Brettley massaged his glabella.
“I need to go check on Thomas. If he’s doing fine, I need to go see what’s the situation like with Thomas’ father. His safety is important to the next step in our plan.”
He looked at Gwen indifferently.
“There’s a high chance that they will send Steven to redeem their daughter. Can both of you…handle him?”
From the looks of it, Brettley was asking both Bethan and Gwen when, in fact, the question was for Gwen alone. Bethan never had any trouble when confronting Steven; Gwen was the uncertain one. Everyone had seen what sort of crazy stuff Gwen had done because of Luke. Brettley was a little worried to let Gwen face Steve again.
“I’ll try my best.”
Of course, Gwen knew why Brettley was worried. She curled up her lips and smiled.
“I’ve regained my bearings.”
Although she could not guarantee her emotions would be in check when she saw Steven, after Bethan and Rachel spent the entire morning counseling her, her mind was clearer.
“That’s good.”
Brettley nodded and looked at his wife again.
“
Take care of Gwen. And…”
He paused. “Remember to contact me if something comes up. If you can’t get me, you can contact Nigel or Neil too.”
Bethan did not answer immediately. She kept silent for a while before nodding.
“Alright.”
After Brettley finished making arrangements, he left several strong bodyguards to protect Bethan before he finally left Howard Mansion.
After he left, Bethan sighed and looked at Denise, who was lying on the floor with a swollen face due to Gwen’s slaps. “Ms. Hughes, do you regret any of it?”
She waved her hand to make a signal to the bodyguards to carry Denise. After that, they got into the car and went back to the hotel. As soon as they reached the hotel, Bethan got a call from Brettley.
“Thomas is doing fine. He was already awake when Lucas and I reached the hospital. Though…”
He looked into the room.
Thomas held Yannie’s hand and refused to let go, all while persistently asking Yannie dozens of questions.
Brettley sighed. “He can’t remember what happened. He can only remember he had done something with a woman. Now, he’s grabbing Yannie’s arm and asking her about it.”
Bethan’s heart throbbed as she felt sorry for Thomas and Yannie. If Yannie told Thomas the truth, they did not know if his heart could accept the harsh truth. However, if Yannie did not tell Thomas the truth…he would think she was the one whom he had sexual intercourse with.
Even if Yannie was disconcerted with Thomas, he would not understand Yannie and what made her struggle. Yannie’s reaction would be misunderstood as being a bad–tempered, fussy woman.
Bethan felt suffocated by these thoughts and sighed. “Yannie… What does she say?” “She didn’t say anything.”
Brettley sighed and turned to look at Yannie and Thomas once more. After that, he walked toward the elevator. “I’ve already let Lucas contact the Hughes family to get them to go look for you and Gwen at the hotel to bring Denise back.”
“To avoid any confrontation between you and Gwen with those from the Hughes family, I only allowed Steven to go look for both of you at the hotel. My take on this is that Steven is younger than his parents and has a higher acceptance level.
“Besides, I’m afraid Steven’s parents might do something outrageous once they see Gwen. It’s best to let Steven go alone. I’m going to look for Thomas’ father now. Be careful when you deal with Steven.”
Before Brettley entered the elevator, he remembered something and reminded, “Remember. Denise isn’t a real Hughes and doesn’t know the connection between Steven and Luke. You can make use of this point.”
After Bethan’s phone call with Brettley ended, she returned to the room. Gwen was sitting on the sofa, eating fruits as she watched the television.
Far away, on the balcony, Denise’s hands and legs were tied to the railguard of the balcony. The bodyguards were afraid Denise would use extreme measures to hurt Bethan and Gwen, so they took away everything Denise could reach within the perimeter.
Although the size of the suite was large, the place where Denise was was the emptiest in the entire suite.
Bethan looked at Denise indifferently and went to look for the head of the bodyguards. She whispered something into his ear. He understood and immediately got his man to untie Denise and bring her away.
“What are you going to do with me?”
Due to her swollen face, Denise could only mumble gibberish. “I’m already at my worst. What else do you people want with me?”
“Nothing,”
Bethan sneered as she glanced at Denise.
“I just want to let you rest in my bedroom for a while. You’re hurt now anyway, so you should rest and take care of your face.”
With that, the bodyguards sent Denise into Bethan’s room before they tied her hands and legs to the pole of the bed. They also stuffed a towel into her mouth, just like how she did to Yannie.
“Why are you doing this?”
When Denise vanished from their sight, Gwen put down the apple in her hand and looked at Bethan.
“Why are you giving your room for her to rest?”
‘Are you really so kind?’ Gwen thought.
“I’m not being kind.”
Bethan curled up her lips into a smile as she read Gwen’s mind. “Steven is coming half an hour from now to pick up Denise, and he’ll feel pity for Denise if he sees her so beaten up. Who knows what he’ll do?”
Gwen pursed her lips as she looked at Bethan.
“So you think Denise’s swollen face will heal if you send her to the room to rest? I’m afraid Steven will agree to all your terms but will rethink his decisions when he finds out I’m the one who beat his sister.”
She merely shrugged. Although she did not look afraid or sound afraid, she put on a fretful expression and said, “Steven is now using Luke’s body. If he goes crazy, I’ll never stop him.”
Bethan looked at her helplessly. She turned and gave Gwen a piece of the listening device from the luggage. There were two pieces of the listening device hidden in the luggage.
“Try and put this on Steven when he comes.”
The listening devices were placed hidden in the luggage by Nigel and Neil when she left Merchant City. Brettley knew about this. When they were at Howard Mansion, Brettley used to remind her that if she could not find help, she could reach out to Nigel and Neil.
Obviously, he was not prepared to let the two kids worry about Bethan since they were far away. Thus, he was reminding Bethan to make use of the listening device when he told Bethan that she could seek help from Nigel and Neil.
“I’ll try,” sighed Gwen when she saw the tiny device in her hand.
She would feel more confident with herself in doing this if she was up against Luke, but this was Steven. The man literally wrote how much he hated and disgusted Gwen on his face. How was he going to let her put the listening device on him?
After a short while, Steven arrived on his own, as he had promised Brettley.
He was under the assumption that he would have to deal with Brettley and Thomas. To his surprise, Gwen was the one who opened the door after he knocked. There was no sighting of Brettley and Thomas in the room either. He only saw Bethan and Gwen.
The moment he saw Gwen, he furrowed his brow slightly and felt rather caught off–guard. Before entering the room, he managed his emotions.
“Is it just the two of you?”
“Why? Do you think we can’t deal with you?”
Bethan folded her arms as she sat on the sofa indifferently. She picked up her glass and took a sip.
“Mr. Hughes, do you know why Brettley had you come over here?”
Steven paused and nodded. “I’m here to bring Denise back.”
As he finished talking, he glanced around the room. “Where is she?”
“At a very safe place. You don’t have to worry.”
Bethan placed down the glass.
“Do you know what your sister did today?”
This disconcerted Steven. When he received a call from Brettley, he wanted to ask what Denise did to deserve them detaining her.
Nevertheless, it seemed like Brettley was busy on the other side. He only told Steven that everything would be clear once he reached the hotel, and he hung up soon after. Therefore, Steven did not know what Denise did nor did he know why Brettley would detain her and had him come for her. Regardless, he had a feeling that Denise must have done something outrageous for Brettley to detain her while being in the Hughes family territory.
He hid away his emotions and looked at Bethan.
“Ms. Bethan, please enlighten me. What did my sister do that all of you had to arrest her, so to speak?”
Gwen pursed her lips and sat on the other side of the sofa.”
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.