Filed To Story: The Scarlet Vengeance: Justice of a Framed Beauty Novel (Grace & Jason)
“Lina, are you okay? Did anything happen last night?” Grace asked with concern.
Lina was ashamed to tell her that ‘something’ had actually happened!
“What exactly happened yesterday?” asked Lina.
“Jay and I were supposed to send you home yesterday, but you insisted on calling Anthony Sherman. But you ended up calling Hadwin Stephenson instead. So, uh… After he came, he said he would send you home.” Grace told Lina about what had happened in the private room yesterday.
Lina got even more speechless as she listened… ‘How… embarra**ing!
‘I.. was the one who called Hadwin Stephenson! I… also hugged Hadwin Stephenson in front of others and… seemed to have flirted with him?
‘Sure enough, I get into trouble every time I drink! Every time I run into Hadwin Stephenson after drinking, I’d force myself upon him.
‘Of course, since I was the one who forced myself upon him, that means he’s the victim!’
“Lina, are you okay? Did Hadwin Stephenson send you home safely yesterday?” asked Grace.
Lina could only mumble, “I’m fine. I’ll talk to you later.” With that said, she hurriedly ended the call.
Then, Lina called home. It was her mother who answered the call.
However, to Lina’s surprise, she did not get an earful from her mother. “Mom… I-I didn’t come home last night because…”
“I know why. Your colleague called, saying the design office had an urgent a**ignment and they tasked you to produce the blueprints. Are you done with the a**ignment? Did you sleep in the office? Or are you coming home in the morning to catch up on sleep?” Mrs. Sweeney asked with concern.
Lina hurriedly said, “Uh… I did get some sleep. I… won’t be going home yet. I still have something to do in the office. I’ll go home after work.”
Lina was relieved after the phone call with her mother.
Her family was not suspicious that she did not go home last night. ‘But… colleague?
‘Hadwin Stephenson probably had someone pose as my colleague and made that phone call.’
Lina packed up her things with mixed feelings. When she walked downstairs, she saw Hadwin Stephenson sitting at the dining table as he looked at her. “Come have breakfast.”
She said, “No thanks. I… I’m going to work. And where are the clothes that I wore yesterday?”
“I had someone wash them,” said Hadwin Stephenson.
“Then… please deliver them to me after. Just deliver them to my house. I’ll send over the clothes I’m wearing after I wash them,” said Lina.
However, her voice grew quieter under his gaze, and his eyes turned cold when she finished speaking.
“What’s the matter? After what you did to me last night, you can’t wait to get away from me?”
“I…” She bit her lip and said with a look of embarra**ment, “It was… an accident last night. I was drunk, and I have no idea what I did. Well… Men don’t have much to lose, right? Let’s just pretend nothing happened.”
His face seemed to be covered with a layer of gloom. “Nothing happened? Okay. Good for you, Lina!”
He got up and approached her. “How do you know I’ve got nothing to lose? Do you know what it feels like to give someone hope only to take it back from them afterward?”
She froze and awkwardly stumbled backward as he continued to move closer and closer.
She lost her balance and fell to the floor.
He stared at her condescendingly. “Lina, I can’t pretend nothing happened! You forced yourself on me last night. Are you trying to get away without taking any responsibility again?”
Her face instantly went red.
She knew that the word ‘again’ referred to how she had a drunken pa**ionate night with him and left the next day.
However, she later got together with him when he found her three years later. Now… she was not the same person she was, and he… was not the same person he was too!
Lina did not know how she walked out of Hadwin Stephenson’s mansion. She stumbled into a taxi and went back to the design office.
She worked as usual.
However, different thoughts clouded her mind.
A colleague exclaimed, “Huh? Lina, this outfit you’re wearing is from X’s latest collection. Gosh, I’ve seen the clothes in a magazine, and they’re worth over 300,000 bucks!”
Returning them to him herself meant she had to see him again!
Lina wanted to wail at the thought of this. It would be so awkward to see him again, but she… dared not throw clothes that cost hundreds of thousands of bucks into the trash can.
‘It’s just one more time anyway. I’m never letting myself get drunk again!’ she told herself.
Hadwin Stephenson sat at his desk in the president’s office of Stephenson Group. He rubbed his fingers on a photo of a person who was seen smiling.
Hadwin Stephenson murmured, “Lina… Tell me, is what I’m going to do worth it?”
The office phone rang, and the secretary’s voice sounded. “President, Miss Jackson wants to see you.”
“Okay, let her in,” Hadwin Stephenson said indifferently. There was no trace of surprise in his tone as if he had been expecting Katherine Jackson.
Katherine Jackson walked into the president’s office and saw Hadwin Stephenson sitting comfortably on the couch. He looked as composed and elegant as if everything was already under his control.
‘How could I have thought he was easy to handle?’ Katherine Jackson orice again lamented for being so naïve.
“Hello again, Miss Jackson,” Hadwin Stephenson said indifferently.
Katherine Jackson took a deep breath. “You figured I’d come to you, didn’t you?”
“There’s no one else you can turn to, is there?” asked Hadwin Stephenson.
Katherine Jackson gritted her teeth in hatred. “I’m here to make a deal. I want to sell the rest of the Jackson family’s a**ets to you at a reasonable price.”
Hadwin Stephenson sneered. “What’s the matter? I’ve already allocated a sum of money to the Jackson family as agreed. Miss Jackson, are you trying to leave me to clean up the Jackson family’s mess after failing to make a comeback?”
“Just tell me if you’ll buy them. It’s a good opportunity for you to expand the Stephenson family’s business. It’ll do you no harm if you buy over the Jackson family’s a**ets.”
“I can choose to buy or not buy them. Even if I don’t, I still have ways to expand the Stephenson family’s business. The Jackson family will probably end up in bankruptcy then,” said Hadwin Stephenson.
No matter how much Katherine Jackson hated it, she knew what Hadwin Stephenson said was true. “I can remove the blood curse on you. Otherwise, you can never be with Lina. If you buy the Jackson family’s a**ets at the price I offer, I’ll help you remove the blood curse!”
She knew Hadwin Stephenson was just waiting for her to say that.
Sure enough, Hadwin Stephenson looked at her and said with his thin lips, “It’s a deal!”
How generous. He did not even bargain with her.
Katherine Jackson was relieved but also filled with disappointment.
Hadwin Stephenson agreed. He went through so much trouble to set all of this up, waiting for her to offer him this so he could be with Lina.
Hadwin Stephenson was a terrible man. He calculated every step he took and was meticulous.
Katherine Jackson did not even have to ask Hadwin Stephenson if he was afraid of her going back on her word and refusing to get rid of the blood curse for him.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.