Seeing Adrian stare at herself, Alice paused, then glanced at Adrian with grateful eyes and hurriedly lowered her head.
Adrian stood in his spot, caught in a daze for a long moment before he recovered his wits.
He shook his head.
He must have been so angry his mind was muddled! Hailey was dead. Besides, when she was alive, the person she hated the most was Bethan, the woman who married Brettley back then.
Alice Peterson was in fact Bethan Peterson, just with a change of names.
At this thought, he sucked in a deep breath, turned, and continued looking at Brettley. “Brettley, say something! “
Brettley curled his lips up in a cold and detached smile. “Do you want to know the truth?”
He lifted his head, his gaze faint and emotionless. “If there’s a woman I hate the most in this world, then that woman would definitely be Hailey Walter.”
At his words, Alice, who was sitting right beside him, felt as if all the joints in her body were starting to stiffen. She could not believe her own ears.
Dazedly, she looked at Brettley’s face, all harsh lines and sharp edges, feeling as if her own voice drifted from a distant, faraway world. “Wh.. why?”
She had been madly in love with Brettley for years. She knew he did not return her feelings. But she never expected… Brettley would use the word ‘hate’. She bit her lower lip harshly, her hands curling into fists beside her. She wanted an answer,
The man frowned slightly. He thought this question would come from Adrian, but unexpectedly, it was Alice, who was sitting beside him, who brought up the question first. But it made no difference, whoever asked him, his answer would remain the same. “Because she can do anything to achieve her goal.”
His voice was soft and casual. “That’s true, before we were born, both families had already agreed on our marriage. But in reality, since I was a child, I rejected this political marriage. The good relationship between the older generation has nothing to do with me, I don’t have to sacrifice my life just for the happiness of the older generation. Initially, the Walter family already agreed to cancel the engagement, even Granny agreed. Just when I thought I had finally left this engagement behind, once, accidentally, I went to Sea City and met with Hailey. Since then, our engagement was brought up again. Even though they knew I was unwilling to do so, my family and the Walter family forced me to marry her.”
As he spoke, he suddenly snorted, “To marry me, she tried all possible means. Father, this is the obedient and docile girl that you mentioned?”
Adrian’s expression turned ugly.
He was right.
Back then, to marry Brettley, Hailey did in fact employ some tricks. “She only did it for her own happiness, her actions were harmless.”
Brettley laughed, “Back then, to marry me, she could employ such tricks, and now, she could also employ other tricks, to deal with Bethan.”
With his left hand, he elegantly unfastened the buttons of his shirt. The bandages on his right arm made the old lady cry out in dismay, “Brettley, what, what happened?”
“It was Hailey’s fault.”
He raised his eyes in cold detachment and glanced at Adrian, “Everything that Bethan said, is evidence of her crimes that I managed to find. Initially, I thought, since she’s already dead, then these pieces of evidence should not be exposed. But if father, you insist that she is a good girl and Bethan was the one who framed her… I don’t mind exposing to the world the dirty deeds of a dead woman…”
Adrian’s complexion was pale, with a hint of grey. Unconsciously, he took a step backward, standing shakily as if he was about to fall at any minute. “
That’s impossible… Hailey is a nice girl…”
“Adrian! “
Alice rushed forward and hurriedly steadied him. She held onto him, then turned and glanced at Brettley coldly. “Brettley, she’s already dead, why do you have to destroy the image your father has of her? How can you hit your own father with such a blow?”
Then, she bit her lip harshly. “Hailey was just in love with you, she likes you, so she used a few tricks to try and marry you, isn’t that normal? No matter how wrong her actions were, you don’t need to hate someone who loves you, right?”
Brettley frowned slightly. A moment later, he laughed lightly, “Alice, actually I always wanted to ask you. You’re so close to Hailey now… Did you forget what Hailey did to you when we just got married?”
With one sentence, Alice’s complexion turned pale as a ghost.
Back then, when Brettley and Bethan Peterson just got married…
She once drove a car and knocked into Bethan on purpose.
Back then, Bethan Peterson and Brettley just got married. While Bethan was waiting for Brettley at the entrance to the hotel, Hailey seized the opportunity when there was a large amount of traffic at the intersection and the roads were in a mess and drove her car into the direction where Bethan was standing.
But back then, Bethan reacted quickly and rolled away in time.
Later on, this incident was suppressed, firstly because the traffic situation on the day of the accident was indeed in a mess, and secondly because she did not actually harm Bethan.
