He saw how she reacted. When Bethan did not recognize who it was that entered, she thought it was Theo instead and got angry.
However, when Bethan realized it was Brettley, her hostility immediately vanished. She was even quite relieved.
Her reaction proved that he was a trustworthy person in her heart.
Far more than Theo, at least. “I’m here to apologize.”
Apologize? Bethan furrowed her brows. “About how your grandmother destroyed my design sketches?”
She took a deep breath. “You’ve already repaid me with a two–day grace period.”
Then, she coldly swept Brettley a glance. “Are there any other matters?”
Brettley switched into an even more comfortable position on the sofa.
He looked at her with his deep gaze. “I’ve already settled the news. As of half an hour ago, news about that day had vanished completely from the internet.”
Bethan momentarily paused before she recalled how she had warned Brettley to deal with the issue back at the office. Otherwise, she would expose the surveillance footage.
At that thought, she chuckled self-deprecatingly. “
Here I was, wondering if Mrs. Morrison would get angry since you left her home alone. It looks like she won’t because, after all, you came out because of her. No need to fret, Mr. Morrison. As long as you agree to my demands, I won’t expose the footage.”
Brettley furrowed his brows at her aloofness. “Alice doesn’t know I’m here.”
Bethan furrowed her brows. “You’re planning to sacrifice for her secretly? Or do you want me to let Mrs. Morrison know how great you’re treating her?”
“Bethan! “
Brettley could not take any of Bethan’s peculiar behavior.
He glared at Bethan angrily. “Must you talk to me like that? Even if we’re no longer in a relationship like we once were, we’re still considered work colleagues and friends, aren’t we? Do you have to talk to me like that?”
Bethan stared at him, her clear eyes glazed with frost.
After a long time, she looked at her face and enunciated, “Who said anything about being friends?”
He was not worthy of being her friend; he never treated her sincerely from the beginning. Was he worthy of being her friend?
“Leave.”
She took a step back and immediately opened the room door.
“Leave.”
Bethan was initially in a good mood from moving house that day. Just when she was moving the final bits and pieces, she received Nellie’s call.
That phone call made her heart sink to the bottom.
Even Theo could see that something was off with Bethan. He did not enter and helped her unpack, yet Brettley dared to tell her to her face that she had an attitude?
Did she need to treat him well?
“Bethan! “
Bethan asking him to leave made Brettley completely aggravated.
He knew that Alice was the one at fault, so he came full of sincerity to apologize to Bethan!
However, not only did Bethan imply that he was not worthy of being her friend, but she also asked him to leave!
Bethan was the first woman who dared to so arrogantly ask Brettley to leave in his entire life.
He strode toward her and kicked the door shut.
The next second, he clasped Bethan’s neck and pinned her to the door.
“You’re getting more and more arrogant.”
“You’re the arrogant one right now! “
Bethan gritted her teeth and glared at him. “You intrude into my house while I’m not paying attention. What right do you have to call me arrogant?”
Her detest and hostility toward him were written all over her face.
Brettley hated Bethan like that.
He hated the mockery and indifference in her eyes. He hated that she did not have any regard for him.
He could not help but constrict his grip on her neck even tighter.
“I wanted to properly apologize to you today and also discuss Neil and Nellie.”
Neil and Nellie. Bethan’s heart lurched as Brettley mentioned those two names.
She closed her eyes as her voice trembled, “Don’t you dare mention Neil and Nellie. You’re not worthy of them.”
He clutched Bethan even tighter.
Brettley was strong; so strong that he could have snapped Bethan’s neck in two.
Bethan bore through the pain. She forced herself to breathe and continued, “I received Nellie’s call tonight. She cried on the phone, sobbing at how uncomfortable her stomach is.”
The next second, he let go of Bethan and coldly looked away. “She didn’t even have dinner, so that’s why her stomach would be uncomfortable.”
When he let her go, Bethan slumped onto the ground and leaned against the door feebly.
In the end, she sat up with her back against the door.
“Is that so?”
She looked up. There were tears at the corner of her eyes due to the shortness of breath a moment ago, but her gaze was with silent fury.
“While Nellie was still in the womb, her brothers took away her nutrients, so she has been small and skinny ever since birth. The doctors said that her body was too weak, that she might not live for more than a month. I cared for her daily and tried to give her a chance to live however I can. Although she grew up frail, I never let her get seriously ill in the six years she was with me! Not once has she ever had an uncomfortable stomach, nor has she ever called me crying like this.”
Brettley shuddered at Bethan’s words.
His fiery rage slowly dissipated at Bethan’s cold words.
He looked at Bethan calmly. “Perhaps she misses you too much, and she’s only pretending.”
“Brettley.”
Bethan wiped the tears away from her face. “You’re just not willing to admit that you and Mrs. Morrison didn’t take good care of my daughter. You forbade them to have any snacks, fruits, or milk. You forced them to eat according to the time the adults eat. No. I t wasn’t eating on time–it was to wait for you to come back before eating. If you don’t come back, they’ll have to starve.”
Brettley furrowed his brows.
He installed a signal jammer back home. He knew Neil and Nellie were communicating with Bethan, but he turned a blind eye to it.
However, he did not expect that the two of them would tell all these to her.
“I’ve already gotten Alice to change yesterday. Isn’t it different already today?”
“Yes! It is different from yesterday! “
Bethan glared at Brettley angrily. “Today, you fed them snacks that are difficult for children to digest. It was only when they could no longer have any that you stopped! Their stomachs suffered so much, and that was why they went upstairs, yet you dare accuse them of not having dinner in front of me! If I didn’t let Lily prepare some medication for them in time, they would’ve spent the night at the hospital, do you know that?”
Then, tears fell from Bethan.
Six years had passed–she had left Brettley for six years. Other than the day she found out that Nigel has leukemia, that day was the one that haunted her the most.
She underwent plastic surgery after she gave birth to wipe off anything that had to do with Bethan Peterson.
The surgery was so painful that she could barely sleep at night, yet she did not drop a single tear over it.
Even if Bethan was strong, hearing how her kids were sick or suffering would make her like any other woman: helpless, regretful, and beat herself up.
She hated herself for not getting pregnant with Brettley’s child the last time. She hated herself for not being able to protect her children properly.
They were her little angels; they should not have suffered like that!
Brettley was rooted where he stood as he gazed at the weeping Bethan, filled with a maelstrom of emotions instantly.
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.