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Lucy put her phone away. With her arms crossed, she leaned against the door as she looked at Xyla. “Who are you?”
Xyla also shot Lucy a sideways glance. “Who are you?”
Lucy flipped her hair and replied, “I’m her husband.”
Xyla snorted, perfectly acting out what pure disdain looked like. “You’re her husband? Are you…”
Before Xyla could finish, a biscuit was shoved straight into her mouth, blocking the last word. Then, Scarlet said, “Shut up. Go back to your ward. Otherwise, don’t expect any painkillers next time.”
Xyla had never experienced someone having her by the throat in her life, and worse, she had no choice but to submit. After all, when her eyes flared up with pain, it was unbearable!
Scarlet had always said that the medication couldn’t be used too often. Every time, Xyla had to be in so much pain that she begged and pleaded before Scarlet would finally show mercy and give her a single drop.
Xyla snapped, “Fine. I won’t ask. You’re totally abusing your power to settle personal grudges!”
Having nothing better to do, Lucy saw that Madison didn’t dare to interfere. So, Lucy walked straight behind Xyla and spun
her wheelchair around.
Lucy asked, “Which room is she in? I’ll help you take her back.”
Feeling grateful, Madison answered, “Bed 23!”
Xyla shouted, “Let go of me! Do you hear me? If you don’t let go right now, I’ll slap you!”
Lucy shot back, “Go on. Let’s see who slaps harder.”
The two argued all the way back to the ward. Lucy tried to get Xyla onto the bed, but Xyla refused and gripped the wheelchair for dear life. Lucy just went full brute force. She hauled Xyla, who was half-disabled, straight up.
Xyla was livid. “I just wanted to ask her why she married William! I’m just curious! She’s beautiful and outstanding. Why wouldn’t she find a good man? A scumbag like William doesn’t deserve her!”
Lucy froze. She lifted a finger and pointed at Xyla twice. She seemed to think that Xyla had good taste. Then, she dragged over a chair and sat down. “Alright. Let’s go into details.”
“Why has she been clinging to you so much these past few days?” Madison asked in confusion after Xyla was gone.
Scarlet replied, “She’s still childish, so she’s curious about everything.”
“To be honest, we’re all curious about you and your husband. Why keep it such a secret?” another colleague chimed in.
Maybe it was because William’s name had come up too many times, but Scarlet felt irritated. She couldn’t even read the words on the medical report. “Because it’s nothing to be proud of.”
The colleague was taken aback. “What’s so shameful about it? Is he ugly?”
“Yeah. He’s five feet tall and bald. He even has a potbelly,” Scarlet answered without looking up.
All the colleagues were rendered speechless.
When Scarlet finished her work and went to find Lacy, she found Lucy and Xyla chatting in the ward.
“The Cooper family took Scarlet in, and outsiders keep praising them for being kind. What a load of crap!” Lucy said, spittle flying.
Then, she continued, “After Scarlet’s parents died, the Cooper family didn’t care whether she lived or not. If it weren’t for
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that journalist exposing it, and they were afraid that they would look ungrateful, they would never have brought her back.”
“They’re capitalists after all. You couldn’t piece together a conscience even if you added thern all up,” Xyla stated, completely forgetting that her father was also a capitalist.
“In the Cooper family, only Emily has a sense of decency. I heard she’s religious. Maybe that makes her kinder,” Xyla said.
Lucy gave her a knowing look and shook her head. “She is religious, but don’t be fooled. She’s no pushover.”
“She has always been very good to me. Don’t talk about her behind her back,” Scarlet said, cutting off their gossip midstream.
The two turned around at the same time. Scarlet didn’t look angry. She stood at the door and called out to Lucy. “Had enough chatting? Let’s go.”
“Hey, don’t go! You haven’t even finished yet!” Xyla protested, like someone whose movie had been shut off right before the climax.
Lucy was just as reluctant. After all, as Scarlet’s one and only loyal supporter, Lucy had been fighting alone for years. Now that she had finally met a kindred spirit, she was itching to drag Xyla fully onto her side.
“I kind of want to keep talking,” Lucy said.
Scarlet questioned, “Weren’t you hungry earlier?”
For once, Lucy wasn’t enthusiastic about food. “It’s fine. Skipping one meal won’t kill me.’
