“Carter, you still dare think so highly of yourself. Since you’ve already thoroughly investigated Nia and me, you should know that I’d never risk my wife’s safety.”
Kendrick walked up to Carter; Kendrick’s eyes blazed with anger despite the biting cold winter snow.
“Truth be told, I’d never wanted to let Shirley go. That’s not all. I’d even locked her in the basement with neither food nor drink for the entire night.”
Carter furrowed his brows. “Kendrick!”
“That woman has developed such a twisted and damaging thing to harm Nia and me. Do you think I’d still be kind to her? Even if I’d truly tortured her, she’d only be getting what she’d deserve.”
“You…” Carter’s mouth set into a hard line, and his eyes glowed with rancor.
“I’m not finished,” Kendrick interrupted Carter coldly, Kendrick’s deep, alluring eyes were more imposing than Carter’s. “If it weren’t because of my wife’s urging, I wouldn’t have even let that vile woman sleep in the villa guest room in comfort. A despicable reprobate like her, who only sees the life of others as experiments, is unworthy of any sympathy.”
A vile woman.
A reprobate.
Upon hearing Kendrick’s description of Shirley, Carter’s fists slowly clenched as the raging flame within him was about to erupt at any moment.
However, at the brink of Carter losing control of his overflowing anger, Niamh suddenly spoke.
“I treated Shirley kindly not because I pity Shirley, but because I pity how she’s being manipulated,” Niamh said while looking into Carter’s eyes, which suddenly had a confused look.
“Shirley is very detestable, and she did many despicable deeds. However, the one who is even more detestable, more despicable, is the one who’s behind her instigating her to commit these deeds. Wouldn’t you say so, Mr. Gray?”
“…”
Carter immediately fell silent.
He knew very clearly that Niamh was referring to him.
That is correct. Shirley had only been following his orders.
If she was a vile woman and a despicable rat, then he would be even worse.
This thought made Carter chuckle.
The white snowflakes fluttered past his eyes, and in that second, it was as though the snowflakes had turned black.
Carter’s elegant face finally revealed a never-before-seen sinister smile.
“Seems that I wasn’t the only ones who have done a thorough investigation. You guys have investigated me thoroughly as well,” he said provocatively, an abnormal chill in his voice. He shifted his gaze to the shattered vial on the ground, then to Niamh.
“Niamh, for the sake of our relationship, I didn’t initially want to see you in so much pain. However, there are no longer any anti-toxoid test reagents, and you guys seem unwilling to release the one who developed the anti-toxoid test reagent. Further, your husband insisted on making me his enemy. I guess you can only resign yourself to fate now.”
With that, Carter turned and left with a carefree demeanor.
Niamh, staring at Carter’s back as he walked away with such finality, felt slightly uneasy.
She felt her chest tightened upon seeing the vial of anti-toxoid test reagent shattered on the snow.
Noticing the changes in Niamh’s mood, Kendrick, whose face was surprisingly happy, held her hand and comforted her.
“Nia, I know you’re worried about me, but your condition is more urgent now. Even if poison inside me were to flare up, it wouldn’t be much of a problem with Adam around. However, it’s a different story for you. Carter would never genuinely give you the anti-toxoid test reagent.”
Niamh could not deny that Kendrick had a point. Nonetheless, she was still fairly upset seeing the shattered vial.
Once Carter had left, Niamh and Kendrick returned to the guest room once again.
Kendrick examined the room’s condition and inspected the puddle of blood.
It was indeed human blood, and judging from the state of which it had dried up, this incident had likely happened not long ago.
“Kendrick, who do you think wanted to kidnap Shirley? What would they benefit from kidnapping Shirley?”
Kendrick, who seemed to be in thought, did not answer Niamh’s question, but instead responded with a question of his own. “Nia, what kind of relationship do you think Carter and Shirley have?”
Niamh pondered for a few seconds and said, “Honestly, I think Carter has romantic feelings towards Shirley.
“You’re saying that Carter has feelings for Shirley?”
“Yes.” Niamh nodded. “That’s what I think.”
“I think so too. Carter doesn’t merely think of Shirley as a pawn,” Kendrick agreed, then his handsome eyebrows furrowed slightly. “I have an idea who is likely to be behind this. This kind of trick could kill two birds with one stone, and there’s only one person who would benefit most from this.”
As Kendrick analyzed the situation, his deep eyes flickered with foresight.
Niamh looked into those eyes and seemed to immediately have some idea what he meant.
‘It seemed that only one person could benefit from this.
‘However, would that person truly be bold enough to do this?’
…
In a damp and dark basement.
Shirley once again woke up from her stupor, feeling a chill all over her body.
Due to her blood loss, her body was lacking in warmth.
Amidst her grogginess, Shirley felt a sudden, dull pain in her stomach.
“Hiss.” She curled up in pain. Through her blurry vision, she saw a woman, who wore a cap and face mask, aggressively kicking her.
“I thought you were dead,” the woman mocked. She then bent down and yanked Shirley’s collar. “Who asked you to get in my way? Let me tell you this. You have yourself to blame for this outcome!” she warned fiercely.
The woman then pushed Shirley away. Prone, Shirley lifted her head with great effort. She tried standing, but felt a fiery pain in her ankles.
Even now, Shirley, feeling neither afraid nor panic, calmly posed her question instead.
“Who… the hell are you? You said I got in your way, but can you at least tell me how I got in your way?”
As Shirley’s voice fell, the woman suddenly yanked Shirley’s collar again in rage and lifted her hand, slapping Shirley’s face twice, without even saying a word.
“Shirley, don’t think that you can get away with this because you now have a bit of talent and looks. He didn’t belong to you before, and he won’t ever belong to you!”
As the woman spoke, she suddenly got up and took a fruit knife from the table at the side.
While Shirley felt dizzy and dazed, she could still clearly see the woman walking over to her, the fruit knife in hand.
The light in the basement was dim, so Shirley could not see the woman’s face. However, she could imagine how malicious this woman’s face would look now.
“What are you trying to do?” Shirley supported herself with both hands and tried her best to move backward.
She was not scared of the torture this woman would inflict on her, but she could not accept sustaining any injuries on her face.
No woman could accept this.
The woman waved the fruit knife and strode in front of Shirley, towering over her as she arrogantly peered askance at Shirley.
“Shirley, I know I can never compare to you in some aspects and I can never replace you. The only thing I can do now is to change your physical appearance.”
After Shirley heard this, she was even more certain that this woman wanted to disfigure her.
She knew if she did not fight back, her face would be atrociously disfigured in her hands.
She could not sit here and resign to her fate.
When she saw the woman waving the knife at her face, Shirley used all her might to push the woman away.
The woman thought Shirley had lost all resistance, so she was completely caught off guard when she was suddenly pushed. She fell to the ground, and the fruit knife in her hand also dropped.
The woman muttered angrily while picking up the fruit knife in a hurry. However, Shirley was even faster than her and was now holding the fruit knife.
Fearing that the tables would turn at this critical moment, the woman pressed Shirley’s hand down and the two of them started fighting.
Since Shirley was weak, the woman managed to trap Shirley under her.
The two of them fought for the fruit knife, and amidst the chaos, the sharp blade slashed across the woman’s palm.
“Ah!” the woman screamed in pain, and at the same time, flames of rage filled her heart.
She snatched away the fruit knife that Shirley was holding tightly in her hand as her eyes turned aggressive.
“Go to hell!”
She held the handle of the knife and slashed the sharp blade across Shirley’s right cheek.
“Ah!”
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.