"Please, let me walk you out," Matt Peterson ran after Priscilla Wilton, leaving Gladys Coleman alone in the teacher's lounge.Gladys closed the door again while keeping her eyes on the people huddled together."What is going on?""Nothing you should be worried about," Marie responded, flashing a tight smile at her.Gladys didn't return her smile but quickly waltzed across the room and stopped in front of her."Seeing teachers standing and doing nothing when they should be getting ready for their afternoon classes is a concern for the Principal of a school. And as the Principal of this school, I am concerned. So I'll ask you again, what is going on here?"Marie laughed softly and twirled herself around to face Gladys. "I told you, nothing."Gladys looked away from her, and her eyes settled on Chloe, barely visible behind her desk. Then she glanced at the teachers standing round the table, noticing they were on the same side as Marie."Are you guys that insecure, or do you just have no
The following day, Chloe still visited Astoria Corporation as soon as she was done with classes at Springdale National College. However, just like the day before, the entire day went by without any sign of Josiah Haworth.On the third day, Chloe left the house very early but didn't go to school. Instead, she went straight to Astoria Corporation and reclined outside the gate. Kane, who had followed her from the house, called and informed Ethan of her location as soon as he saw her sitting there.It was Thursday, a school day for Honey. Ethan, who had often watched Chloe prepare Honey for school, got his daughter ready in her mother's absence."I hardly see your sister these few days. Tell me she has gotten Josiah Haworth to agree he'd go to the William family house to dispel the rumor about him having an affair with her. Please tell me she has done it, and we're not about to lose the roof above our heads!""It may be shabby and rundown, but it's still a house that shelters us from col
"You're here, I almost thought you ran away!" Lewis snickered seeing the Koenigsegg Jesko drive into the William family house. As expected, Morello Jespersen had come. But unlike three days ago, he only came with his two children. Andy Reese and Jethro Reese didn't also want to pass up a possible opportunity to meet Josiah Haworth and graced the William family with their presence. Lewis laughed even harder when the door opened and only his two least favorite people stepped out of the Koenigsegg Jesko. He walked round the car twice and peeked inside for for some seconds and of course didn't see Josiah Haworth. His eyes twinkled mischievously and he looked up at Chloe. "What? Where's Chairman Haworth? Did you two bring him here inside your booth or is he coming here on his own? Hey, open the gate Chairman Haworth may be outside!" The gateman did as told and rushed to open the gate. Morello Jespersen and Andy Reese both stretched their necks to look outside the gate only to be di
"You're up, good. Get up and go continue begging your grandfather so he won't chase us out of this house!" Matilda's impatient voice was the first thing Chloe heard as soon as her eyes fluttered open.Claire, who was standing right beside Chloe, turned to Matilda in disbelief. "Mom! Do you even care about your daughter at all?""Of course, I care about my daughter! If I didn't, I wouldn't have let her be brought back into this house simply because she collapsed. How does she expect her grandfather to find her worthy and let her return to the company if she can't even withstand such a small incident?" Matilda huffed in reply, then she strutted closer to Chloe, who was still lying motionless on the bed with a pale complexion."Chloe William, you got married to a useless man and got our family cast aside by your grandfather. Eventually, he got tired of seeing our faces and kicked us out of the family house. But I bore all of this and let you continue living in this house with your daught
Lewis had a wide grin on his face as he hummed cheerfully and walked into the William family house.Adam William was going through the newspaper in the living room with the William family butler standing beside him, his head lowered to the floor.The house would've been serene if the doorbell wasn't ringing every second, and Chloe's crying face wasn't popping up on the door cam.Adam raised his eyes when he heard the door open and smiled proudly when he saw his grandson. "You're back. How was work today?""It was fine. I waited for the Reese family, but no one came. Grandpa, shouldn't we drag that loser to them?" Lewis asked, taking his seat opposite Adam, obviously referring to Ethan as the loser.Adam exhaled lightly and dropped the newspaper beside him."If the Reese family wants him, they'll come for him. For now, we'll continue showing them we have nothing to do with that family. Try your best to butter up to Andy Reese.""Now that Hermes Reese is unconscious, he's temporarily he
Lewis threw his phone on his bed as soon as he sent the money and grabbed the glass of wine on his desk. Then, he strolled to his window and pulled apart the curtain.He only waited for ten minutes before he heard a familiar voice, and his cheeks stretched into a wide grin."Grandfather! Lewis! Anyone! Chloe is in Springdale Police Station, and they've refused to release her on bail. They insist that she has to sleep there for tonight. Please let her off this one time and let me take her place. Honey needs her mother now more than ever.""Lewis! Grandfather! Is anyone there?"She continued shouting at a loud voice for more than ten minutes before Lewis saw the butler leave the house and walk out the gate.Obviously, he didn't hear what he said to her, but whatever it was succeeded in getting her to quiet down, and she was gone the following minute."Good riddance. Hmph! Your lives are now in my hands. Whether you live or die depends on me. Let's hope you've learned your lesson."He we
