His low voice interrupted Bethan’s thoughts. She frowned and discovered Brettley looking somewhere. Thus, she followed the direction and saw-
“Gwen!”
She got so excited that she sprung up from the chair. “You’re back!”
“Luke–sorry, I mean Steven… How is he? Are there any side effects because of his split personality?”
Gwen smiled upon noticing how worried Bethan was. “I’ve told him about it.”
She then repeated what she and Steven talked about to Bethan and Brettley. At the same time, she also told them that she and Steven met with Sean and Denise.
Bethan’s eyes widened. “So Sean and Denise will be registering their marriage? My brother will never agree!”
Perhaps Jim might agree if he did not know Denise’s…deplorable actions in Saigen City. However, if he knew what happened, he would never allow them to get married.
Moreover, she had talked to Bonnie about everything that happened to her, Gwen, and Yannie when they were here in the city. If Bonnie knew this, it meant Jim knew about it too.
Since Jim knew what happened, he would never accept Denise becoming his sister–in–law!
With these thoughts in mind, Bethan felt like a headache was coming. “I mean, there’re so many women. Why did Sean fall in love with Denise?”
Even if Denise was manipulated and knew she had made a big mistake, in some circumstances, Denise was a stubborn woman with no opinions. She would believe anything people told her.
As long as the person was nice to her, she would treat what the person said as a decree and execute it. Could this type of woman… be suitable for Sean?
“It’s not our business, so don’t get involved.”
Brettley curled up his lips and stuffed some documents into Bethan’s hand. “If you have time to think about other people’s issues, why don’t you organize these? Time is of the essence, and we need to settle this soon. Let’s hope we can settle this within a week and get the result.”
Bethan groaned. Although she was reluctant to do it, she accepted the documents and started organizing them.
Since Brettley and Bethan were serious about dealing with Luke’s matter, Gwen was not about to get lazy. She pursed her lips and walked to Brettley, asking cautiously, “Brettley, what should I do now?”
She was the one who wanted to sue the Miller family and the Hughes family. It was unreasonable for her to do nothing and leave everything to Brettley and Bethan.
Brettley raised his head to look at Gwen with a smile on his face. “Actually, I do have something for you to do. But…I think you won’t want to do it, so forget about it. Just sit here for a while. When Bethan and I finish organizing everything, we’ll tell you the whole conspiracy that the Hughes family and the Miller family have done.”
Gwen frowned at Brettley’s words. “What is it that you want me to do?”
She would willingly do anything, even if it meant exhausting herself. As Luke’s beloved woman, she wanted to help out and make use of herself.
Brettley furrowed his brow and glanced at Bethan, who frowned. “Forget about it. I don’t think she wants to do it.”
He shrugged and looked at Gwen smilingly. “See? She’s the one who asked me to keep my mouth shut.”
The fact that the couple acted like they were playing charades made Gwen feel more curious. She frowned and walked to Bethan, grabbed Bethan’s arm, and begged to know what they were talking about. “Come on, you’ll have to tell me first before thinking that I won’t want to do it. All these things happened because of me. I can’t just sit by the side and see you guys work your arse off while I do nothing.”
Bethan smiled. She used her hand to pinch Gwen’s nose as her expression faltered into helplessness. “I think you don’t feel easy, especially when we’re busy while you do nothing. You could even be more stressed and uneasy than us.”
That was true.
Gwen sighed and coquettishly grabbed Bethan’s arm. “Since you can understand my feelings, why won’t you tell me? What if I can do the things you want me to do?”
Bethan, unable to resist Gwen’s inquisitive nature, looked at Brettley and said, “You tell her.”
Brettley did not look up and was still organizing the documents. With a hushed tone and what sounded like he was smiling, he said, “Gwen. Do you really want to know?”
Gwen nodded seriously.
“Well, we were going to ask you to…”
Brettley stopped what he was doing. “Go to Steven’s house with him when you come back.
“You need to pretend to be Steven’s girlfriend to create a distraction so Steven’s parents will be busy and distracted so they won’t notice Denise stealing these documents. And they won’t have the time to care about other things because they’ll concentrate on you and Steven. All we have to do is refrain the Miller family from getting further information about our progress to stop them from leaving the city and force them to attend the court case in a few days.”
