This time, Lyla took a deep breath before quickly answering the call. Immediately, a gloomy man’s voice was heard on the line. “Lyla, it’s been so long since you went back. Did you find yourself a new boy toy? You forgot about me so fast, and you didn’t even pick up my call!”
As soon as Lyla heard his gloomy and ruthless voice, her hand trembled subconsciously. Then, she pretended as though she was cold when she said, “Director Walton, I broke up with you before I left. I hope you won’t call me again. You’re disturbing me.”
“Ugh…” There seemed to be a woman moaning softly from the other side of the phone, and it was coupled with an ambiguous thumping sound. Lyla was very clear as to what was happening over there. Although she felt disgusted, she only bit her lip instead of hanging up. Gideon’s cold voice that sounded discontented rose again. “Disturbing… It looks like you’ve really found yourself someone new. But, what should we do? When you first came to me, this game wasn’t something you could end just because you wanted to. Now that you’ve found someone better, you want to leave? You never asked if I agreed!”
As his merciless voice sounded, Lyla heard that woman crying out in pain too. Her expression changed subtly. Taking a deep breath, she tried to soften her tone. “Director Walton, you promised me that if I followed you, you would make sure to inform your family about our relationship and marry me. But, I was with you for over a year, and you didn’t marry me. Instead, you’re fooling around with more and more women! I love you, but I can’t stand the thought of sharing you with other women at the same time. I’d rather die…”
“You love me?” echoed the man as if he had heard a joke. He went on with his disdainful tone, “It just so happens that I’ll be going back to Bradfort City later next month. I would like to see how much you love me by then!” After saying that, he hung up straight away.
When Lyla heard the beep sound as the call ended, she only felt a chill all over her body.
That gloomy man was as ruthless as the devil. Back then, when she first went to him, she did it partly because she didn’t have a choice and partly because it was a fantasy of hers. It turned out that he would never belong to a woman. Besides, he had this weird kink in bed where he would torture her to the point of death. This was also one of the main reasons she hated Myra so much.
If he’s coming to Bradfort City…
“Who did you just talk to on the phone?” Suddenly, a voice rose. In that instant, Lyla felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. She quickly turned around, only to see Eve walking out from the house without an expression.
She forced out a smile. “Mom, weren’t you taking a nap? Why did you come out?”
However, Eve seemed like she didn’t hear her question. She stared straight at Lyla. “Are you feeling guilty? Who did you talk to on the phone just now?”
“Guilty?” Lyla pretended to be indifferent as she smiled at her. “I was just worried that I would disturb you, so I came out and answered the call. It was a friend from abroad who’s coming to Bradfort City next month and wants to look for me.”
“A friend?” Lyla’s stiffened figure didn’t go unnoticed by Eve when she called her earlier. She twisted the corners of her mouth. “Male or female?”
Lyla noticed the meaning behind Eve’s question, and the smile she barely managed to put on faded in an instant. She returned her gaze and suddenly, she got tired of having to deal with her constant harassment. Faintly, she said, “Mom, don’t you believe me? I’m married to Sean, so I’ll never hurt him. You don’t want to see this family fall apart, do you? It’s tough for Sean to get caught in the middle of our squabbles.”
Eve never paid much attention to Lyla’s words. However, she agreed with her earlier statement. Now that Lyla was married to her son, if the two of them really got into a fight, her son would suffer the most.
To be honest, the reason Eve’s attitude toward Lyla changed recently was due to a chat she had with her friends some time ago at the salon.
After the crisis at the Chase Group, she started hanging out with her friends again. Those rich ladies loved to compare everything between themselves, including their jewelry, their outfits, their sons, and their daughters-in-law. At first, Eve despised that behavior. However, after Sean divorced Myra and married Lyla, somehow, she started to concern herself with what they said. For instance, which family’s daughter-in-law was married to their son with how much dowry, and whose daughter-in-law was the backbone of the project their son had completed. The more she heard about those things, the more depressed she got. Eventually, one of her friends asked her about Lyla.
Eve had no idea if that woman had asked her intentionally even though she knew Lyla’s identity and that she couldn’t do anything to help the Chase Group. Eve was embarrassed by her question. Nevertheless, she didn’t want to lose face in front of them. Hence, she said calmly, “Our Lyla is an acquaintance of the Walton Group and the Hart Group. When the Chase Group encountered some financial issues and couldn’t sell the land in Hilliville, Lyla was the one who got a customer to buy it.”
Immediately, her friends started looking at her differently as they praised Lyla and her luck.
Eve was slightly delighted for a while. Although she wasn’t satisfied with Lyla, she was somewhat useful. Suddenly, she heard one of her friends say, “Wait; didn’t the Hart Group terminate Lyla’s commercial endorsement publicly? They even said that the Hart Group will never find her to endorse their products anymore. How could she possibly be good friends with them?”
At that moment, Eve was caught off guard. Lyla was the one who told her that she was an acquaintance of the Walton Group. However, her relationship with the Hart Group was something she learned from her son. Besides, she didn’t know that the Hart Group had terminated Lyla’s endorsement contract. Or perhaps, she should say that she never cared about her matters at all.
Then, her friends started to agree with that earlier woman, saying that they had heard about that as well.
At the end of the day, Eve was no longer in a good mood. Her friends had been looking at her as though she was lying in order to build some kind of relationship with the Hart Group and the Walton Group. On the verge of flying into a rage, she heard those women criticizing her behind her back when she was in the restroom.
“Don’t you guys think that Mrs. Chase is dumb? How can she let her son divorce the girl from the Stark Family and marry an underrated pianist who only knows how to have fun?”
“That’s right! I call her a pianist out of respect, but she’s merely making a living as a performer. Two days ago, I even saw her shopping for designer clothing and purses in a high-end shop like a country bumpkin. For God’s sake; luckily, my son didn’t marry someone like her! How dare she lie to her mother-in-law that she’s acquainted with the Hart Family? How ridiculous! If she had a good relationship with them, why would she marry into the Chase Family? The one who bought the Chase Group’s land in Hilliville was probably the man she spent a night with, and the price of the land was the amount she got for a night with him!”
“You don’t say! Didn’t she find another man back then because she thought the Chase Group was on its last legs? I heard she found herself a rich man. Perhaps, her years in that circle have expanded her network.”
That last sentence was like an arrow shooting straight into its target; it hit right into Eve’s heart.
In the past, although Eve had warned Lyla to leave her son alone publicly, Lyla had gotten into another relationship a little too quickly. She did it so rapidly as though she already had an affair with that guy. And it was because of what Eve did that allowed Lyla to announce her relationship with him to the public.
