Chapter 168
Lucas took the pendant with delight. The pendant wasn’t anything fancy-compared to the things he usually used, it wasn’t even as good as a freebie. But he loved it.
He thought, ‘See? I know Lydia is the best person in the world, truly deserving of my sincerity. She even remembered to get me a gift when she went shopping, and she’d even saved my life before. She is so much better than Emily.
As that thought crossed his mind, Lucas turned to look at Emily, ready to lecture her again. But when he turned around, Emily was already nowhere to be seen.
Seeing that Lucas stood there for a long moment without saying anything after receiving the gift, and kept glancing back, searching for Emily, Lydia couldn’t help but frown, but quickly masked it with a smile. She asked cautiously, “Don’t you like the gift, Lucas?”
Lucas snapped out of his thoughts and saw Lydia looking at him with a mix of nervousness and anticipation, her eyes tinged with a hint of hurt. All his thoughts vanished in an instant.
He quickly reassured her, “Of course, I like it. I love all the gifts you give me. I’ll go hang it in my new car right now.”
He thought, ‘I will let Lydia know that I will give her my truest heart, and that my feelings for her would never, ever change.’ As he swore to himself with absolute certainty, his eyes and expression were full of unwavering resolve.
He took Lydia’s hand and said, “Lydia, I swear I’ll always treat you right. I’ll protect you for as long as I live, no matter what. You’re nothing like Emily. The way I treated her-she brought that on herself.
“Lydia, trust me, I’d never do anything like that to you. Never.”
Lydia hadn’t expected him to blurt out something like that. She gave him a puzzled look, clearly not understanding what he
meant.
She sneered inwardly, ‘Lately, Lucas had been acting weird all the time. He kept saying he’d never treat me the way he treated Emily, but not long ago, he was still doubting me himself.
‘Sure, I have pulled some tricks on the Bennett Family, but if they really had been strong-willed, would I have ever gotten my way?
‘If even someone like Emily-family for eighteen years-could be betrayed and thrown away, how could I ever believe Lucas would actually treat me well for a lifetime?’
But even though she was thinking all that, Lydia didn’t let a trace of it show on her face. She took Lucas’s hand and squeezed it back. She said, “Of course, I trust you. You’ll always be the person I trust the most.”
Seeing that familiar look of trust and dependence in her eyes, the anxiety Lucas felt because of Emily’s words miraculously faded away.
But those weird things Lucas said left Lydia feeling uneasy inside. She felt that ever since Emily came back from St. Gabriel Reform Academy, things just weren’t going her way anymore-especially with Lucas, the one she thought she had wrapped around her finger.
She didn’t know exactly what was up, but she was pretty sure Emily was behind it. She thought, ‘I have clawed my way to everything I have now-I can’t let Emily snatch it all back.’
As soon as she got back to her room, Lydia took out her phone and called Sofia right away.
Sofia’s voice came through the phone, laced with obvious flattery and concern. She asked, “Lydia, it’s so late and you haven’t
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Chapter 168
gone to bed yet? What made you suddenly call me?”
Lydia replied, “I just wanted to ask, Mrs. Jenkins, have you given any more thought to what we discussed last time?” Her voice was as gentle and composed as ever, sounding like she was smiling, but her face was icy cold and ruthless.
The way she could sound so gentle while looking so cold and ruthless was enough to send chills down one’s spine.
