He had a pair of defined eyebrows, long lashes, and perfectly shaped lips. Bethan had to admit that even though Brettley was a scumbag, he was certainly a handsome one.
No wonder Alice was willing to give up her old identity and pretend to be Bethan Peterson just to gain his love and affection.
Bethan stared blankly at Brettley, deep in thought, when he suddenly smirked. “What are you looking at?”
His low voice made Bethan jolt in shock. When she finally came to, Brettley had already turned his head around and was looking at her. “Did you get enough sleep?”
Bethan froze for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, I did. “
“Four hours, “
Brettley remarked as he lowered his head to glance at his watch. He curled his lips into a smirk. “What a pig.”
With that, he closed his laptop and said, “Didn’t you say you have something to talk to me about over here?”
Bethan’s mind went blank for a moment before she finally recalled that she had fallen asleep while they were on their way to Swan Lake Residences. She let out a sigh and sat up.
The jacket that was draped over her slid onto the floor. It was then she realized that Brettley had put his jacket over her while she slept.
Brettley glanced at the jacket on the floor and raised his eyebrows. Before he could say anything, however, Bethan quickly picked up the jacket. “I’ll return it to you as soon as I wash it.”
Then, she hastily got out of the car.
Brettley chuckled when he saw how frantic she was and got out of the car himself. Then, they got into the elevator and ascended to Bethan’s floor together.
Bethan clutched Brettley’s jacket tightly in her hands while Brettley stood slightly behind her. Even though her back was facing him, Bethan could still feel his penetrating gaze on her. She immediately straightened up when she realized that.
The atmosphere in the elevator was so quiet that it bordered on suffocating. Fortunately, the silence did not last too long. The elevator soon arrived at Bethan’s floor.
“Bethan?” a startled voice rang out as soon as the doors opened.
Bethan immediately lifted her head. Theo stood in front of the elevator and stared at her in disbelief. “
Aren’t you supposed to be in Sea City? Are you home already?”
Bethan, too, seemed to be in shock. “When did you come back?”
It was Theo who had taken care of her the night she was kidnapped. She had wanted Theo to come with them when they returned to Banyan City, but he told her that he still had some stuff to take care of, so he had to remain in Sea City for a while longer.
That was only two days ago. When did he arrive in Banyan City?
“I came back this morning.”
Theo let out a cough. “
How about you? Why did you come home so soon? I heard something happened to Gwen, so I assumed you would stay in Sea City for a few more days.”
Bethan paused, then glanced toward the elevator. Brettley was still there, his expression as cold and stony as always.
She smiled at Theo but did not say anything more. “
Work has been busy lately, so I came back early.”
Theo suddenly noticed that Brettley was standing behind her. He paused and said, “Well, then, if you’re busy, we can talk next time.”
With that, he circled her and entered the elevator.
The doors slid shut.
Brettley’s brows furrowed as he watched the elevator descend again. “You and Theo…haven’t stayed in touch ever since you left Sea City?”
Bethan shot him a puzzled glance and fished around for her keys. “Didn’t you hear that?”
Brettley narrowed his eyes. That meant that she was not up all night talking to Theo.
Did he…misunderstand her?
Bethan opened the door. When she turned around and noticed that Brettley was staring blankly at her, she frowned. “Come in.”
Brettley fixated his steely gaze on her. “Last night…”
“Stop,”
Bethan interrupted him. “Brettley, I don’t care whether or not you remember what happened last night, but it doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t feel like talking about this with you any further.”
With that, she sat down on the sofa and picked up her laptop. “I have something else to discuss with you.”
Brettley narrowed his eyes, entered the apartment, and closed the door behind him.
“I’m assuming these are your men, right?”
Bethan pulled up all the information that Malcolm had sent her and showed the photos to Brettley.
Brettley’s brows furrowed. “Yes, you’re right.”
