When Sean and Denise left the room, Thomas chose to forgive Denise under the persuasion of Brettley, Bethan, and Yannie. Everyone could feel her sincerity when she apologized and admitted her mistake.
Unlike the Hughes family, Tina, and Dan, Denise apologized not because she was at a dead end or forced to. She knew she had made a mistake and was working hard to atone for her sins.
In this situation, Thomas’ heart would definitely soften as long as his heart was not made out of stone. Moreover, he had a daughter too.
Yannie thought forgiving Denise was a way to let go of themselves and also as a favor for Riley. After all, Riley’s health had been an issue…
What they did not know was that Denise’s friend Eva, from across the room, heard their
That was not all. She even recorded the conversation with her phone.
After Denise left, the panicked Eva passed Riley back to Bethan and left in a hurry. At that time, Bethan thought Eva left in a hurry because she was afraid of Thomas and thought he was too cruel. Therefore, Bethan did not think too much and brought Riley back to Thomas and Yannie.
However, she did not expect what was about to happen next…
After Eva left the room, she did not return home as Bethan thought she might. She chose to go look for the Hughes family.
Although she knew Denise had drifted apart from the Hughes family and that Denise’s parents could care less about Denise’s situation, she remembered Denise said Steven was the one and only person in this world who cared for her.
Therefore, Eva hurried over to the Hughes family’s residence. She stalked around the entrance of the estate before she finally met an old maid she knew. From that old maid, she got Steven’s contact number and contacted Steven.
When the call got through, her tearful voice rang into Steven’s ear, along with the gust of wind around her. “Steven, help! Please help Denise!”
At this moment, Steven was having dinner with Gwen. After a busy day, they finally had the time to rest and had dinner after they sent Mr. Zink back to his home.
It was Steven who invited Gwen to have dinner with him. For some reason, he felt something toward her and wanted to be with her, wanting to get to know her more. Therefore, he suggested having dinner just as Gwen prepared to go back to the hotel.
Gwen knew what Steven was up to. At first, she wanted to reject him, but when she saw Steven’s face and the sincerity in his eyes, her heart went soft and thus accepted the dinner invitation. She told herself this was the last time she allowed herself to do this.
After tonight, she would sue Steven’s family and Kate’s family with help from Brettley and Thomas. She had passed all of the evidence she got from Denise to Brettley.
Brettley also got some professional people to take a look to make sure the evidence was sufficient to make the Hughes family and the Miller family pay the price.
After knowing that, she felt more relieved. If everything went as planned, Luke’s matter would be settled before she knew it.
Once everything was settled, she would go back to Merchant City with Bethan and Brettley… After that, she would keep the promise she made to Denise to never intercede in Steven’s life and meet with him.
This night was probably the last night in her life to be with this man who possessed Luke’s body and face.
Since both of them were distracted by the thoughts in their minds, they ate very slowly, and the ambiance was pretty depressing. When Steven’s phone rang, both of them secretly felt relieved to have something to break the awkward moment.
“Hello?”
Steven looked at the unknown number on his phone and furrowed his brow, asking, “Who is it?”
“Steven! Mr. Hughes! Please save Denise!”
Steven’s face paled immediately. He furrowed his brow, and his voice became serious. Who are you? ‘Save Denise’? What happened to her?”
From Steven’s worried voice, Eva finally felt her heart settling down.
She knew she found the right person. Denise was right! Even if the Hughes family disowned her, even if Denise’s parents no longer treated her as their daughter, Steven still cared about her. Steven truly did think of Denise as his sister!
“
Eva could no longer hold her tears in. She squatted as her tears kept falling down. “Please,” she pleaded, “you have to save Denise. She’s in trouble…”
“Calm down and speak slowly,” said Steven, with his brow still furrowed when he heard the pitiful whimpers. He could tell the other side was feeling anxious and panicked.
‘This does not sound like a prank call,’ he thought.
“What happened to Denise? Calm yourself. If you don’t tell me in detail, I don’t know how to go save her,”
Steven said.
Eva sniffled and breathed in deeply when she heard Steven’s gentle voice.
“Hello, Mr. Hughes… My name is Eva. Denise helped me before. I was called over by Denise to go take care of Thomas’ daughter, Riley, tonight. She said she did things that she shouldn’t have done, so she rescued the child to make things right… But when Thomas arrived, he never thought about forgiving Denise.”
“Denise had knelt on the floor, begging for forgiveness from Thomas and Yannie. She told them she knew what she did was wrong, but T–Thomas made her…”
Eva choked on her breath. “Thomas had Denise go to the slums and find ten homeless men to…do such a despicable thing, and he even told her to take photos. He also said…”
“What else did he say?”
