“I don’t want to play with you! How could you treat my little brother this way?”
Little brother? Justin was shocked.
Rachel was also astonished.
Holding on to the music box, Charlotte complained loudly, “This is the first time that my little brother is gifting me a music box, yet you broke it! You’re going overboard again and again!”
Stunned, he asked, “Charlotte, you’re angry because of this?”
“Why else would I be angry? Besides, you guys never told me I had a brother!” She cried as her voice grew louder and her shoulders trembled in anger.
At that moment, Samuel wiggled out of Rachel’s arms and ran toward Charlotte to hold her hand. Like a little adult, he consoled her, “It’s alright. I’ll get you a new one, so don’t cry, okay?”
Seeing this, Rachel was filled with mixed feelings.
Unlike the complicated thoughts of adults, the hearts of children were so pure.
In the end, it was Samuel who managed to calm Charlotte down. However, there was still a look of disdain in Justin’s eyes as he watched them bitterly.
Then, Frankie brought the two children from Justin’s office to the lounge to have some snacks, leaving Rachel and him to face each other.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know Samuel would come.”
“Do you think that an apology can undo what you have done?”
He continued with an icy tone, “Well done to you and your son for targeting Charlotte.”
Hearing this, she furrowed her brows. Though everything could be explained, she chose not to say too much.
“I’ll get someone to pick him up. He won’t be staying long.”
“Whatever.”
After saying this, he turned to look at his laptop and ignored her.
Right after she came out of the office, she called Jolly, yet no one picked up. Perhaps she had gone somewhere to have fun.
Just as she was about to enter the elevator, her phone vibrated in her pocket. Initially, when she answered the phone, she thought that it was Jolly, but was met with a strange yet familiar voice.
“Rachel.”
Jefferey’s voice had not changed at all even after five years. He always spoke to her harshly and arrogantly. “Where are you now? I want to see you.”
She clenched tightly onto her phone before calming down a moment later. “Sure, but I’m not free right now. Let’s talk after I’m off from work.”
It seemed that he did not understand what she was saying. With a low voice, he told her, “I’ll be waiting for you at the café beside the Burton Group in half an hour.”
Half an hour?
She sneered as she looked at her watch.
An hour and a half later, she finally went down to the café slowly after seeing more than ten missed calls on her phone.
When she reached, she recognized him almost immediately.
Unsure if it was just an illusion, she felt that he had aged quite a lot seeing that the gray hair on the side of his temples had turned completely white. He also looked very haggard.
Even so, he had a stern look plastered on his face the moment he set his eyes on Rachel. With a grim expression, he chided, “You made me wait here for one hour!”
Unaffected by his behavior, she replied calmly, “It’s just one hour. There are people who wait for a day even after making an appointment to meet me. I’ve already made an exception for you.”
“What appointment?” His face went livid. “How could you associate me with them? I’m your father!”
As he was speaking, he looked at her from head to toe. “Don’t try to act so brazenly now that you’ve got your mutism cured. No matter where you go, you still have to come back to Riverdale, to the Hudsons.”
“You came all the way here just to tell me this?”
Then, his eyes darkened as he remembered what he had come for. “Were you the one who posted the article about Amber?”
Rachel wasn’t surprised at his reply as she had already expected it. “No.”
Indeed, it was not her but Jolly who posted the article.
“Who would post things like that if not you? Who else would know so much besides you?”
“What are you trying to say?”
Just as she spoke, he stood up and roared, “What kind of attitude is this? Delete it if you were the one who posted it. Come to me if you have any resentments against me. Why are you taking it out on your sister? She’s marrying Justin soon.”
“What does her marriage have to do with me?” Her fingers circled her cup. Then, she reminded him faintly, “Anyway, she was supposed to marry Justin six years ago, wasn’t she?”
Upon hearing this, he froze.
“Wasn’t the perfect younger daughter of the Hudsons supposed to marry him?”
“You’re clearly back for revenge.” His face darkened immediately. “I’m warning you. Don’t do anything to hurt Amber. Otherwise, don’t blame me for disregarding our father-daughter relationship.”
“What father-daughter relationship have we got?”
Giving him a cold glare, she continued, “For many years, I’ve always wanted to ask you how my mother actually died.”
Suddenly, she stood up with a stern expression on her face. As she got up, the chair scuffed against the floor and made an ear-piercing sound.
Everyone in the café turned to glance at them displeasingly.
At that moment, he looked as though he had seen a ghost. Gazing at him, she spoke calmly while stirring her coffee, “Don’t worry. Even if you did kill my mother, the statute of limitations had already run out. What are you afraid of?”
Twenty years have passed, so nothing would happen to him even if there was sufficient evidence now.
This was the main reason why she was so heartbroken.
“What nonsense are you talking about? Who told you this? Was it that damned old hag?”
Clank! She dropped her spoon all of a sudden which made a sharp metallic sound when it touched the wall of the cup.
Staring daggers at him, she warned, “Say one more word about Grandma, and I can assure you that the criticisms of Amber online will be so great that you won’t be able to do anything!”
“So, you’re admitting that you did it, aren’t you? Amber’s your sister. How could you do this to her?”
“Why didn’t the fact that we are sisters cross her mind when she spread the rumor of me having an illegitimate child? And why did you turn a blind eye to it then?”
“I didn’t know you’d come back!”
“Oh, stop pretending! I wouldn’t have left Riverdale for five years if you really treated me like your daughter. What kind of sister behaves like Amber and treats me this way? So, don’t try to tell me that you’re my father.”
“Or perhaps, I should call you Uncle Jefferey?” She gave him a cold glare.
He narrowed his eyes in disbelief.
“You… What are you talking about? Are you crazy?”
“You know very well what I’m talking about.”
“Do you remember everything that had happened when you were a kid?”
“What do you think?” Her lips lifted into a sarcastic smile as she adjusted her sunglasses.
