At that moment, Rachel’s heart was wretched; she had no idea when she’d fallen in love with this man. Perhaps it was at Tina’s wedding banquet, during which she witnessed how he had ignored the rumors and gossip while defending her despite being mad with jealousy himself.
Perhaps it was on the day of her car accident, during which he comforted Rachel by telling her not to be afraid because he was waiting for her. Perhaps it was when he came to her defense and scolded the servants shortly after she married into the Burton Family. Or perhaps it happened even earlier…
When Justin saw how Rachel’s eyes slowly dimmed, he felt as though a corner of an iceberg had suddenly broken into pieces. His heart wrenched terribly, and his hands trembled. “I warned you not to test my limits!”
Gasp! Air suddenly filled Rachel’s lungs the instant the grip on her throat loosened, and she collapsed onto the ground and coughed incessantly.
Meanwhile, Justin strode out in a huff. “I’m going to break his other leg right now!”
Instead, Rachel clung to Justin’s leg with all her might. The latter had broken one of Han’s legs before, so she would never let the same thing happen again.
At the sight of this, Justin grew even more irritable. “Let go of me!”
However, Rachel summoned up all her strength and held onto his leg desperately, she couldn’t let go of it no matter what. Then, with a loud bang, Justin pulled open the door to the villa. The violent storm instantly burst into view, and Rachel, who was clinging desperately onto Justin’s leg, was dragged all the way to the courtyard.
The woman’s knees bled from being dragged across the cobblestone path. Then, Justin seized her by the collar and roughly lifted her up. “Are you even willing to risk your life for this man’s sake?”
Rachel couldn’t make any sound other than a whimper, and she couldn’t explain herself. In Justin’s opinion, the only bonding that could exist between a man and a woman was a romantic one. Please let Hans off.
Hurt suddenly showed in Justin’s eyes as the twinge in his heart made him feel very irascible. “All right, just kneel here if you want me to let him off! The longer you kneel, the longer I’ll spare him!” As soon as he finished his sentence, he clutched Rachel’s collar and flung her onto the cobblestone path with a loud thud.
Ugh… Rachel gritted her teeth hard and slowly got up. Then, she knelt down at Justin’s feet as the ice-cold rain pattered against her face. She could hardly open her eyes in the rain, yet her pallid face wore an
expression that was both vulnerable and stubborn.
Justin slammed the door shut with a loud bang, leaving Rachel to kneel alone in the rain under the pitch-black night.
The night sky darkened, and the rain became heavier. Peals of thunder boomed one after another as if to deliberately keep everyone awake tonight. Just then, a white sedan pulled up in the garage. Julian’s expression changed instantly when he came back to see such a scene in the courtyard. “Rachel…”
The woman was kneeling as straight as a ramrod like a statue. Drenched to the skin by the rain, she seemed to have lost consciousness, but she still gritted her teeth hard nonetheless.
“What are you doing, Rachel? Get up,” Julian urged as he pulled at her, but he couldn’t get her to move.
Just then, Mrs. Duncan hurried out of the house and held the umbrella over Julian’s head. “Young Master Peters, y-you’d better stay out of this.”
Julian glanced in the direction of the study on the second floor, and his face darkened even more. He immediately walked into the house. “Young Master Peters…” Mrs. Duncan hurriedly went after him.
Julian went to knock on the door to Justin’s study, but there was no answer from the inside. “Open the door, Justin! Did you order Rachel to kneel outside? Are you out of your mind? Why do you treat her like this again and again? She is your wife!”
“Julian!” Sue hurried out and grabbed Julian after hearing the noise. “The way I see it, you’re the one who is out of your mind. Why do you keep meddling in Justin and his wife’s affairs?”
“Justin has gone too far!”
“Even if he has gone too far, it’s still a matter between him and his wife. If that mute cannot accept this, she can just ask for a divorce and leave. However, she’s continuing to stay at the Burton Residence despite Justin’s treatment, isn’t she? Has anyone forced her to do so?”
“That’s right, Young Master Peters. Please stop adding fuel to the fire. Young Master Justin won’t listen to
you!”
However, Julian burned with anger upon listening to Sue and Mrs. Duncan’s words. “All right, he won’t listen to me, and none of you are brave enough to get around him, right? Great!” He dashed downstairs, took an umbrella, and ran outside.
“Where are you going, Julian?”
Julian took off his coat and draped it around Rachel’s shoulders as he stood next to her while holding an umbrella. The umbrella wasn’t large enough to cover both of them, and it covered Rachel more than it covered Julian, so it didn’t take long before he was partially drenched.
Sue was heartbroken at the sight of this. As she stood in the hallway, she kept stamping her feet while urging, “What are you doing, Julian? Hurry up and come back!”
“Since Justin insists on torturing people in such a way, I’ll stay with her! Just think of it as me atoning for his wrongs!”
Julian’s words buzzed in Rachel’s ears. She glanced up at him and wanted to say something, but her arms were so heavy that she couldn’t lift them. She could only shake her head weakly at him, signaling for Julian to
go back.
Julian tucked Rachel’s bangs to one side and responded in a mild and yet resolute tone, “It’s all right, Rachel. Even if nobody sides with you in this family, I will stay with you!”
Sue’s head was throbbing with anger. She couldn’t make her stubborn son change his mind, but she didn’t dare to talk to Justin.
Meanwhile, in the study on the second floor, a corner of the curtain was lifted by a large hand. Justin’s cheerless eyes looked down at the figure standing in the courtyard; no one could describe how affectionate Julian looked as he held the umbrella and protected Rachel. At once, Justin flung the curtain away, his face livid.
Just then, the sound of Sue knocking on the door urgently from the outside could be heard. “Please let Rachel come back in, Justin. Even if she has made a big mistake, you can divorce her and let her return to her family as a last resort. Don’t let others accuse us of bullying people.”
However, her words were met with no answer.
Sue continued, “Can’t you change your mind out of consideration for Julian? Just think of this as a favor to me. You know how kind-hearted Julian is. He can’t bear to see this!”
Still, there was no answer from inside the room.
“Justin…” Sue spent ages trying to persuade both Julian and Justin, but she failed to make any of them change their minds. Finally, she plonked herself down in front of the door and wiped her tears.
The rain outside the window showed no signs of stopping until midnight, upon which it was slowly reduced to a continuous pitter-patter of raindrops. When Justin pulled the door open with a loud creak, both Sue and Mrs. Duncan let out a gasp. Their eyes were wide open with fright, and all the words they had originally planned to say froze on their lips.
Justin said in a cold voice, “Tell her to get inside!”
With that, Rachel and Julian were helped into the house by the servants. Both of them were chilled to the bone; the servants wrapped them in towels, but it couldn’t stop the biting cold from freezing their bodies inside out as they were soaked to the skin. “Hurry up and bring the ginger tea over! Julian, hurry up and have some ginger tea to warm yourself,” Sue urged.
Julian took the cup of ginger tea, but he held it out to Rachel instead.
Thanks. Rachel carefully took the teacup from him.
Just then, a servant’s inquiring voice came from behind. “Is this yours, Mrs. Burton?” She was holding a wooden box in her hands. However, the box had gotten so badly soaked by the rain that its surface swelled with signs of chipping. “This box seems to have been soaked through.”
Rachel’s pupils suddenly contracted.