Steven furrowed his brow vehemently.
The blue veins on his hand protruded due to how tightly he gripped his phone.
“He said…”
Evan sniffled. “He said if Denise doesn’t accomplish this by tomorrow morning, he’ll bring people and make her do it anyway…”
She burst into tears as the grief amounted. “Mr. Hughes, I know Denise isn’t your biological sister, but you must still care for her as your sister! Even if she’s done many wrong things in the past, it was fair enough for Thomas to want to end her life. He shouldn’t have insulted and humiliated her like this!”
“What if Denise really did what he said? What future does Denise have then? How is she going to live? No one will ever want to marry her anymore!”
Each word Eva said pierced Steven’s heart like they were needles.
He gripped the phone tightly and narrowed his eyes. He knew Denise had committed terrible deeds. As her brother, he had no right to ask other people to forgive his sister. In spite of that, he had been trying to help Denise atone for her mistakes, one way or another.
Therefore, when Kate sent someone to take Riley away from the hospital, he came out with a plan to make Kate’s plan fail. He thought by saving Riley, Thomas might have felt slightly grateful and had some compassion toward him or Denise.
Alas…
After he saved Riley from Kate, Denise and Sean got there in time to rescue Riley from the mansion before Kate arrived. They even safely returned Riley back to Thomas.
It was just outrageous for Thomas to make such a request after Denise and he had saved Riley from Kate!
Like Eva said, if Thomas really hated Denise so much, he could end her life or send her to prison. It was unnecessary for him to punish Denise with this method that would insult her purity and dignity!
Having those thoughts in his mind, he closed his eyes.
His voice sounded hoarse. “Then… Where is Denise now?”
Eva cried even louder when Steven finally asked Denise’s location. “D–Denise is… She’s heading toward the slum now. I was listening from the room across the hall. I know I don’t have any power to help her, so I…I left in a hurry. I tried to look for you in the Hughes family’s residence but you weren’t there. It took me a while before I finally spotted a maid I recognized and requested her to give me your number…”
Steven furrowed his brow. “If Denise is heading to the slum, then what about Thomas and the others?”
Eva sniffled. “I don’t know if they’re still in the hotel. They were in The Icy Ocean Hotel…but I think you shouldn’t go look for them now. You should go look for Denise.
“Denise knows what she did was wrong and agreed with their terms. She said she deserved to be punished and she volunteered to go there… Please hurry and send people to find her. Otherwise, I’m afraid it’ll be too late!”
Steven closed his eyes. “I know. Don’t worry. I’ll send people to find her right away.”
“Did anything happen to Denise?” said Gwen hurriedly, expressing her concern with a frown as soon as Steven hung up the phone.
True, both she and Bethan hated Denise because of what she did to Yannie, but her opinion toward Denise changed after they eavesdropped on the Hughes family’s conversation and the things Denise did yesterday. She found herself thinking, from then on, that Denise was not entirely a terrible person. After all, she did receive help from Denise.
If it were not for Denise, she would not have gotten the evidence of how the Hughes family and the Miller family colluded to trick Luke, not even if she had help from Brettley or Thomas.
Therefore, she expressed concern after hearing Denise was in trouble from the phone call Steven was on.
Steven closed his eyes and smiled bitterly. “She knew what she did was wrong. I thought she’d still be
I stubborn like before, but she probably knew an apology won’t be enough to redeem herself. When Thomas requested a very absurd request for her to atone for her sin, she agreed to it right away.”
His heart ached as he recalled the things Eva said with a broken heart.
To others, Denise might seem to be a bad person; a despicable woman who would do anything to achieve her purpose and to get Thomas. Nonetheless, that was not the Denise Steven thought. He grew up with her and knew her truest heart.
He also knew… how his parents slowly brainwashed Denise from a kind young girl with her own thoughts into a girl who listened to their parents; becoming solely a tool for them to use for an arranged marriage.
Before the accident that rendered him comatose, he reminded Denise that she should live for herself and not the way their parents wanted them to. It was not wrong to be selfish. At that time, she was proud like a peacock but said the most self–abasement comment.
“Our parents are the ones who gave me my life. Without them, I won’t be the person I am today. I’ll like anything that they want me to, and I’ll do anything that they ask.”
Of course, Denise had not gone that crazy because of Thomas at that moment. Regardless of that, she still spoke such an unbelievable comment. Steven thought she was being unreasonable and had tried to avoid and ignore her.
Even so, he saw Denise rushing over to the accident scene as soon as she found out he was in an accident. She held him in her arms and wailed for the onlookers to get help. It was then he realized Denise did not change as he thought she did.
She was just too stubborn and obedient, listening to their parents’ every whim and had lost herself in the process.
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.