“Where are you going to eat? Bring me with you! I have to hear the important part today!” As Xyla spoke, she tried to haul her broken leg off the bed.
“What do you want to know? Did Nicole send you to spy on me?” Scarlet asked.
“I swear on my left eye that this has nothing to do with Nicole. We haven’t even been in touch for ages,” Xyla said, raising three fingers.
“I just want to know why you married William back then. Didn’t he like Nicole? No matter how you look at it, you’re the Cooper family’s adopted daughter. What kind of family marries their adopted daughter to their biological son?”
Scarlet stood by the door with her coat draped over her left arm. With a cold expression, she said, “If I satisfy your curiosity, will you stop bothering me?”
Xyla nodded. “Yes!”
“Alright. Ask whatever you want.” Scarlet closed the door and walked inside before taking a seat.
Xyla blinked, suddenly looking like a well-behaved elementary school student. “I want to know why you married William. A lot of people say that when he broke up with Nicole, you got him drunk and climbed into his bed. You even took intimate pictures and blackmailed him into marrying you. Is that true?”
Lucy rolled her eyes. “How is that even possible? You think way too highly of her. She doesn’t have enough brains for that.”
Scarlet paused. “Thank you. I feel deeply insulted.”
“Then why? Because of love?” Xyla pressed.
Of course, it wasn’t. In truth, Scarlet’s marriage to William had been more like a long-running drama.
Scarlet had always known that Justine disliked her. After starting college, she avoided going back to the Cooper residence whenever she could, just to stay out of Justine’s sight. However, before she even finished graduate school, the Cooper family was hit by another public relations crisis.
Arthur had a subordinate he trusted a lot, but that subordinate had been bribed by a competitor and leaked Heritage Bank’s confidential information.
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On the day before being sent to prison by the Cooper family, he took his own life out of fear. His wife showed up carrying protest banners and making a huge scene. She even climbed onto the roof of Heritage Bank and threatened to jump.
The incident blew up. By then, the internet was already highly developed, and public opinion was easily manipulated. Someone steered the narrative and accused Arthur of driving his subordinate to death.
Others dug up the death of Scarlet’s father, Ethan Benson, from years ago. They fanned the flames and claimed that he had been killed by the Cooper family as well.
In short, everything was turning against the Cooper family. Although they had enough power to suppress the situation, when it came to public opinion, suppression was never as effective as redirection.
The PR team came up with what they thought was a brilliant solution, and that was to have Scarlet marry into the family.
First, it would instantly dismantle the rumor that the Cooper family had killed Ethan. Second, it would showcase their generosity by taking good care of the orphaned daughter of a deceased subordinate. There was plenty of material there to spin a positive image.
Justine was against it. However, at the time, Emily was critically ill. The hospital issued several critical condition notices. In desperation, Justine invited a well-known psychic to read her fate.
After walking through the Cooper residence, the psychic concluded that Emily’s lifespan hadn’t ended yet. Nonetheless, the Cooper family’s wealth and prosperity were stained with human lives, and the accumulated karmic debt had rebounded onto
her.
The only way to break it was to bring someone into the family whose destiny directly opposed the family’s. By sheer coincidence, Scarlet’s birth chart was a perfect match.
The wealthier the family, the more firmly they believed in psychics. Justine was unwilling to sacrifice William’s marital happiness. She had barely voiced her objection when Emily burst into tears and asked, “Do you want me dead?”
Justine couldn’t bear such an accusation. In the end, she clenched her teeth and went ahead with the wedding arrangements.
Not long after, a beautifully written love story went viral online. It was about William and his new wife. They were childhood sweethearts who had grown up together and fallen in love over the years. Under the Cooper family’s control, the public relations crisis was resolved.
The story was touching, but it was 99% fiction. Only Scarlet knew that she and William were never childhood sweethearts. They were merely strangers who happened to grow up under the same roof due to circumstance.
William’s real childhood sweetheart was Nicole. Whether out of protection or for some other reason, William had carefully shielded Scarlet’s information throughout the entire process. Aside from a single, blurry picture from the wedding, her identity remained unknown to the public.
The people who knew that Scarlet was William’s wife were their close friends, relatives, and those within their social circle.
End of the Contract,Start of His Obsession
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