“And, since we don’t know the exact location where Denise and Sean are in the residence, we can’t guarantee Sean has an adequate food supply. Most importantly…”
He gave Gwen a serious look. “If we don’t distract Steven’s parents soon, I’m scared they might be cornered in desperation and sell Denise to someone else.”
Bethan frowned as she heard that. “Are you saying…”
“Yes.”
Brettley interrupted her indifferently to express affirmation of her assumption. “You should know Steven’s parents adopted Denise because of themselves. They wanted to lighten the sin they conducted and nearly ruin Denise’s life.
“All these years, they only treated Denise like their daughter, taking care of her, pampering her, and showering her with love because they hoped she would marry into a good family in exchange for more power and wealth. Since Denise is no longer a virgin, they had also lost hope of having her marry Thomas. The scariest part for them is Denise actually wants to be with a poor man and leave them for him…”
He raised his head and looked at Bethan. “What do you think they’d do out of desperation?”
Bethan bit her lip and took a step back unconsciously.
The answer was simple; they would do everything they could to maximize Denise’s value to them. If they thought Denise was a high-end luxury product in the past, the current Denise only had the value of a scrap car that belonged in the scrap yard.
They would never consider Denise’s feelings or thoughts. Their main purpose was to make sure they could gain benefits and money from selling Denise.
Bethan shivered when she thought of that.
“I’ll contact Steven now.”
Obviously, Gwen had the same thought in her mind. She frowned and took out her phone to call Steven. When the call was connected, she told him her plan.
Steven stayed silent for a while before answering, “Alright, I’ll go pick you up from the hotel now.”
After that, he hung up the phone.
Gwen put away her phone and sat across from Brettley and Bethan. She helped them to organize the messy documents on the coffee table and asked Brettley about the subsequent planning with a frown.
Originally, she thought it would take Steven at least one hour to reach the hotel from his house. Nonetheless, her phone rang 20 minutes later. Steven told her he had reached the hotel and was waiting for her downstairs.
Gwen was so stunned that she failed to say anything. After a while, she stuttered to answer.
She stood up and tidied up her stuff while furrowing her brow. “Why is he so fast?”
The distance from the Hughes family’s residence to the hotel was not short.
Brettley glanced at her and said, “Because he knows sooner or later you’ll need him, so he’s been waiting for you downstairs. The reason why he only asked you to go down after twenty minutes was because he was afraid you might feel awkward and thought you’d troubled him.”
What Brettley said startled Gwen as she stared at him dumbfoundedly. “Seriously?”
“Why do you think it only took him twenty minutes to arrive here, then?”
Brettley glanced at Gwen. “I know don’t want to owe him anything or be too involved with him, but you need to face the reality, Gwen.
“No matter how you try to avoid it, you can’t deny the fact that you had accepted many favors from him.”
He lowered his head and continued organizing the document on the table. “Nonetheless, you don’t have to feel too stressed about it. After all, he’s Luke’s brother, and he’s using Luke’s body. He’s the beneficiary of all of these. It’s right for him to help you.”
Gwen bit her lip and did not know how to react to what Brettley said.
“Why did you tell all those?”
Bethan frowned and raised her hand to knock on Brettley’s head. She then turned and looked at Gwen with a smile. “Don’t mind what he said. Calm yourself first. Our priority now is to save Denise and Sean.
“Now that Sean has a lot of evidence to prove all the bad things Steven’s parents did, it’ll be easier for us to take them down, as well as the Miller family, once we rescue Sean.”
Gwen finally snapped out of it. She bit her lip and looked at Bethan. “I understand.”
After that, she turned around and took a deep breath to stride to the door.
When the elevator door closed, Bethan frowned and looked at Brettley. “Why did you tell her those things?”
Yes, she was curious too why Steven could arrive within half an hour after Gwen called him, but…it would only stress Gwen more if she knew how much Steven would do for her.
“Do you think she won’t realize it even if I don’t say it?”
Brettley looked at Bethan and smiled helplessly. “
Which is more stressful for her? Me telling her, or she figures it out on her own?”
He flipped to the next page to read as he added, “Now that she knows, she can express her gratitude to Steven immediately when she sees him and keeps her distance at the same time. If we keep it from her and only let her find out about it after Steven has done many things for her… it’ll be harder for her to clear her relationship with Steven, and she’ll have a hard time repaying those gratitudes.”
