After a pause, I looked at her calmly and asked, “Are you are actually infatuated with Anthony or are you just refusing to accept defeat?”
For a moment, she was frozen in place, probably wondering why I would suddenly ask such a question.
Receiving no response from her, I took my car keys out of my bag and said, “Come on, let’s go. Since you are unable to give him up, take a trip with me!”
After all, humans need closure.
She looked around at the crowd of passers-by, then followed me into the car with a gloomy face.
Throughout the whole trip, the grim expression on her face remained, and it was apparent that she was unwilling to talk to me.
As I drove, I broke the silence nonchalantly, “I got my driving license six years ago, which was the year after I married Anthony. I remember that he took care of you well throughout that year. By that time, Featherstone Corporation had been under him for two years, and he was busy with meetings every day. Sometimes, Joseph was away, but he did not like taking cabs or hiring drivers, so he urged me to get a driving license. He said it was pointless for me to wait for him at home, so I might as well learn to drive and attend meetings with him. That way, I could drive him back too.
She sneered. “He only treats you as a member of his staff. No one attends meetings with his wife.”
I smiled calmly and nodded. “Yeah, I thought so too at that time. I felt that he didn’t love me at all but treated me as a subordinate. But later on, I realized that I was wrong. After I learned how to drive, he did not go to meetings with me. Instead, he gave me a car for my convenience so that I could drive anywhere I like.”
Her face stiffened upon hearing that, unable to come up with a retort.
I let out a faint smile. “Anthony’s love is not conspicuous. He was concerned that it would not be safe for me to take cabs everywhere, so he had me learn to drive because he knew he would not be able to fetch me all the time due to his hectic schedule.”
“You’re overthinking!” she spoke with a sneer.
I smiled, unperturbed. “You can perceive it as such if you want. If that were all, I would have had the same opinion too.”
At that moment, the car stopped at a traffic light intersection, and I continued to speak, “I was just a fresh J University graduate when I entered Featherstone Corporation. Do you think I learned a lot in university? No, I didn’t, but it took only two years for me to attain the position of a project director. Do you think it was Grandpa who helped me?”
“Wasn’t it?” she replied with a question of her own.
That was hilarious to me. “Featherstone Corporation has always been in the hands of Anthony. Although Grandpa was an elder, it was not up to him to do whatever he wanted. Besides, Grandpa was also an expert in management., so he should have known the importance of a project director.”
Her expression darkened upon hearing that. As the lights turned green, I resumed driving. “In a relationship, the love has to be mutual between two people. When I entered Featherstone Corporation, I was incompetent in terms of both professionalism and presentation skills. Anthony gave me a hard time in the company for two years before I was promoted to the position of a project director. In order to make me more professional, every time he went to inspect the projects, he would ask me to tag along. Although he was very strict with me, he was constantly training me so that my capabilities would be improved.”
Seeing Rylee’s ashen face, I continued, “In fact, he had been helping me grow into a better version of myself. As for you, yes, he did promise to take care of you and watch over you, but think about it carefully. During those years before I showed up, what kind of feelings did he actually have for you?
“If he really had any romantic feelings for you, would Grandpa have been able to influence him to marry me? Do you think Anthony would be so easily manipulated? Both of you are considered childhood friends, but why has he shown you nothing except concern for a friend?”
“That is because you are shameless, and you stole him from me!” She was infuriated.
I smiled gently. “Rylee, think about it carefully. During those days when he took care of you, did he plan your future for you or teach you anything? The love of parents is shown when they prepare their children for the future. The same is true between lovers. If he loves you, he would definitely consider your future as well. But why hasn’t he taught you the important things about survival in the world like courtesy, integrity, and life skills?
“He was not spoiling you by taking care of you. He was just fulfilling his responsibility, so he never taught you or even let you learn anything. Instead, he allowed you to go wild and let you fend for yourself. Do you think that is love?”
“You’re lying!” If we were not inside the car, Rylee would have attacked me.
I sneered, “Why are you so angry? Surely you know the type of person you are, don’t you? You should also know very well how you ended up with two children.”
“You’re lying, Sienna! You’re lying!” She seemed to be in great agony as she buried her face in her hands.
I pursed my lips and kept quiet. Those two kids… Anthony has never addressed the situation directly, nor has he ever admitted to anything. He says he never laid a hand on her, but he never questioned how the kids came to be. I’m guessing he’s trying to protect her dignity or something. Judging by Rylee’s reaction, I think she knows Anthony didn’t touch her too.
As the car pulled up outside Serene Villa, I glanced at her and noticed that her eyes had reddened, evidently suppressing her emotions.