However, Brettley had not seen these men in a while since Adrian had requested them to help him ever since he returned to Blue Bay Villa. Adrian’s reason was that he needed them to help him take care of some stuff. Since he was his father, Brettley did not question him any further and instead appointed these men over to him almost immediately.
Brettley did not expect that Bethan would get her hands on these men’s photos, much less interrogate him about them. Nevertheless, he glanced at the screen once more to make sure he had identified the men in the pictures correctly. “What’s wrong? What did they do?”
Bethan let out a sigh, then lifted her head to stare at Brettley. “You should know by now that before I came back to Banyan City, I lived overseas with the children. I raised them all by myself. Malcolm is my friend, and he’s close with Neil and Nellie as well.
Naturally, he found out that Cynthal had almost gotten them killed in the past.”
Brettley gazed at her, his brows still furrowed, but did not say a word.
“The reason why Malcolm is targeting you is that he wants to avenge Neil and Nellie.”
Brettley raised his eyebrows skeptically. “He’s targeting me because he wants to avenge my children?”
Bethan nodded. “Yes, that’s right. He discovered that these men have been protecting and looking out for Cynthal in secret.”
Brettley’s entire body stiffened. He glanced at Bethan incredulously and chuckled. “How is this possible?”
He had listened to Alice’s suggestion and sent Cynthal abroad so that she would have to get by on her own. That woman had almost killed his children. Brettley did not care whether she was alive or dead.
“This is the truth.”
Bethan snickered, then showed him the photos of the bodyguards protecting Cynthal, as well as a few of them getting into a fight with Malcolm’s men.
“The country where you sent Cynthal to just so happened to be Malcolm’s territory. He wanted to punish her to avenge Neil and Nellie , but these men in the photos stopped him. Didn’t you admit these were your men just now, Mr. Morrison?”
She swiped through the rest of the photos on the screen.
Brettley frowned. Adrian had told him that he needed the men to take care of some stuff… Was this what he meant?
Bethan saw that Brettley’s expression had darkened and curled her lips into a contemptuous smirk. “I guess you don’ t care as much about your children as you claim to, Mr. Morrison.
“You said you had sent Cynthal abroad to get by on her own, but in reality, you assigned your men to guard her in secret so that she’d live a comfortable life. Do you call this a punishment? It seems more like a holiday to me.”
Bethan shifted into a more comfortable position and stared at Brettley coldly. “Malcolm was furious when he found out you were secretly protecting Cynthal. That’s why he’s been targeting you lately. He’s willing to risk offending you to get revenge for Neil and Nellie. However, I don’t think this is necessary at all.”
Bethan heaved a deep sigh, then raised her eyebrows and continued, “If you think your ex-fiancée is more important than Neil and Nellie’s lives, Mr. Morrison, why don’t you pass them back to me? I ’11 take them back abroad and resume our lives as we lived in the past. From today onward, you and I won’t have anything to do with each other anymore. How does that sound?”
Brettley paused for a moment, then chuckled.
The entire atmosphere in the room was so awkward that it bordered on suffocating.
Bethan let out a sigh and glanced at Brettley. “I admit that I misunderstood you, but…”
She lifted her head to look at him. “I don’t think it’s entirely my fault. After all, these men were once under you, weren’t they?”
Brettley nodded. “Yes, that’s true, but that’s not what I ‘m talking about, Bethan. “
His gaze never wavered from her face. “You’re Neil and Nellie’s adoptive mother. I’m glad that you care so much about them, but you must remember that ultimately, they belong to Alice and me. Therefore, you have no right to say we don’t deserve to be parents.”
Brettley then smirked and continued, “Take this misunderstanding, for example. I wasn’t the one who sent these men over to protect Cynthal, but even if I did, what gives you and Malcolm the right to target me on behalf of my children?”
Bethan froze at that. She felt as though every joint in her body stiffened, and her blood had turned into ice.
Brettley’s words felt like sharp needles that pricked into her heart.
Neil and Nellie were her children. She carried them in her womb for ten months. However, no one knew that, and at that moment, Brettley looked down on her.
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.