After that, he sighed. “At first, we thought it was the best option. You could halt the Hughes family and we could use Thomas to halt the Mille family. Everything will be fine then.
“But, since you had spoken out and decided you don’t want to have anything with Steven, then you shouldn’t go look for him anymore. Let’s just forget about having you pretend to be together with Steven. I’ll ask Thomas to add more personnel to control the Miller family.”
Gwen bit her lip quietly. She thought Steven and Luke could have closure as soon as possible if she explained everything to Steven. It just did not occur to her that… Brettley and Bethan had such a plan in place. If she had communicated with them before she told Steven all those things, the plan could have proceeded, but given her circumstances, she felt stuck.
She could not help Bethan and Brettley, and she could not pretend to go look for Steven and say she wanted to be with him.
She sighed deeply.
Just as she was about to say something, her phone rang.
Well, she must have spoken of the devil, because it was Steven.
Gwen’s eyebrows furrowed when she saw the name on her phone. She looked at Bethan and Brettley for a moment and hesitated. After that, she turned and went to the balcony to answer the call.
“Steven.”
She frowned while looking at the snow and asked, “Did something happen?”
“Yes.”
Steven paused a while. “I’m home, but…something happened.”
“What’s wrong?”
His voice was obviously tense and anxious. Gwen asked, “Does it have to do with Denise?
“Yes.”
Steven sighed over the phone. He sounded tired and helpless. “My parents have locked up Denise.”
Gwen was startled. “What about Sean?”
If she remembered correctly, Sean had accompanied Denise back to Steven’s house.
“He’s locked up too,” explained Steven, “but they’re not in the same place. When I came back, Sean had escaped. I don’t know if he’s run off to other places or is hiding in the house, waiting for the time to rescue Denise…
“I think I need your help. Brettley and Bethan should have a way to contact Sean. Can you ask them to contact him? I’m scared that he doesn’t know the situation in the residence and acted recklessly. It can easily backfire, and my parents can capture him again or even do something to Denise…”
Steven sounded very genuine that Gwen did not know what to say.
After a while, she sighed, “Then…do you know why your parents did it?”
If she was not wrong, Denise and Sean went to Hughes’ residence because she wanted to take the adoption certificates and her personal documents. She did not even want to take any of the clothes she bought when she was still the young miss of the Hughes family. All she wanted to take away was the stuff that was related to her identity.
Did that infuriate Steven’s parents?
Steven did not answer right away. In the end, he sighed deeply. “Denise came back to cut off ties with my parents and take back anything that relates to her identity. But my parents…”
His voice became hoarse. “They don’t want to cut off ties with Denise. I don’t know why they didn’t want to let Denise go and insisted on making her stay to the extent of locking her up…
“Maybe it’s because they developed a true family bond after being family for over twenty years. They don’t want to see her leave and never see her again. Or maybe…”
Steven looked at the sky and sounded despair in his hoarse voice, “Maybe they’re thinking they’re at a loss after raising Denise for so many years, especially now that she’s trying to leave.”
Gwen fell silent while holding her phone right beside her ear. After a while, she said, “It’s most likely… the second reason.”
It was unlikely Steven’s parents had any feelings for Denise. Otherwise, they would never have used her to please the Howard family and even made sure they had nothing to do with her when she was in trouble a couple of times.
They felt bitter for not having any returns that they thought they should have received after raising and adopting Denise from the orphanage.
Steven did not refute what Gwen said.
He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “Gwen, I know whatever I say now cannot change my parents’ image. I also know in other people’s minds, they’re bad people-terrible, horrible people. But…they’re my parents, and they’ve always been good to me. I can’t…”
He paused for a while.
“I can’t just send them to jail without feeling anything like you guys.”
Even if Steven knew Mr. and Mrs. Hughes had done many bad things, they were still his parents. They never did anything bad to him.
Gwen understood the struggle and helplessness he felt. Thus, she curled up her lips and smiled. “I understand. You don’t have to feel bad or blame yourself. I believe if you’re Luke now, he’d make the same decision as you. Don’t worry. I’ll tell Brettley and Thomas about this. We’ll rescue Denise and Sean.”
Her sweet voice soothed his hanging heart. He gripped the phone tightly and shut his eyes. “Thank you, Gwen.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I have a favor to ask.”
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.