Chapter 7
He looked me up and down as if seeing me for the first time, trying to find traces of the “Lynn heiress” beneath my bedraggled appearance.
Honestly, I really do look about fifty to sixty percent like my dad. From his gradually clearing gaze, I think he probably never really looked at me carefully before.
“Willa…”
Reed pointed at me in shock, his voice hoarse with the anger of being deceived and a barely perceptible hint of panic.
“You need to tell me what the hell is going on here!”
“Have you been lying to me this whole time?! You’re obviously some rich family’s daughter-why did you pretend to be poor and trick me?! Did you get some sick pleasure watching me make a fool of myself, watching me grovel to you for survival?!”
“And what’s the deal with you and Sterling? Why is he saying you’re his fiancée?”
‘Answer me!”
His tone was full of accusations and grievance.
As if he were the one who’d been deceived and hurt.
But then again, someone as heartless as him probably couldn’t even remember his own two-year fake paralysis scam…
I pulled Sterling’s still-warm jacket tighter around me, finding the man in front of me disgustingly hypocritical.
The day his lies were exposed, the rain had already completely washed away my tears of humiliation, leaving only cold, clear-headed awakening.
‘Reed, your skill at crying thief while being the thief yourself is absolutely masterful.”
‘Who was pretending to be poor? Who was faking paralysis? Who pawned my mother’s belongings just to please his childhood sweetheart? Who spent wo years orchestrating an elaborate act just to get revenge for Sage, enjoying watching me run around like an idiot in the pouring rain, delivering overpriced food for you guys to enjoy-that made you happy, didn’t it?!”
‘Who exactly wronged who here? Can you spell that out clearly?!”
Then my gaze sharply turned to the pale-faced Sage, looking at her now-empty ring finger.
The ones who were really wearing masks and performing, deliberately deceiving, getting revenge, and trampling on someone’s genuine eelings-that was you and Sage!”
My voice wasn’t loud, but every word I spoke hit Reed like a sledgehammer.
And hit every single person who had mocked me square in the face.
‘You’re lying!”
Suddenly, Sage was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, shrilly protesting as she tried to shift focus. She pointed her finger at my nose, her tone vicious.
“Your mom’s stupid ring! Who knows if it was even real! Probably just a fake! No wonder Chairman Lynn kicked you out of the house! You’re just some unwanted…”
“SLAP!”
The crisp, resounding sound of the slap cut off all her vicious speculation.
Sterling withdrew his hand, his eyes like an iceberg, the menacing aura he radiated causing the entire lobby’s temperature to plummet.
“Sage Whitmore, watch your mouth. If you dare disrespect Willa or her mother with even one more word, you won’t be able to handle the consequences.”
Sage clutched her cheek, the burning pain and massive humiliation making her whole body tremble.
Her cronies still couldn’t read the situation clearly, and to defend their leader, they started criticizing Sterling again.
“Sterling, as her brother you should stand up for your sister-how can you hit her over some outsider?”
“Yeah, obviously this bitch was in the wrong first, Sage was just teaching her a lesson for the hotel! And she’s your sister…”
Sterling repeated with dark amusement: “My sister?”
“Isn’t that right? She…”
“STOP!” Sage quickly stopped her friends from continuing to complain. “If my brother hit me, he definitely has his reasons…”
With that, she suppressed the tears in her eyes.
But when she met Sterling’s emotionless gaze, she didn’t dare say another word, leaving only pure venom and fear in her eyes.
Sterling stopped looking at her.
His gaze swept over the millions of dollars worth of spilled liquor on the floor, finally settling on the few cronies of Sage’s who had held me down and shouted the loudest.
Just now, who said they wanted my fiancée to kneel down and lick it clean?”
His voice was perfectly calm, yet absolutely bone-chilling.
Lucia Morh is a passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.