nathaniel refused to believe that Gordon would actually try to punish her.
Gordon responded, “Kenny is watching us. If I go soft on Denise, I’m willing to get the same punishment.”
Since Gordon said so, Nathaniel relented. “Fine. She’s all yours.”
Afterwards, the old man walked away through the help of his cane.
Once Nathaniel left, there were only three people inside the living room.
Denise knelt on the floor and raised her head to look at Gordon. “Gordon, are you really going to punish me?”
Gordon flicked the whip with a blank expression. “Anyone who does something wrong must face the consequences of their actions and accept the punishment.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he whipped Denise.
The whip that the Jones family used was unique; it didn’t take a lot of strength to inflict pain. When Gordon whipped her, Denise yelped, “Please no! It hurts! It hurts too much!”
No matter how loudly she begged and cried, he merely stood in front of her and waved the whip.
Her ear-piercing screams echoed throughout the villa. When Jenifer got out of the car, she heard the scream from inside the villa.
Jenifer sprinted to the living room and saw Gordon whipping Denise. Scared, she stumbled a bit. She then ran to him and shouted, “Gordon, are you crazy? That is your sister!”
He knew that the whip was extremely painful and yet showed Denise no mercy.
When Denise saw Jenifer, she opened her mouth and was about to say something. However, when she saw Gordon’s glare, she choked and dared not say a word.
Gordon looked at Jenifer and said, “The only reason why I’m punishing her is that she’s my sister. If I don’t punish her, Ashlyn will. Denise will spend a few years in prison for what she did to Ashlyn.”
Jenifer’s expression changed. “Denise, what did you do to Ashlyn?”
Since Denise was afraid of getting beat up, she told her mother the whole truth.
Jenifer’s face stiffened. Even after she heard what Denise said, she decided to plead for her since Denise was still her daughter. “We can have the news deleted. Don’t you think that you’ve punished your sister enough, Gordon? She knows now that what she did was wrong and she’ll never do it again.”
Gordon handed the whip to Kenny and replied, “Grandpa ordered me to do this. If you want this to stop, I suggest you bring it up with him.”
Then he ordered Kenny, “Keep whipping her until she tells us everything.”
Although Kenny didn’t have the heart to whip her, he knew the punishment was for Denise’s own good. She was too willful.
Denise admitted that she was wrong but didn’t tell them what she did wrong. How could she be forgiven?
Nathaniel said that if she wasn’t genuinely sorry for what she did, they should beat her up until she was.
Because of that, Kenny couldn’t let Denise go without Nathaniel’s permission.
Gordon then stormed out of the villa.
“Gordon!”
Jenifer stared at her son as he left. She wanted to stop him but decided not to.
After Gordon stepped out of the villa, he got into his car and sped off.
Half an hour later
Gordon drove to Ashlyn’s apartment building and lowered his car window. He then popped his head outside and looked at her apartment.
The lights were on and it seemed as if she was home.
He got out of his car and walked inside the building.
However, when the elevator doors swung open, he gazed at the empty corridor and didn’t move a muscle.
He realized that Ashlyn wouldn’t be too happy to see him.
So he just stood in the elevator.
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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