\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 19\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 19\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucy put her phone away. With her arms crossed, she leaned against the door as she looked at Xyla. \u201cWho are you?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Xyla also shot Lucy a sideways glance. \u201cWho are you?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucy flipped her hair and replied, \u201cI\u2019m her husband.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Xyla snorted, perfectly acting out what pure disdain looked like. \u201cYou\u2019re her husband? Are you\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before Xyla could finish, a biscuit was shoved straight into her mouth, blocking the last word. Then, Scarlet said, \u201cShut up. Go back to your ward. Otherwise, don\u2019t expect any painkillers next time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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!\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlet had always said that the medication couldn\u2019t 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Xyla snapped, \u201cFine. I won\u2019t ask. You\u2019re totally abusing your power to settle personal grudges!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having nothing better to do, Lucy saw that Madison didn\u2019t dare to interfere. So, Lucy walked straight behind Xyla and spun\u00a0<\/p>\n
her wheelchair around.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucy asked, \u201cWhich room is she in? I\u2019ll help you take her back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Feeling grateful, Madison answered, \u201cBed 23!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Xyla shouted, \u201cLet go of me! Do you hear me? If you don\u2019t let go right now, I\u2019ll slap you!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucy shot back, \u201cGo on. Let\u2019s see who slaps harder.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Xyla was livid. \u201cI just wanted to ask her why she married William! I\u2019m just curious! She\u2019s beautiful and outstanding. Why wouldn\u2019t she find a good man? A scumbag like William doesn\u2019t deserve her!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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. \u201cAlright. Let\u2019s go into details.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy has she been clinging to you so much these past few days?\u201d Madison asked in confusion after Xyla was gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlet replied, \u201cShe\u2019s still childish, so she\u2019s curious about everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, we\u2019re all curious about you and your husband. Why keep it such a secret?\u201d another colleague chimed in.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe it was because William\u2019s name had come up too many times, but Scarlet felt irritated. She couldn\u2019t even read the words on the medical report. \u201cBecause it\u2019s nothing to be proud of.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The colleague was taken aback. \u201cWhat\u2019s so shameful about it? Is he ugly?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah. He\u2019s five feet tall and bald. He even has a potbelly,\u201d Scarlet answered without looking up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All the colleagues were rendered speechless.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Scarlet finished her work and went to find Lacy, she found Lucy and Xyla chatting in the ward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Cooper family took Scarlet in, and outsiders keep praising them for being kind. What a load of crap!\u201d Lucy said, spittle flying.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then, she continued, \u201cAfter Scarlet\u2019s parents died, the Cooper family didn\u2019t care whether she lived or not. If it weren\u2019t for\u00a0<\/p>\n
X CLOSE\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 19\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
that journalist exposing it, and they were afraid that they would look ungrateful, they would never have brought her back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re capitalists after all. You couldn\u2019t piece together a conscience even if you added thern all up,\u201d Xyla stated, completely forgetting that her father was also a capitalist.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the Cooper family, only Emily has a sense of decency. I heard she\u2019s religious. Maybe that makes her kinder,\u201d Xyla said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucy gave her a knowing look and shook her head. \u201cShe is religious, but don\u2019t be fooled. She\u2019s no pushover.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has always been very good to me. Don\u2019t talk about her behind her back,\u201d Scarlet said, cutting off their gossip midstream.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The two turned around at the same time. Scarlet didn\u2019t look angry. She stood at the door and called out to Lucy. \u201cHad enough chatting? Let\u2019s go.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, don\u2019t go! You haven\u2019t even finished yet!\u201d Xyla protested, like someone whose movie had been shut off right before the climax.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucy was just as reluctant. After all, as Scarlet\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of want to keep talking,\u201d Lucy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlet questioned, \u201cWeren\u2019t you hungry earlier?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For once, Lucy wasn\u2019t enthusiastic about food. \u201cIt\u2019s fine. Skipping one meal won\u2019t kill me.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you going to eat? Bring me with you! I have to hear the important part today!\u201d As Xyla spoke, she tried to haul her broken leg off the bed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you want to know? Did Nicole send you to spy on me?\u201d Scarlet asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI swear on my left eye that this has nothing to do with Nicole. We haven\u2019t even been in touch for ages,\u201d Xyla said, raising three fingers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to know why you married William back then. Didn\u2019t he like Nicole? No matter how you look at it, you\u2019re the Cooper family\u2019s adopted daughter. What kind of family marries their adopted daughter to their biological son?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlet stood by the door with her coat draped over her left arm. With a cold expression, she said, \u201cIf I satisfy your curiosity, will you stop bothering me?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Xyla nodded. \u201cYes!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAlright. Ask whatever you want.\u201d Scarlet closed the door and walked inside before taking a seat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Xyla blinked, suddenly looking like a well-behaved elementary school student. \u201cI 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?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucy rolled her eyes. \u201cHow is that even possible? You think way too highly of her. She doesn\u2019t have enough brains for that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scarlet paused. \u201cThank you. I feel deeply insulted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why? Because of love?\u201d Xyla pressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of course, it wasn\u2019t. In truth, Scarlet\u2019s marriage to William had been more like a long-running drama.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u2019s sight. However, before she even finished graduate school, the Cooper family was hit by another public relations crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Arthur had a subordinate he trusted a lot, but that subordinate had been bribed by a competitor and leaked Heritage Bank\u2019s confidential information.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 19\u00a0<\/p>\n
3\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Others dug up the death of Scarlet\u2019s father, Ethan Benson, from years ago. They fanned the flames and claimed that he had been killed by the Cooper family as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The PR team came up with what they thought was a brilliant solution, and that was to have Scarlet marry into the family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After walking through the Cooper residence, the psychic concluded that Emily\u2019s lifespan hadn\u2019t ended yet. Nonetheless, the Cooper family\u2019s wealth and prosperity were stained with human lives, and the accumulated karmic debt had rebounded onto\u00a0<\/p>\n
her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The only way to break it was to bring someone into the family whose destiny directly opposed the family\u2019s. By sheer coincidence, Scarlet\u2019s birth chart was a perfect match.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The wealthier the family, the more firmly they believed in psychics. Justine was unwilling to sacrifice William\u2019s marital happiness. She had barely voiced her objection when Emily burst into tears and asked, \u201cDo you want me dead?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Justine couldn\u2019t bear such an accusation. In the end, she clenched her teeth and went ahead with the wedding arrangements.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u2019s control, the public relations crisis was resolved.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
William\u2019s real childhood sweetheart was Nicole. Whether out of protection or for some other reason, William had carefully shielded Scarlet\u2019s information throughout the entire process. Aside from a single, blurry picture from the wedding, her identity remained unknown to the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The people who knew that Scarlet was William\u2019s wife were their close friends, relatives, and those within their social circle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0 Chapter 19\u00a0 Chapter 19\u00a0 1\/3\u00a0 Lucy put her phone away. With her arms crossed, she leaned against the door […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-end-of-the-contractstart-of-his-obsession"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127\/revisions\/153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}