He snorted, “You know what I want. Sienna, honestly, I like you a lot. My mother asked me about you a while back, talking about how your stomach will be bigger soon. She even asked me when I’ll be preparing for the wedding and when I’ll marry you. To be frank with you, if you’re meeker and more obedient, I’ll be more than willing to let you keep the baby. However, you’re too cheeky; you registered that girl, and you even adopted her. What you’ve done upsets me. Once I’m upset, I’m prone to do bad things. So, I’m sorry, I could not stop myself from getting rid of that baby in you. You won’t hate me for this, will you?”
For a moment, his nonchalant tone made a murderous urge sprout in my mind. At that second, I wanted to strangle him to death; in seconds, I had already murdered him in a hundred ways in my mind.
However, I did nothing but look at him, waiting for him to utter all those words I despised. However, he did not continue. “You don’t need to record what I’ve said. These things are useless to you. Sienna, for me to be in my position, I can’t be a fool, so stop those pointless things you’re doing, okay?”
My heart skipped a beat as I tensed. In the next second, I schooled my features to look calm. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me. I’m not doing anything pointless for those disgusting acts of yours. I know karma will come for you soon.”
He raised a brow at my reply before rising to his feet. Walking to my side, he leaned his face closer to mine as he smiled menacingly.
When I saw his bony fingers reaching toward me, I could not help but hold my breath. Swiftly, he removed my earpiece and mocked, “Don’t worry. I won’t do anything to you. There isn’t any need for you to wear these unnecessary things. It’ll only affect our conversation.”
With that said, he threw it out of the window. My mouth was set in a hard line, feeling rage boiling in my gut, but still, I looked at him calmly.
He soon returned to his chair. “I know you hate me, but that’s fine. If I can’t get you to love me, it’ll be equally thrilling to have you hate me. You shouldn’t blame me for what happened to the kid; you should be blaming yourself. If you didn’t appear, no one will do anything to you. But, Sienna, you were too stupid to save someone who’s completely unrelated to you. That’s why your kid’s dead. This is the ending you’ve brought upon yourself, and the only thing you can blame this on is how you’ve stuck your nose into someone else’s business.”
“Shut up!” I roared. “Armond, have you never thought about how you’ll end up? I used to think that you’re a gentleman, but boy was I horribly wrong. You’re a scum that has no morals nor principles. No one will ever love you. You want that box, don’t you? I’m going to tell you now that I’ll never give it to you. I’d rather burn the box myself than hand it to you, so stop thinking of getting it. I want to see you destroy the Murphy family and yourself.”
Unfortunately, it seemed like he was not as angry with my words as I was with his. His gaze on me remained tranquil, but it took him a while before he said, “Sienna, you know I don’t want to do anything bad to you. I hope you’ll be good and give me the things I want. That way, I won’t hurt you or those that you’re concerned about. If not, I can’t guarantee your and their safety. You must be curious about what this villa is for. Have you heard of a snake’s nest? I’ve loved them since young, but my grandfather did not like them. So, I could only secretly keep them. The third floor is where they reside. If I press on the switch, those upstairs will be together with my pets. As for whether they’ll live or die, I won’t know. After all, I’m not quite sure whether those pets I have are venomous or not.”
My eyes were wide as I stared at him in disbelief. “Armond, you shameless man!”
He nodded in agreement. “I, too, think of myself as shameless. But Nora’s with me. Say, why do you think she loves me that much? At the start of our relationship, we didn’t like each other that much, and I never have any romantic feelings toward her. Why is she enamoured with me?”
My hands clenched into fists as I scavenged through my brain for what I should do. I knew nothing about how many snakes Armond had kept. Since young, I was deadly afraid of these soft creatures. I was not sure whether we could escape the place in time if those creatures were released. If the worse did happen, he could easily dismiss his responsibility in the matter by claiming that it had only been an accident. All he needed to do was pay for the medical fees and remove the snakes. He would lose nothing in this.
At that thought, anger curled in my chest.
“At the very least, Nora truly likes you. How can you possibly use her to threaten me? Armond, you’re shameless beyond imagination,” I snarled as I tried to look for my phone in the pocket.
He sneered, “Truly likes me? What’s the use of that? If she isn’t the one I want, what’s the point of her true feelings? She’s still useless. Am I right?”
I was sure that the man was insane. To him, everything he did not like, did not want, and did not care about, was nothing but a burden. He would never cherish those things.
Has Holden realized that something is off? At that thought, I was about to call my father with the phone in my pocket.
However, before I could, a hand stopped me. A wide, emotionless smile was on Armond’s face as he leaned close to me. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Isn’t the sandalwood box useless to you? Why are you stubbornly holding on to it instead of giving it to me?”
Retracting my hand as I clenched my jaw, I then moved away from him and sneered, “Will you let them go if I give you the sandalwood box?”
He raised a brow. “Of course. You know my aim is a simple one. Furthermore, I don’t really want to hurt them. Sienna, no one is born a villain.”
