Chapter 104
Emily bit back her fury as she leveled her accusation, each word clipped and deliberate.
Lucas remained completely clueless. When Emily confronted him about this, he smugly assumed his scheme had intimidated her into submission.
‘She came to me first,’ he thought smugly. ‘She must be here to surrender.’
Lucas raised his chin smugly. “So, what if I did? Think you can beat me with such cheap tricks-”
Emily’s sharp slap cut Lucas off mid-sentence, leaving his words hanging in the air.
Emily’s fury threatened to erupt from her chest. “If you want to target me, then come at me directly. What kind of coward hides behind the Bennett family’s power to bully the weak?
“You didn’t just ruin their business. You went after their families, threatening even children and the elderly. You’re nothing but a monster.”
Lucas’s eyes widened in shock, frozen for what felt like an eternity. He stared blankly at Emily, his voice trembling with disbelief. “You hit me?”
All his life, Emily had never laid a hand on him. Yet at that moment, she’d struck him for a bunch of outsiders, no less, and even called him a monster. Lucas thought in disbelief.
Emily’s eyes still burned with fury. “I thought you were just impulsive, but had a decent heart. Turns out I was completely wrong about you.”
Emily thought, ‘It wasn’t just Lucas. I’d been wrong about everyone in the Bennett family, thinking they could actually live up to their endless talk of treating everyone equally.’
Emily’s voice dripped with sarcasm and disappointment. “After twenty years of being family with someone like you, you make me sick.”
Furious, she spun on her heel and stormed off, as if even one more second in his presence was unbearable.
Whether stunned by her words or still reeling from the slap, Lucas stood frozen, staring at Emily’s retreating figure for a long moment.
‘Why does she show no appreciation when I’m only doing this for her own good?’ he thought bitterly. ‘If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have leveraged the Bennett family’s influence to target anyone. How dare she say such hurtful things to me?’
Even after giving Lucas a piece of her mind, Emily was still seething.
Emily thought bitterly, ‘Lucas was never cunning enough to come up with such a convoluted scheme on his own. Judging by what he said, it had to be Lydia again, playing the victim while subtly planting poisonous ideas in his
head.’
Without hesitation, Emily marched straight toward Lydia’s room.
As she reached the door and was about to push it open, Lydia’s shrill, furious voice rang out from inside. “Two
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Chapter 104
million? Are you out of your mind? Where would I get that kind of money for you?”
Emily’s hand on the doorknob froze. The fury that had brought her here to confront Lydia cooled slightly. Emily wondered, ‘Someone’s extorting money from Lydia?’
Emily instinctively pressed her ear to the door, straining to catch the conversation inside. But Lydia must have realized her earlier outburst, and her voice dropped to a near whisper.
Emily waited, holding her breath, but all she could make out were muffled murmurs. Nothing distinct came through.
Just as Emily hesitated, wondering whether to stealthily peek inside, the door was abruptly yanked open from within, revealing Lydia’s livid face.
When Lydia saw Emily standing at the door, shock flashed across her face, quickly followed by palpable panic. “What are you doing here?” she stammered, her voice trembling with fear.
Instinctively, her eyes darted nervously around as if afraid someone else might have overheard.
Emily studied her thoughtfully. “This is the first time I’ve seen such an expression on Lydia’s face,’ she thought. ‘Who on earth is demanding money from her?’
