My Mute Bride Chapter 39
“Who did he want to kill?”
“Lionel Hudson.”
This name had disappeared in Riverdale for many years. It had been so long that even Arthur was unfamiliar with him, but it was easy to tell that Lionel’s incident was strongly related to Jefferey.
“Jefferey’s older brother?”
Justin nodded. “After the fire, the shares in Jefferey’s hands had increased by more than 130 percent. He became the biggest shareholder of Hudson Pharmaceuticals and took over the company after that.”
Arthur’s gaze became more serious. “Justin, this is the private matters of the Hudson Family.”
The casualties resulting from internal battles within rich and prestigious families were usually covered up pretty well. It was meaningless to recount such a mysterious incident from so many years ago.
Meanwhile, Justin’s tone was extremely cold. “There’s karma in murdering someone. Jefferey should pay the price for this.”
After seeing that it was useless to advise him anymore, Arthur controlled his expression and sighed helplessly. “I’m tired. You may go back first.”
Without another word, Justin left.
After that, the butler came into the room to pour a cup of tea for Arthur.
“Sir, the young master is still young so he is more impulsive. It’s natural that he cannot tolerate the occurrence of such an incident. After all, the fire that year almost killed him.”
Back then, the members of the Hudson Family stopped the Burton Family from putting out the fire. If Justin did not get lucky and escaped, he would have died in that fire.
“Do you really think that it’s because of his own life that he never let the Hudson Family off the hook?” A worried expression shrouded Arthur’s face. “I’m sure that another child died in the fire back then.”
The butler froze. “You’re saying that the young master is doing this because of the child?”
Arthur nodded in response.
Everyone else knew that Justin Burton, the first young master of the family, was a cold-blooded man with a heart made of stone. He would do anything to achieve the greatest profit. However, only Arthur, his grandfather, knew that Justin valued loyalty and decency.
Upon hearing that, the butler sighed. “In that case, this is a tricky matter indeed.”
Ever since Justin returned from the summer villa, he was not in a good mood at all.
In the evening, Rachel brewed a cup of tea and brought it to his study.
However, Justin did not drink tea like how he usually would and neither did he look at her. He just looked at the page in front of him, but he never even flipped it. The frown on his face was quite terrifying
Are you in a bad mood?
Rachel looked at him tentatively.
He shot a look at her and clenched his hands around the page, but he did not reply to her.
She asked worriedly, Is it because your grandfather asked us to have a divorce? If he asks about this again, how do you want me to reply?
She merely wanted to be clear about what he thought, so that she would not make any mistakes that would offend him in the future.
“It’s none of your business.”
After hearing those five cold words, Rachel pursed her lips and took a step back tentatively as she prepared to leave.
Justin’s temperament was changing quite fast and it made her unable to anticipate anything at all.
“Wait.”
His voice suddenly rang from behind her, making her turn around in shock.
With a huge study table between them, Justin was looking at her coldly. His stony expression was accentuated by the ugly scar on his face. As he stared at her with a pair of cold eyes that sent shivers down her spine, anxiety bubbled up within her.
His voice was not loud but it was firm. “Do you hate Jefferey Hudson?”
Rachel’s heart stopped beating for a moment before she shook her head,
Justin’s expression darkened. “Why do you not him? He asked you to take Amber’s place to marry me, and he put you near me just like a chess piece whom he could control. Apart from that, he even threatened you with your family’s life. Why don’t you hate him?”
Rachel’s expression tightened as she clenched her fists.
After a moment, she still shook her head.
Even so, he is still my father who raised me for so many years, and he has given me an excellent education and a life that’s better than the average. Otherwise, with my disability, I’m afraid my life would not be as comfortable now.
“He is also a murderer!”
His cold voice echoed in the room and as Rachel met his red eyes, her heart sank.
What do you mean? Who did he kill?
Justin’s expression became increasingly sullen.
Perhaps the conversation he had with Arthur just now—the first conversation of this topic that included the truth that he had been finding out all these years-or the nightmares that happened frequently because of Rachel’s presence caused that emotion to bubble up within him again.
Presently, he looked at Rachel in front of him. She had a pair of eyes that were very similar to Katie’s innocent, naïve, and pure. It was as if all the adjectives that describe beauty would describe her eyes.
However, Katie was gone forever and the person currently in front of him was a mute, who was also the daughter of a murderer.
Justin swept away the drink that Rachel made with a loud crash. The tea cup fell to the ground and split into many pieces, and the hot water splashed onto her ankle.
“Oh!” she yelped in pain.
“Get out of here!”
She froze. What happened to you?
“Can’t you understand me?” Justin roared, his eyes rather terrifying at this moment.
She took a step backward subconsciously. After a while, she did not care about the pain she felt in her ankle anymore and left in a rush.
She could not imagine the consequences if she stayed for another second longer, for she might be torn apart by the man in front of her.
After she left, Justin walked to the windows and opened them to let the cold air blow on his face. After his depressed emotion was slowly brought away by the wind, he slowly calmed down.
Then, he heard the sound of the door closing in the next room, followed by the sound of the lock clicking
He arched his eyebrows when he heard the sound.
As soon as he remembered the conversation he had with Rachel just now, he suddenly became flustered.
So what if I tell her so much? This mute is just Jefferey’s chess piece! Even if I hold her soft spots against her, it can’t change the fact that she is a member of the Hudson Family.
On the other hand, Rachel sat by the bed for a while as she felt the aftershock.
Through the corner of her eye, she glanced at the grey invitation card on the dressing table.
When she saw that, her heart immediately tightened. Jefferey’s birthday party would fall on the day after tomorrow, and she could not escape the thing that Justin wanted her to do.
The night had fallen, and the Burtons’ summer villa in the countryside was solemn and quiet.
On the balcony on the second floor, Tina was laying down lazily with her phone in her hand. “Grandpa doesn’t like her but Justin insisted on marrying her, so he can’t do anything about it. Amber, I think you should just give up. Justin is a weird person.”
Amber said something on the other end of the phone that made Tina slightly impatient.
“Well, we’ll see about that. It’s getting late now. ‘ll hang up first.”
With that, she immediately hung up and complained, “She’s asking me for help for such a small matter. I’m too lazy to care about it.”
“What’s wrong?” A tall figure walked out from the room. Even though the lights were dim, his handsome face was not obscured.
Tina turned around from the balcony and shrugged. “Nothing much. Amber asked me to attend the birthday party of Old Mr. Hudson. It seems like she still hasn’t given up on Justin.”
“Are you going, then?”
“No. There’s nothing fun about birthday parties. What am I going to do? Watch a bunch of people flatter him?”
The man hugged her waist. “But your father asked me to go.”
“What?” She froze for a moment before returning to her senses. Her eyes lit up as she said, “Then I’m joining as well.”
