“Okay,” Abigail said softly.
“I didn’t expect this day to come,” Diarmuid said, laughing at himself self- deprecatingly, “that I’d be helpless and need you to bail me out.”
Abigail raised her hands, worming them around his waist. “Don’t you feel blessed that you married me now?”
Diarmuid flashed a rare smile and quietly said, “Yes. Must have burned through ten lifetimes worth of blessings too.”
They looked into each other’s eyes then.
Though Abigail lost considerable weight, her eyes were still bright as ever.
Looking into Abigail’s eyes that were as bright as the stars above, Diarmuid leaned in, slowly putting his lips against hers.
As their skin touched, their warmth flowed into one another’s.
Abigail closed her eyes in turn, and reared her chin so that the kiss was firmer.
It was less a gesture of intimacy than a gentle touch to offer each other assurances.
They pulled away after a long while and Diarmuid raised his hand to brush a finger over her lips, wiping the wetness over it.
“Let’s get you home,” he said softly.
Abigail shook her head. “I need to go back to the lab. Stephen Carr tested the drug on himself-I need to check on him.”
Diarmuid held her gaze for several heartbeats and finally nodded as he turned on the ignition.
Zachary Slate was sitting behind his desk, reading the official announcement of the day.
Peter Lindt’s case was closed-the police had determined that he was culpable for fielding substandard equipment while taking no steps for fire safety.
It only made his case worse that he had bribed his way out unapologetically.
With all the concrete evidence against him, as well as pressure from Zachary and Tim Goldman, he was sentenced to jail for 28 years.
Peter was 51 this year, and would almost be 80 upon his release-if he ever got out, that is.
Shirley Lindt fainted at court the instant the verdict was handed down.
Peter tried to talk to her and his daughter, but he was escorted away before he had the chance.
Ember Lindt had to hold her mother steady even as she watched him being taken away.
She finally understood that she had nothing to depend on.
With her family’s company being stolen by Zachary and Tim, she had nothing left-no father to protect her, let alone a home!
Her fingers slowly clenched into fists, and she clenched her jaw.
This was all Zachary’s fault!
She hated herself for being so blinded by love and causing her family’s downfall.
She swore that she would have her revenge!
And yet, when she took her mother to the hospital, she realized that she did not have the money to pay her mother’s medical fees, let alone take revenge!
She could not return to the Slates’ residence, while Tim had also barred from her own family’s mansion after he took possession of it.
And having spent her last dime, she was now penniless.
Revenge was certainly a pipe dream now.
“Why aren’t you paying up?” a nurse was urging her. “It’s hospital policy. You have to pay for your mother’s medical examination, or we cannot arrange anything.”
For the first time, Ember truly realized how powerless it was to be penniless.
Having been pampered in a well-to-do household since she was a child, she now had a taste of poverty’s bitterness.
Naturally, ever since her family crisis, all their relatives and close friends were deliberately keeping their distance, as if worried they would be jinxed.
Taking a loan? Ember could not even reach them!
Now, with her mother needing urgent medical attention, her only option was to agree to Zachary’s offer- to sign the divorce agreement, so that he would cover her living expenses.
Biting her lip then, she flipped out at the nurse like the spoiled rich daughter that she was. “Arrange a checkup for my mom right now, or I’ll have this place shut down if anything happens to her! All you want is money, isn’t it? I’ll pay you-you have nothing to worry about!”
With those words, she turned around and ran out of the hospital, hailed a taxi, and went straight to Zachary’s office!
Her hands were clenched and sweating, but just as she looked outside distractedly and feebly, she saw the man-the same man who had his way with her that night at the hotel!
She told the driver to stop, alighted, and ran straight to the man, stopping him!
Ember grabbed him by the hand, exclaiming, “You’re coming with me. We’re settling this with Zachary once and for all.”
Even now, she was still convinced that Zachary had framed her.
The man-Winston Dickens-glanced at her briefly, but shook her off in the next instant, knocking her off balance and landing raggedly on her knees.
As she glared at him furiously, Winston recognized her in turn.
“Oh, it’s you.”
Winston dropped to a crouch before her and lifted her chin. “What, was that night so unforgettable that you want to go again?”
Ember restrained her disgust even as she denied it. “Dream on! All I want to know is who paid you to frame me!”
Winston looked up then, and inadvertently spotted Debbie stepping out of a boutique, and gestured with his chin for Ember to look. “There she is.”
Ember slowly turned to find Debbie being mobbed and fawned over, while Winston stroked his chin interestedly beside her.
“Seems like she’s doing well for herself.”
As for Ember, her eyes widened while her face contorted with rage-she had never expected Debbie to be the one who framed her!
It was her?!
Her hand slowly clenched into fist on the floor, even as Winston appeared annoyed. “Rumor has it that she’s marrying Diarmuid Althoff-lI didn’t think that she was that well connected. I mean, that’s a man with money and power, and I would’ve asked her for money if I had known.”
Quickly noticing the greed in his eyes, Ember asked, “Why don’t we work together?”
Winston did not seem to understand. “To do what?”
“Kidnap her and demand a ransom,” she explained, even as she tried to persuade him. “You were saying that she’s marrying
Diarmuid, right? That means she’s rich, so why don’t we work together here?”
Winston stared at Ember then, as if to read if she was sincere.
Ember certainly did not hide her spite for Debbie, and after Debbie paid him to defile Ember, Winston believed that it was reasonable for Ember to plan to kidnap Debbie in retaliation.
And if he could get another chunk of cash from Debbie, he got to keep living like a king-he had already burned through the money Debbie paid him before, after all.
Hence, Winston agreed to work with Ember after thinking about it briefly, only for Ember to hold out a hand to him, saying, “Lend me twenty bucks.”
She still needed to take a taxi to Zachary’s office.
“Are you really that poor?” Winston teased.
“No thanks to you,” Ember growled through gritted teeth. “Zachary is now bent on divorcing me and destroying my whole family because of you!”
Winston, however, did not believe that he was at fault, even asking smugly, “So? Are you blaming me?”
“You’re just a tool. Debbie was the one who made you do it,” Ember said, knowing that she had no issue with him-Debbie was the culprit.
“Understanding, aren’t you?” Winston chuckled.
Ember did not want to waste her breath with him. “I’m busy. Let’s meet tonight.”
They traded phone numbers, and Winston actually gave her twenty dollars.
This time, Zachary did not let Ember in immediately, and kept her waiting at the lobby until the evening, when he finally sent someone to bring her to his office.
She calmed down considerably now that she found out Zachary was not the one who framed her that night and she said evenly,
“I’ll sign the divorce agreement.”
“Really?” Zachary asked flatly.
“I’m not going to survive if I keep refusing. You’ve taken everything from my family just to force the divorce, haven’t you?”
Zachary snorted coldly. “You lot deserve that after what you did.”
“What, you mean Lulu Adams?” Ember laughed. “Don’t forget that your mother was the one who actually did it. Why aren’t you taking it out on her? Why don’t you bring her to justice if you’re not all talk?”
Zachary’s eyes narrowed as his expression cooled. “You’re desperate, Ember Lindt—that’s why you’re agreeing to the divorce.
And yet you’re trying to provoke me… are you sure I won’t arrange for the hospital to deny your mother help?”
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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