"Chloe!" Claire William ran to Ethan's side as soon as she saw him walk into the house cradling in his arms in bridal style."I went to the station last night, but I was refused bail. Are you... argh! Wh-what happened to your face?"Chloe signaled to Ethan to drop her on her feet. Although the man refused at first, he had no choice but to do as she asked when she glared at him.Nevertheless, he still supported her weight by holding her right hand firmly in his."I'm fine, Claire. Things got a little complicated last night. I know it doesn't look like it, but I'm really fine. Even better than you," Chloe replied, keeping the pain out of her voice and flashed a reassuring smile at Claire.She glanced towards Honey's room as soon as she finished speaking, and Claire followed her eyes."She's in school already. Ethan prepared and drove her to school this morning," she revealed, and Chloe glanced at Ethan in surprise.The man, who for some reason suddenly became shy, threw his face to the
"Ex-excuse me? If you have a business with my father, you should go take it out on him and leave us out of it!" Claire poked her head from behind Chloe and mouthed off. "If you had nothing to do with it I wouldn't be here, you brat!" The man snorted and whipped out a piece of paper. It was an IOU agreement. As collateral if Scott William failed to pay the 50 million he borrowed from the loan shark, they were to take his daughter with them until he paid them off. Claire's eyes widened in disbelief. "What? Dad used us as collateral?" The loan shark put away the IOU and smirked at them. "I see you now understand what's going on here. Willingly come with me to my car or I'll have my boys drag you to it. Your choice." Chloe who had been quiet the whole time, suddenly voiced out in a bold voice. "No, my father can't put us as collateral Because we're not things. We're humans. We're the only ones who can put ourselves as collateral. If there's anyone who should take back with you to y
Wexford That evening, Declan Wellington felt cooped up at home, so he left the house to spend the day golfing with a close friend of the Wellingtons who owned a golf course. They golfed together for three hours before they got tired and drove to his house to rest. Marvin Phelps poured him a drink before asking politely, “This may be out of place for me to ask, Mr. Wellington, but you seemed out of it throughout today. Is anything the matter?” “What?” An absent-minded Declan didn’t know when he blurted out, glancing at him. Marvin Phelps sat up, now fully convinced there was something on Declan’s mind. With a serious look on his face, he cautiously continued, “What is the problem? Is anyone troubling you? Say the word and I’ll have that person’s legs crushed to bits and forcefully drag them here!” Declan raised his eyes to look at him. Even if he said nothing, his eyes lit up a little when he recalled who Marvin was. The Phelps family was headed by this man despit
Scott William was instantly taken aback. Then he gritted his teeth in rage and resisted the urge to grab her by the collar as he yelled at her angrily. “What do you think you’re doing? He’s your son-in-law, how could you think of doing something so despicable to him!”“I know you’ve been looking for ways to get rid of him, but he’s having a psychotic breakdown? Matilda Brown, are you out of your mind?!” However, the woman ignored him and reached into her bag for a file. She placed it on the counter and continued speaking to the officer with a straight face. “Here. This is the result of the psych evaluation. You can check with the hospital he took it at just to be sure.” Scott closed the distance between them and grabbed her arm firmly, “If you have nothing better to do, then turn around and go back home.” “I know you’re scared of this affecting our family, but you don’t have anything to worry about because I’ll take care of this!” “Ethan didn’t do what they’re accusing him of
The sergeant and the other officers were slightly taken aback by his sudden compliance. Given that Charles and Kane were questioning their every word, they assumed they would have to use force to get him out of here. However, not only was he complying, but he was even flashing them a faint, non-aggressive smile. It was as though he had the situation under control which caused them to wonder why. They were yet to be reached by anyone from the higherups, so what was this guy doing. Since Ethan was coming with them willingly, there was no need to cuff him at all. So the sergeant nodded and led him to the station. The reception was decvoid of people, but those who were in their rooms before a few minutes ago, were all standing beside their windows watching who was getting arrested. Ethan walked to the passenger side of the car and glanced around him with an unbothered smile before proceeding to get in. In Wexford County, in the Wellington family residence, Declan Wellington was w
