Emily Quest curled her fingers around his. “I heard that you came here with Mom, so I thought I could join you guys… I’m interested in the root carving exhibition too.”Emily had made a fool out of herself during her design competition with Xyla Quest. The scandal was an acute embarrassment for the Sullivan family.Emily’s ignorance drove Bailey Ronson up the wall. She had been treating Emily like an eyesore for the past few days because of that incident.However, Bailey cooled off as time went by. All the good things that Emily had done for her crossed her mind from time to time, urging her to forgive Emily. At last, she offered Emily her hand. “Let’s go then… Let’s have a look at the phoenix over there.”Without hesitation, Emily nodded and held Bailey’s hand, heading toward the phoenix sculpture with Bailey intimately. Tom Sullivan frowned impatiently and followed behind the two of them. “This phoenix is gorgeous! It looks so real!” Emily exclaimed.“Emily, do you like it
Suddenly, Ron Batton and Xyla Quest became the center of attention in the hall. “Xyla, look at how well your in-laws treat you… Tens of millions of dollars are nothing as long as you like the sculptures.”“That’s right. Sir Batton really is a generous man.”“I’d wake up laughing if I were you.”Once again, Emily Quest had turned invisible in the crowd. All the things that the Sullivan family had bought for her were simply insignificant compared to the Batton family’s. Grief thrummed through Emily’s veins when the light around her gradually faded. She would never be able to shine in Xyla’s presence. She had been living in Xyla’s shadow since they were kids, except for the time when Xyla was fat and hideous. Smiling awkwardly at the babbling crowd, Xyla secretly tugged at Ron’s right sleeve and whispered, “Grandpa, why are you doing this? I think they’re nice, but that doesn’t mean I want them…”Ron returned a lovely grin, then inched closer to whisper in her ears. “I kno
Xyla Quest immediately stopped by a deserted corner and leaned against the wall while opening the email. The email consisted of a short paragraph and an audio clip. The paragraph stated, “Have you ever wondered why the Batton family would set you up with Stanley Batton? Aren’t you curious why the Batton family is so nice to you? Click on the audio clip, and you’ll know the answer…”Xyla was too stunned to move. In fact, she had never really understood why the Batton family insisted on her marriage with Stanley.She had always been curious about why her master insisted she got a marriage certificate with Stanley. Nonetheless, she failed to figure out the main reason back then, and she had slowly forgotten about it as time slipped by. Now that she pondered about it, everything seemed fishy indeed…Xyla recalled the day her master gave her a blood test. He did make a very peculiar request immediately after he obtained the blood test result. He said that she had to marry Stanl
Xyla Quest’s depressed face was her favorite view. Why should Xyla be happy when she was not? On top of that, she would be at an advantage if Xyla and Stanley Batton remained locked in a stalemate because it meant that nobody was going to stop her from crushing Xyla anymore. They were sisters. Sisters were supposed to stick to each other through thick and thin. Since she was now plunging into an abyss of despair, naturally, she had to drag Xyla down with her. Imagine suffering alone in the abyss without Xyla’s company. How lonely must it be! Xyla totally did not notice that Emily Quest was staring at her. She kept her head down and replayed the recording over and over again. Every single word pierced through her heart like a spear, rendering her in torment. She sank deeper into her misery as she listened to the conversation for the nth time. The truth was cruel, and the pain was almost unbearable. Xyla’s knees went weak. She felt that her whole body was losing strengt
From that audio clip, Xyla Quest could clearly feel that Stanley Batton did not love her at all. She was the only one who was serious about their relationship, after all. She could not help doubting herself. Did she not deserve to be loved? Did she not deserve to be happy?From Tom Sullivan to Stanley, all the men she met were nothing but trash.As she pondered about it, tears began to pour down her cheeks. Xyla also started wondering about the identity of the person who sent her the email. Why would he or she have a recording of their conversation? Who was that person?While she was lost in her thoughts, she found that she arrived home. Nevertheless, she did not want to step into that house right now. Without further ado, she made a U-turn and headed straight to Silver International Hotel. She wanted to be alone tonight. She needed a few moments of peace to process everything that was happening to her right now. Then, she had to make a decision. ***After Bailey Ro
Her heart broke into million pieces every time she listened to that conversation. “Nice one, Stanley Batton…” she mumbled. Tears rolled down her cheeks in such generous streams. The man had bent over backward these days to keep her around as his blood supplier. He was just pretending to be a good husband all this while. What a good actor he was. If she had not received this audio clip today, she might have been fooled by him for the rest of her life. Everyone else in the Batton family was as horrible as him.She really wanted to ask them how it felt to put on such a wonderful show. Were they not tired of it?Ridiculous. Everything was so ridiculous…Buzz buzz buzz…Xyla Quest’s phone vibrated. The noises of the vibrations interrupted her thoughts. The screen showed ‘Hubby’. She used to be delighted to receive his call, yet the word looked extraordinarily sickening at this moment. She loved him with all her heart, appreciating him for being her perfect husband. Howev
Hanging up the phone, he changed his target and called Georgie Clementine. “Georgie, is Xyla with you?” Why was Xyla Quest acting so weird today? Something must have happened to her. Stanley Batton felt a little uneasy about her disappearance. Georgie was currently at the X Entertainment’s chief executive’s office. She slowly put down the documents in her hands before replying to Stanley, “No, she’s not at the office. Why?” “Nothing…” Stanley was disappointed. Following that statement, he hung up the phone and called Zack Cassidy. “Find out where Xyla is right now.”Stanley then hung up on Zack without waiting for him to reply. He did not notice it, but wrinkles appeared between his brows again. ***After crying for a while, Xyla got up from the sofa and plodded to the balcony. She left the window ajar, allowing a light breeze to flow into the room and cool her face. Suddenly, a fleet of black luxury cars pulled up in the courtyard. A large group of black-clad men got
The black-clad men nodded courteously and answered in unison, “Yes, sir!”Christopher Lancelot took one last look at them before shutting the door. Stretching his long arm, he grabbed Xyla Quest’s wrist and forced her onto the door. He propped his right hand against the door panel while his other proceeded to cup her chin. “Tell me. What happened to you? Hmm? Did Stanley Batton bully you? Did he do something that upset you?” She would not be here alone if she had not had a conflict with Stanley Batton. Her red eyes stabbed his heart. At that instant, he thought Miranda was crying in front of him. “There’s nothing wrong with me. Let go of me.” Xyla dropped her head, avoiding eye contact with him. Once she finished her sentence, she gently pushed him away and returned to the living room, sitting down on the beige sofa. Though Christopher had saved her life before, they were not close, and they did not even know much about each other. There was no point telling him what she h