But she was warned by Brettley, never to step foot in Banyan City again.
Back then when she did that, it was only because she was angry that Bethan Peterson could marry Brettley, and claim everything that she wanted as her own.
All those years ago, she could not have guessed that later on Bethan Peterson would be involved in an accident and go missing, nor could she have guessed that one day, she would receive plastic surgery to wear the face of the woman she hated, just to obtain Brettley’s love.
At this thought, she bit her lip. “Of course I remember. But that night, the traffic was a mess, and Hailey only spun the steering wheel because she was trying to avoid an oncoming car. I’m no longer fussing about what happened so many years ago, so you don’t have to mention it too.”
With that, Alice was afraid Brettley would continue talking about the incident from all those years ago, so she hurriedly helped Adrian up the stairs, his entire body trembling fervently. “Adrian, let’s find you a room. You shouldn’t get angry, as long as to you, Hailey is a nice girl, then I’m sure she’s definitely a nice girl! “
With that, she helped him climb up the stairs.
Looking at their retreating backs, Granny Morrison frowned slightly, then turned and looked at Brettley i n confusion. “Your wife… when did she grow so close to your father? Didn’t they used to not interact with each other at all?”
“I have no idea.”
Brettley looked at them from behind, his gaze darkening slightly.
Just like what Granny Morrison said, the two of them never interacted at all. It could even be said that today was only their second meeting.
Their meeting was at her and Brettley’s wedding all those years ago.
Now, Alice no longer afforded anyone the same kindness and understanding that she used to have, except Hailey whom she was particularly tolerant of.
Not only that, she was even very close to her, but treating her old friend, Gwen, like a stranger.
And now, she seemed so close to Adrian, who she had just met for the second time today.
. . In the six years that she was missing, what actually happened to her?
“Are you okay?”
After Alice helped Adrian upstairs, Brettley looked at Bethan who sported a red, puffy palm print on her cheek, his brows screwed tightly together.
“What bad can it be?”
Bethan raised her lips coldly, took the ice cubes that Neil handed her, and held them gently against her swollen cheek. “It won’t kill me.”
With that, she glanced at him, her eyes faint. “Mr. and Mrs. Morrison exerted yourselves to get me to bring the two children back to your home because you wanted me to become your father’s punching bag.”
Brettley’s eyes darkened. “I did not know my father and grandmother would be here…”
Beside him, Granny Morrison rolled her eyes. “What do you mean you did not know?”
The old lady pursed her lips. “Before you came home, I asked the butler to inform you! Brettley, why do you care what an employee like her thinks? Even if you asked her here to be slapped by your father to vent his anger, so what? Doesn’t she at least deserve a slap for the things that she did?”
The moment her words left her mouth, the entire living room instantly grew quiet. His expression ice- cold, Brettley ordered the servants to summon the butler.
“Granny Morrison did in fact ask me to inform you. but I was worried I would disturb you while you were discussing business, and informed Ma’am.”
With that, the butler glanced at Brettley in confusion. “Did she not tell you?”
The living room was once again enveloped in silence.
Helplessly, Brettley massaged his aching temples with his long fingers. “Get back to your work.”
No wonder, since the start Alice kept insisting on bringing the two children back to the villa. And later, at the Swan Lake Residences, she suddenly changed her mind and wanted to bring Bethan along to his home.
Not to mention Alice, any servant working for the Morrison household knew of the friendship between Adrian Morrison and Dennis Walter.
Alice intentionally instigated Bethan to come to the villa when Adrian was in the house… actually, it was all for this moment, was it not?
At this thought, Brettley finally had an answer to the question of why Alice was so attentive to this father.
He heaved out a long sigh, helplessness creeping in between his brows, “Neil.”
He raised his eyes faintly and looked at the little guy who was sitting beside Bethan. “Bring your Mommy to you and your sister’s room.”
Neil frowned and looked at him, confused.
“Didn’t you have a lot to say to her? Don’t tell me you want to do that in the living room for all of us to hear?”
Hearing the man’s words, Neil was stunned for a moment. A second later, he finally understood, Brettley was giving him and his sister a chance to spend time alone with Bethan!
And so, the little guy jumped up from the couch excitedly, dragged Bethan behind him with one hand and his sister in the other. “Let’s go!”
Bethan laughed at the agitated expression on his face, then turned and glanced at Brettley.
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.