“Rest well at the hospital. I’ll ask my men to watch your ward 24/7, so you won’t be able to die,” Justin coldly mentioned before he left and closed the door with a loud slam, causing the room to shake a little.
It was pretty soon after that when Jennifer entered.
“Mrs. Burton, why are you still being so stubborn with Mr. Burton?”
Nevertheless, Rachel rested her head on the pillow as she remained silent.
Then, Jennifer rolled up Rachel’s bed and opened the thermal bottle that she brought. “Mr. Burton had someone prepare this chicken soup for you because he said that you’ll surely be hungry once you’re awake. You don’t even know how long you’ve been out cold and Mr. Burton has been guarding your side the entire time. Come on, have some soup.”
Yet, Rachel, who was pale, looked away.
Jennifer sighed. “Why would you torture yourself like this?”
Torture myself? Rachel wanted to laugh when she heard that. Am I the one torturing myself? For the past six months, is the humiliation that Justin brought upon me still not enough? I’m sick of giving up all my pride just to be humiliated. All I’ve wanted is to die but that can only be wishful thinking now.
It was in the afternoon when Amber entered Jefferey’s office with a document file.
“Miss Hudson, the president is still in a discussion. You can’t just enter as you wish.”
“Dad!!!”
The secretary looked anxious as Amber barged into the office while he was in the midst of a discussion with his client. “President, Miss Hudson insisted on entering and we couldn’t stop her.”
A frowning Jefferey apologized to his client, “That’s about it for the contract. I’ll arrange for someone to draft a new version of the contract as soon as possible.”
“Glad to work with you.”
After he sent the client off, Jefferey closed the door to his office and glared at Amber. “You’re getting even more outrageous now. Don’t you know that I was in a meeting? Do you know how bad the consequences are for barging in like this?”
Still, Amber couldn’t be bothered. “Dad, I’m here to ask you something important.”
“What kind of important issues can you have?”
“Did you ask your men to set fire on Somerset Mountain 20 years ago?”
Jefferey was stunned. “Who told you about this?”
“I’m asking whether you did it or not!”
“Probably. What’s wrong?”
“Do you know that the fire almost caused Justin to burn to death? He was kidnapped and brought to Somerset Mountain back then. And because of you, he almost lost his life!”
“Really? That happened?”
Jefferey frowned before he lowered his head to brew his tea.
“Dad!”
Upon noticing Jefferey’s calm look, Amber felt odd before she accused, “Dad, you knew about this all along, didn’t you? You knew everything all along!”
“What’s with that attitude? So what if I do? Who doesn’t know about Justin’s abduction back then when it was so publicised?” He slammed his tea cup on the table. “Does he hate the Hudson Family? He should be hating his kidnappers instead! We are not even related to what happened! When I obtained the permit to develop Somerset Mountain back then, I had every right to do whatever I wanted on that land! How should I know that those human traffickers had hidden him in the mountains?”
“Was that really what happened, Dad?” Amber scanned Jefferey’s face. “Was it that simple?”
“What are you implying?”
“That Grandpa Irwin guy from Somerset Mountain. Why did you bring him over to Riverdale?”
Upon hearing her words, his eyebrows twitched a little. “Who told you about all these?”
“That’s none of your business.” Amber clenched her fists. “Dad, just tell me what you’ve done! Why do you know that human trafficker? Are you related to the case back then…”
She knew that the Hudson Family had illegal deals, which was why she was already imagining the worst case scenario.
Jefferey then slammed his fist onto the table. “What are you even talking about? Are you blaming everything on me just because you wanted to get married to Justin Burton?”
“Dad, I’m already engaged to him. Why are you still keeping it a secret from me?”
“Fine. Since you want to know it so badly, I’ll tell you about it! You’re right; the reason why Justin hates the Hudson Family so much is because of the fire at Somerset Mountain. I know he hates me, and that’s why I never believed that he genuinely helped us out. Because of that, I have done everything that I could to avoid you getting married to him.”
Amber’s face turned pale before she grabbed the couch’s armrest to sit down.
“Still, I never expected Rachel, that pesky betrayer, to actually gain Justin’s fancy after she became married to him. That’s the reason why I asked Irwin to come to Riverdale. I just wanted to remind him about what happened twenty years ago so that Rachel won’t have a chance to escape from us and crawl to the top of the Burton Family.”
Amber was confused. “Dad, I don’t understand. How are Irwin and Rachel related? Would Justin and Rachel’s relationship even be compromised once Irwin arrives in Riverdale?”
“My daughter, you don’t know this. Before Rachel was taken back to the Hudson Family twenty years ago, Irwin was her neighbor. In fact, they were extremely close, so she would surely protect him over Justin!”
Is that so? Amber looked deep in thought. “That doesn’t make sense, though. That wasn’t what Gloria told
me.”
“Who’s Gloria?”
“That’s not important.” She urged anxiously, “Dad, someone told me that the reason why Justin hates us is not only because his life was almost taken by the fire, but the fact that the fire killed one of his friends.”
“Friend? What friend? Somerset Mountain is a rural area and there’s barely more than ten families in the village, so how could he have a friend there?”
“Apparently, it was a girl around the age of 7 or 8. She helped him to escape from the human traffickers and was his lifesaver. However, she died in the fire, so that’s the reason why he wanted revenge on us.”
“That’s impossible. No one died in that fire!” Jefferey denied, “Moreover, the village was where all the human
traffickers gathered together. There’s no one else who stays there besides those human traffickers as well as the kidnapped boy, so where did that girl appear from?”
“How could that be? It was a village after all. Wasn’t Rachel taken from that place?”
Suddenly, Jefferey looked like he recalled something before turning to Amber in shock. “What did you just
say?”
“Huh? I said, wasn’t Rachel…” Amber’s facial expression changed as she trailed off. “Dad, could it be that…”
If what Jefferey had said was true, and no one died in the fire 20 years ago, there was only one family left in the village beside the human traffickers. So, who else could that girl have been?
Despite not knowing much about what happened two decades ago, Amber knew that Rachel’s vocal cords were damaged in the fire and she was brought back from Somerset Mountain by him. How could that be?!
Amber met Jefferey’s gaze in disbelief and saw a similar look of shock in his eyes as well.
The girl whom Justin tried to seek revenge for all these years was none other than Rachel