Ethan’s eyes darkened instantly. Almost immediately, he felt a call come into his phone and checked the caller to see it was Declan calling. He was silent for a few seconds before assured her calmly, “I’ll bring them back. Chloe and Honey, I’ll make sure they come back without a scratch.” “For now, focus on getting better. Neither of them would like it if return to see you in such a terrible state.” Then he ended the call without waiting for her response and answered Declan’s. As soon as the call connected, Declan’s bubbly voice sounded in his ears, “Your little bastard is a little too pretty. Truly her mother’s daughter.” “Your genes almost lost the fight, but her eyes saved you. Hopefully, if your other bastard lives, it would put up a fight to look exactly like you.” Ethan tightened his grip around his phone, but said nothing. He remained expressionless, but his eyes beamed furious. Yet, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything in really. Declan had truly blinded him from
Ethan didn’t react immediately. He was silent for several seconds before he responded. “You’re the highly esteemed head of the Welllington family. Why resort to threatening your enemy with somsone close to them when you can face them head on yourself?”Declan yawned boredly from the other end. “What nonsense are you talking about? My enemy? You? You really think I think of you as my enemy?” “In what world did you think a bastard like you is worthy of becoming an enemy of Declan Wellington?” “We may share the same father, but to me, you’re nothing more than a confused rat. Sure, you’ve spent a few years in the army and earned yourself a few lackeys, but vagrant like you should know their place.”“Simply talking to me is a privilege you should never have. Whatever I’ll make you go through is a privilege you don’t deserve. Even if I kill you, you should be grateful I let you die by my hands!”Ethan chuckled calmly and went on to reply. “I was told you sent one of the best men your
Meanwhile, Charles Wilkins was looking into the people who crashed into Claire’s car and took Chloe. He tracked them down to their base in a nightclub. The club had lax security. Hence, he wasn’t stopped by the hefty men standing the door as he walked into the club. It was a few minutes past 7 in the evening and the club was getting filled by people. He stood in the middle of the room and glanced around before he spotted the VIP section and strutted straight to it. It didn’t take him long to find the room of the club’s own given that there were six hefty bodyguards in front of the door. Inside the room, a short and fat man was sitting on the couch with two of his colleagues while watching three unclad ladies dancing on a strip poles. Because the music in the room was so loud, he didn’t hear the tussle outside and only realized something was wrong when an unfamiliar man walked into the room wiping his hands seemingly clean hands clean. Charles didn’t look at anyone as he
As soon as Lewis William ended the call, he stood over an unconscious Chloe with a lewd look in his eyes. Ever since he knew right from wrong, he was always told of her lucky he was to have such beautiful cousins. Had Chloe not fallen out of grace with the William family and most people in Springdale, he had no doubt his life would still be filled with words of how lucky he was to have Chloe and Claire as his cousins. He never saw the beauty everyone saw, but now that he was alone with her and could see her up close, he finally saw it. Was she not his cousin, he would’ve slept with her first before handing her over to this gallery director. As he walked out of the house, he received a call from somsone. “What do you think you’re doing? I clearly told you the person I am after is Claire William!” Vivian Martell yelled from the other end as soon as the call connected. Lewis sucked in a deep breath to keep himself from screaming back at her and retorted calmly, “There’s no need to
A minute later, Charles turned to Ethan and reported solemnly, “Mrs. Black wasn’t taken by Declan Wellington. She was taken by the William family.” In the William family residence. Adam William paced to and fro in the living room, his hands clasped behind his back and brows knitted together in worry. “Grandfather, after today, I will make sure our William family will no longer be looked down on by other families!” Those were the words Lewis said to him this morning before he left the house. Ever since Astoria Corporation pulled away their investment, other companies followed suit. They were not only knee-deep in debt, but every valuable thing in their house had been taken by the bank and everyone they were owing. They took everything ranging from jewelries, electronics and furnitures. Even the expensive looking lights were not left out. Adam had run to those whom he had helped when the William family were at its peak a few months ago, but they all hung up on him the moment th
He called her three times and each time, the phone wasn’t answered. There was no denying it now. Soenthing had really happened. His brows knitted into a tight frown as he switched to calling Claire. But just like Chloe, Claire didn’t answer her phone either. As soon as the third call ended, the screen of his phone lit up with a call from Claire and he eagerly answered it. “Where are you? I’ve been calling Chloe. Did something…” He was suddenly cut off by a voice that didn’t belong to Claire. “Hello, this phone belongs to a woman involved in a car accident. Seeing that your contact is saved with ‘Brother-in-law’ I thought it was wise to return your call.” His pupils instantly dilated and he strutted quickly to the window, away from Honey’s earshot.. He pressed the phone against his ear rig heed and repeated in disbelief, “Accident? She was involved in an accident? What about the other woman in the car with her? Is she badly injured? In fact, tell me which hospital you are!” In