“Would you like to go for a tour?”
She looked at me and asked coldly, “What are you trying to do, Sienna?”
“Have you give up on Anthony,” I said. For seven years, I’ve let Rylee stay around Anthony because I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of her, nor was I capable of getting rid of her. But since I’ve started to do so, there’s no need to stop now!
She shot me a cold glare and sneered. “You seriously think that’s going to happen?”
I arched an eyebrow at her. “We won’t know unless we try!”
She shot me a disdainful look as I got out of the car.
Looking up at the villa, I saw that the plants in the yard had all wilted.
“Anthony and I stayed in this house when we first came to K City. I was going to show you the other villa in J City at first, but… I figured it was unnecessary as you’ve already realized that the interiors of Anthony’s villas are the same.”
“So? You think showing me this is going to make me give up on him?”
“I don’t really know much about Anthony’s villa in K City. The only thing I know for sure is that our fingerprints are the only ones that can get the door open. He said this house belongs to us, you see,” I said with a shrug as I opened the front gate using the fingerprint scanner and motioned for her to have a look inside.
The look on her face turned ice-cold as she followed me into the house without saying a word.
I then pointed at the barren trees in the yard that were covered in snow and said, “He was the one who grew the plants here so that I could enjoy the view throughout my pregnancy. You see that peach tree over there? We planted that when we first moved in here so that we could see the flowers bloom in spring and enjoy its fruits in autumn.”
“What does any of this have to do with me?”
I nodded. “Indeed, it has nothing to do with you. I’m only showing you this to let you know that Anthony was the one who planted everything in this yard for me.”
Noticing her grim expression, I carried on walking over a pavement made of cobblestone and asked, “You’re probably wondering why we have this pavement here instead of a proper driveway that leads right up to the front door. Am I right?”
Rylee bit her lip and kept quiet.
Hearing no response from her, I continued, “I asked him that same question as well. He said he was often under a lot of stress from work and would probably bring all that negativity into the house if his car was parked right outside the front door. As such, he had this pavement constructed to remind him that the heartwarming love of his wife is what awaits him inside that house and that he has to rid himself of all that negativity before he reaches the door.”
From the look on her face, I could tell that she wasn’t too happy about what she heard. However, the fact that she didn’t just turn around and walk away indicated that she didn’t want to give up on Anthony yet.
Looks like she’s still obsessed with Anthony…
Right then, I opened the door to the living room with my fingerprint. It had been vacant for a very long time, but there wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere as a housekeeper would clean the place up every now and then.
“You’ve probably been here quite a few times, haven’t you? Do you still remember how Anthony likes his decor?” I asked with a smile while looking back at her.
Her face went pale as she seemed to have recalled something. “Practically everything he owned was black or white in color. His house, his car, his clothes, and even his underwear… However, I renovated the villa in J City three years ago. You said he decorated it according to your preferences, but isn’t it depressing to live in a completely black and white house? Look around you and feel the warmth of this place. This is what you call a home. When I came back from R Province, he hugged me and said he had been living here during my four years of absence because it had my scent, and he couldn’t fall asleep without it,” I continued.
“Sienna, you shameless b*tch!” she shouted at me with reddened eyes.
I chuckled. “You call that shameless? If only you saw how gentle his gaze was when he looked back at me while cooking in the kitchen… You know what he whispered in my ear when he hugged me?”
She was starting to lose it, clenching her knuckles tightly as she spat the words out, “How could you be so shameless, Sienna?”
I grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her toward the bedroom on the second floor. “It’s funny how you call me shameless when you’ve been clinging to him for so many years and testing my patience time after time with your petty little tricks. See this bed right here? It’s where we spent countless nights. It’s where I’ve experienced his gentle and passionate side up close and personal. I still remember him telling me how he wished he could die while lying on top of me!”
That pushed her over the edge, and she raised her hand to hit me, but I caught it in time and pointed at the entrance to the wardrobe. “You see the clothes and jewelry in the wardrobe? He handpicked them all for me. In fact, he even went as far as investing in hundreds of jewelry stores and bringing home collections worth millions for me. Has he ever done that for you? I don’t think so!”
Seeing as she was on the verge of breaking down, I sneered and shoved her onto the bed. “Why don’t you lie there and think about what Anthony has ever done for you, hmm? Think about how much love and affection he has shown you!”
“So what? My brother already handed me over to him, so there’s no way he can ever get rid of me! I could haunt you like a phantom all your life if I wish to! If I can’t live a happy life, then neither will you!”
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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