As I stared at him, I knitted my brows. “All you need is Nora if you want to threaten me. Why did you invite Sasha’s parents here? They’re old people who are useless to you. Why do you have to torment them?”
He lowered his gaze. “I’m not using them to threaten you. It’s a mere coincidence that they’re here. Shane owes me too much, so I’ll have to invite his parents over so that he’ll pay up soon.”
I pursed my lips. “Why don’t you just kill him?” He’s destroying someone’s family, but he won’t even stop at that. Why can someone like him continue to live in this world?
He shrugged and said instead, “Give me the box. You know I really need the things in it. If you give it to me, you can take the people away.”
I muttered, “Let them come down here first. The box isn’t with me right now. Also, you know that even if I want to take Nora away, she won’t come with me.”
He narrowed his eyes. “So what are you trying to tell me?”
“I’ll give you the box, but you have to let them go first. You know well that Sasha’s parents are useless to you. That b*stard Shane has no morals to speak of, so he won’t care about his parents. That’s why you should just let the two go and let them enjoy their last decades peacefully. Leave Shane to the police. Let them stop him from making society worse.”
However, he sneered, “These things are out of my control. Sienna, honestly, I don’t trust you much. You’ve fooled me once, so no matter what happens this time, you have to give me the box. It’s fine even if you don’t have it with you now. I’ll give you a chance to go back and get it. Once you get it, give it to me, and I’ll let them go.”
My brows furrowed. Anthony had swapped the box once, and I had no idea where it was now. Looking at him, I confessed, “It’s not that I don’t want to give you the box, but that I don’t know where it is. When I gave you the box back then, I didn’t even know it had been swapped.”
He narrowed his eyes again, the upset evident on his face this time. “You mean, you don’t know where the box is?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
Immediately, a scowl grew on his face. “Then, I’m sorry. Since you don’t have the box, we’ll have to talk again when you find it. You might as well stay here for the next few days. Don’t worry; I will treat you well.”
I froze before frowning. “Armond, what do you mean? Are you trying to lock me up here?”
He shook his head before smirking at me. “No, of course not. How can this be considered as locking you up? I just want you to stay here for a few days. Ever since the villa was revamped, no one has come for a stay. It’s quite dead in here. Since you’re all here, it’s a good opportunity to liven up the place.
As he spoke, he reached out to press the call bell. Soon, someone came upstairs—a middle-aged man. When Armond saw him, he said, “Spencer, I’ll have to trouble you to take care of my friends for the next few days. Thank you.”
With that said, he stood up and walked out of the room.
I hastily stopped him. “Armond, this is illegal. Let us go.”
“We’ll talk again when you find the box. I’m tired now. Spencer will lead you to your room. You don’t need to think much about anything; you just need to stay here. I’m sure Anthony will help you with the box.”
In my fury, I glared at him. However, he ignored me and left without sparing another glance at me.
The only ones in the room were Spencer and me. When the man turned to look at me, he smiled. “Ms. Stanhope, your room’s on the fourth floor. You…”
“Take me to the third floor,” I interrupted. Then, I walked out of the room. Armond’s villa was massive to the point one would take minutes just to go from one end to the other end of a floor. Spencer frowned, seemingly hesitant about leading me there.
Hence, I said, “Take me there. Since he wants to keep me here, he can’t possibly stop me from going anywhere.”
Spencer was taken aback by my words for a moment. A beat later, he nodded.
The layout of the third floor differed from the second floor; the third was locked by a steel door. At the sight of that, I grimaced. “Where are my friends? Have you locked them all in there?”
Spencer smiled before answering, “Of course not. Your friends are all on the fourth floor, Ms. Stanhope. This floor is where he keeps his pets. They used to come out from there and scare the rest, so he locked them all in here.”
I nodded. “Are they all snakes? Does he keep anything else?”
The smile remained on Spencer’s face as he replied, “Mr. Murphy likes to collect rare animals, so he almost has all kinds of creatures. He has had them for years now. Ms. Stanhope, would you like to take a look?”
As I could not see anything from behind the steel door, I dared not answer him immediately. It would be fine if the creatures were locked up as the animals in the zoo, but it would be dangerous for me to enter if they were free to roam anywhere they pleased.
After brief contemplation, I replied, “No need. Spencer, please take me to the fourth floor instead.”
He nodded before leading me to the floor above ours. The villa was huge, and the structure of it was reminiscent of a noble castle of ancient times. It was grand but empty.
The stairs looked complicated. I did not know whether it was built that way to display the designer’s capability.
The moment I entered, I saw a lavish living room decorated with statues of Venus and saints. I was startled when I realized there was even a statue where one of the saints was breastfeeding a baby.
Perhaps it was because I knew not how to appreciate art, so I felt nothing when I looked at the statues.
There was a couch and a table in the living room. Holden was by the window, staring outside. For a moment, I wondered what he was thinking about.
However, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw him. It seemed like Armond had not done anything to him. When he heard my footsteps, he turned to look at me. “Armond’s house is built weird.”
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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