Bethan furrowed her brow as she seemed to understand and yet felt that there was something strange about it. “Does Gwen really need to keep her distance from him?”
“This is Luke’s decision.”
Brettley closed the file in his hands. “Luke told me he doesn’t mind if Gwen and Steven get together. He’d be happy if they could be together. But…”
He paused and reminisced back on how sorrowful Luke’s voice was when he talked.
“I hope Gwen’s feelings for Steven aren’t mixed with gratitude and her attachment to me. She should stay away from Steven and draw a line between them so she can see her feelings for what they truly are.
“She shouldn’t enter the next relationship without thinking straight just because of me, because Steven is my brother, and how sorry and grateful she feels for me and Steven. At least, she should spend some time alone to think it through and figure out what her true feelings are.”
When Gwen was down at the lobby, Steven’s car was parked just right in front of the hotel entrance. The sky was snowing a little, yet there was already a thick layer of snow on Steven’s car.
Gwen bit her lip when she saw the layer of snow. Even if she did not believe what Brettley said, she had to believe it when she saw Steven’s car.
Brettley was right. Steven must have come after she called him…or maybe, he could have been waiting for a long time even before she called him.
The snow could not have piled up that thickly in a short time, especially when it was only snowing a little. The gratitude and guilt she felt for Steven accumulated even more. She took a deep breath and opened the car door to get in. “Have you waited for a long time?”
Steven smiled and looked at her calmly. “I just arrived.”
“Just arrived?”
Gwen raised an eyebrow. “How could there be snow that’s almost three to four centimeters thick on your car if you just arrived?”
The question caught Steven off-guard as he fell silent for a moment before smiling sheepishly. “It was snowing heavily when I got here. It’s not as intense now.”
As though afraid Gwen would not believe him, he reiterated, “I really just got here.”
“I believe you.”
Gwen curled up her lips in a smile when she saw how panicked he was.
She looked at the front and said, “Let’s go.”
At first, Steven wanted to explain more, but Gwen’s reply stopped him from explaining further. He then quickly swallowed all his words back and started the car engine. “So we’re going to the shopping mall?” “Yes.”
Gwen nodded. “You’re going to buy some clothes with me. After that, we’ll ask your parents out.” “Okay.”
Steven looked at her seriously and, inhaling deeply, drove toward the shopping mall at the city center.
After a moment, they arrived at the shopping mall. Their shopping trip was quick and efficient. Both of them had the body of a model, so it did not take a long time for them to pick out a pair of matching outfits that were suitable for them at any two shops. After buying the outfit, they went to buy the same design of jewelry and watches.
By the time they were done, it was already three in the afternoon. Steven brought Gwen for a simple meal before he found a quiet place to call his parents.
Meanwhile, his parents and Denise were settling a business with Mr. Hoffman, an entrepreneur from Banyan City. Mr. Hoffman had the desire to make Denise his woman before. Nevertheless, he had no opportunity to lay his hands on Denise since Steven’s parents had been pampering and loving her in the past.
He knew what Steven’s parents were up to when they were the ones who initiated a business deal with him while bringing along Denise and thus requested a price a lot higher than the market price.
He sat beside Denise and stretched out his hand to reach for Denise’s hand. With a lustful smile, he said, “
I hope our cooperation will be a success. After this deal, not only will I continue this business partnership with you, but I’ll also…”
As he talked, he looked at Denise with lustful eyes. “I’ll also tell my friends to come and patronize-
“Ah, I mean, to deal business with you. I mean, Ms. Hughes is such a beautiful lady. No one wants to see her feeling lonely.”
As he spoke, his hands slowly wandered to Denise.
Denise, still seated on the chair, glared at Mr. Hoffman warningly. She tried to resist it, but she did not have any energy to move her body. Before they came, Steven’s parents had forced her to take a drug that restricted her movement. She was like a doll, pliant for them to control her as they saw fit.
When Denise was in despair, Mrs. Hughes’ phone rang. Steven was the one calling her.
“Steven!”
Mrs. Hughes was thrilled when she saw the caller ID on her phone screen. She picked up the call excitedly. “Have you thought it through? I told you. As long as you change your mind, you’ll forever be my precious son! You’re our only son when we chose you over Luke twenty years ago!”
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.