Instead, she dragged a chair over to Bethan’s desk, and the both of them turned on the laptop.
Nigel’s email was waiting for them.
Even though Neil had mentioned on the phone that neither of them managed to understand the conversation between Steven and his parents, Bethan could not help thinking that Nigel must have pieced it together somehow.
Otherwise, Nigel would not have split the recording into segments labeled with tags that briefly highlighted the contents of the audio clip.
Bethan glanced at the tags, then at Gwen.
“Which one do you feel like listening to first?”
Gwen was silent for a while, then turned to look at Denise.
Finally, she pointed at the audio clip labeled [What to do about the daughter Jane said, “Let’s start with this.”
Bethan nodded and clicked on the recording.
Mr.Hughes’ cold voice rang out from the speaker, “Let Denise die, then.”
Bethan and Gwen fell silent upon hearing this.
The entire room was quiet except for the sound of Denise’s slow breathing.
Bethan was a little caught off guard by this.
The audio clip continued to play out an argument between Steven and his parents.
“How can you say this, Father? She’s my sister!”
“Steven, you know very well that your mother and I had adopted Denise.If it weren’t for us, she would’ve been in a far worse place than she is now.иσν???вσσк.￠σмThe only reason we had adopted her– provided her with a comfortable life and took care of her like she was our own–was that we wanted her to contribute to this family.
“The only thing we asked of her in return was to marry Thomas so our family can become even more powerful and aid your career in the future.
“However, after so many years, not only did she fail in this, but she even allowed Thomas to bring home another woman and even a baby…
“She’s lost all her value to our family, whereas we’ve done all we can to help her.If Brettley wants her to get out of Saigen City, then we have no choice but to follow.”
Steven was shocked to hear this.
“Father! How can you say that? Didn’t we choose to adopt Denise because we love her? Besides, I never thought this was what you and Mother truly thought, considering how well you’ve treated Denise over the years!”
Mr.Hughes sneered.
“You’re right.We had adopted her because we love her, but she’s still not our child, after all.Now that she’s gotten herself into trouble, how do you expect us to put our livelihood at risk to save her–a daughter who can’t even get her job done? “Steven, you have to remember to always think about yourself first.It’s only after ensuring our individual livelihood that we have the capability to help others and gain a good reputation in return.Otherwise, it’l] all be for naught!”
Steven was rendered speechless by this.
After a long time, he asked in a hoarse voice, “How about you, Mother? Denise is your favorite, and you love her more than anything.Do–“
“l agree with your father, Mrs.Hughes cut him off curtly before he could even finish.
“Steven, you’ve been in a coma for five years, so we don’t blame you for the fact that your thoughts remain in a state of the past, but even considering this, you can’t continue to be blind to reality.”
“Blind to reality, you say?”
Steven let out a bitter chuckle and said with a hint of helplessness, “Does everything you do have to be measured by the degree of contribution to this family?”
“Why would you think otherwise?”
Mr.Hughes continued frostily, “Steven, your mother is right: Your thoughts remain in a state of the past, but you can’t choose to be blind to the truth.
You have to grow up now and leave those naive thoughts behind.
“Denise has nothing to do with this family anymore, and I’ll let Brettley know that he can choose to do anything he wants to Denise; we will no longer care.
“At the same time, he’ll have to promise us that he won’t cut off business with Hughes Group.”
Bethan instinctively glanced at Gwen after the recording ended.
Gwen, too, turned to stare at her.
Both their faces were etched with utter disbelief.
How…could this be? Did the Hughes family not adore Denise beyond anyone else? Did Steven not say that Mr.and Mrs.Hughes practically treated Denise like their own? How could they have chosen to give up on Denise so easily after knowing she had offended Thomas?
“Although I must say, this seems pretty consistent with their style.”
Gwen was the first one to break out of her stupor.
She curled her lips into a smirk and added, “More than two decades ago, they had abandoned a one- year-old baby just because of their superstitious beliefs, so we shouldn’t be surprised that they’d choose to give up on their daughter just to get on Thomas and Brettley’s good sides.Regardless…”
Gwen sneered and turned to glance at Denise.
“I can’t help feeling bad for her.According to Steven, Denise hadn’t truly loved Thomas at all–she just chose to because she knew that this was the man her parents wanted her to marry.”
Bethan glanced at Denise, frowning.
Even though this woman was deceitful and cunning, she was still beautiful, and one could easily tell that she had grown up in a comfortable and luxurious home.
However, whenever she recalled the conversation between Steven and his parents, Bethan could not help feeling bad for her.
One would have developed attachments to a pet dog, much less a living, breathing human they had raised for 20 years.
Even Steven, who had been in a coma for five years, was outwardly resistant when he learned of his parents’ plans to abandon Denise,иσν???вσσк.￠σм yet Mr.and Mrs.Hughes did not seem at all hesitant to do so.
At the thought of this, Bethan furrowed her brow and asked, “Can one even fall in love with a stranger just to live up to other people’s expectations?”
Gwen curled her lips into a smile.
Perhaps she had never liked Thomas at all, but because her parents and Mrs.Howard had been ‘ advertizing’ Thomas to her for so many years, she fell into the trap of believing she loved him.”
Finally, she sighed and added, “None of this matters anymore, though.
The fact that Denise and Mrs.Howard had driven a wedge between Thomas and Yannie…is not something we should forgive easily.
“Or, to better put it, neither of us, apart from Thomas and Yannie, have the right to forgive her, so the best thing we can do is to keep her here for a while until Thomas and Yannie patch things up, then we can hand her over to them for punishment.”
Bethan nodded.
Gwen was right.
Neither of them had the right to punish Denise on behalf of Thomas and Yannie, so she had never intended to torture Denise at all.
Therefore, the only thing they could do was to keep Denise hostage and, while they were at it, make her suffer a little before finally handing her over to Thomas and Yannie.
“What a pity.”
Bethan sighed.
“I had hoped that by keeping her hostage, we’d be able to threaten Steven into providing us evidence of the Hughes and Miller families’ crimes…”
“It’s okay.”
Gwen curled her lips into a smirk.
“We can still obtain evidence on our own without his help.”
“I can help you,” all of a sudden, a woman’s voice rang out from behind them.Gwen turned around in disbelief.
Denise’s eyes were glossed with tears as she stared at them.
Gwen froze for a moment, then immediately glanced at Bethan. “She…”
Bethan rubbed her brow in exasperation. “I thought she was sleeping, so I removed the towel from her mouth so she wouldn’t choke.”
Neither of them had expected Denise to wake up in the middle of their conversation.
“I heard everything.”
Denise sighed when she noticed Bethan’s confusion and said solemnly, “I never … thought things would turn out this way.
Denise had always been a good actress.
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.