“Shut up!” Clayton shouted.
Valerie looked completely indifferent as she flipped her dry hair. She was determined to keep going. “You must be so full of regret right now. You regret going on that business trip to Haldenwick, regret meeting me there, regret taking my case and bringing me back here.
“Clayton, you owe me all of this. My father saved your father’s life, so you should take care of me for the rest of my life.”
“Your father was going to die anyway. It didn’t matter if it was sooner or later–he was a dead man either way,” Clayton snorted.
“What did you just say? Say that again,” Valerie roared. She lunged at Clayton, clawing at his face.
Clayton fell backward, and they both tumbled to the ground in a heap. Luna was terrified and ran away.
“Clayton! Say it again! I dare you to say it again!” Valerie hissed.
“I’ll say it as many times as you want. He was dying either way, sooner or later. Before he died, he donated his kidney to my father, and you people even got paid for it.
“You and your mother are ungrateful. You’ve turned my family’s life into complete chaos,” Clayton said coldly.
“The chaos was caused by Audrey. She’s the one who wanted the divorce. The Patel family fell apart because you people were corrupt and taking bribes.
“And Riley is an absolute idiot. She’ll do whatever anyone tells her to do. You’re supposed to be a lawyer, her uncle, and she doesn’t have a clue about the law. She deserved to be ruined.”
Clayton had originally just been holding Valerie’s hands to stop her from scratching his face, letting her kick him a few times without fighting back. After all, he was a grown man and couldn’t bring himself to hit a woman.
But when Clayton heard her spill the truth, his head started buzzing and his adrenaline shot through the roof. His principles about not hitting women flew right out the window. He yanked his hands away violently and stared at Valerie with blazing eyes.
“Alexa said you were the one who manipulated Riley, and I didn’t believe her,” Clayton hissed. “Turns out it really was you. Riley trusted you completely. How could you hurt her? She’s only thirteen years old. What kind of monster are you?”
Valerie got thrown into the landscaped area, and everything spun around her. She sat up slowly, her whole body aching, and spotted a long–handled broom that a maintenance worker had left in the bushes. She grabbed it and went after Clayton.
“What gives you the right to hit me? Your Patel family owes my dad a life. What gives you the right to hit me?” Valerie shrieked.
Clayton backed away as she chased him into a nearby garden, taking a couple hits on his back before he spun around, grabbed the broom, and aside. He covered his face with his hands and crouched down in anguish.
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Clayton couldn’t accept what had happened. ‘How did I, someone who used to have dignity and class, end up brawling with Valerie in the street like some common thug?‘ he thought.
This wasn’t how things were supposed to be. Clayton thought he should have been sitting in a high–end office building, doing meaningful work to seek justice for the vulnerable. ‘How did I end up here?‘ he thought.
Valerie was exhausted from the fight and sat down heavily on a nearby stone bench, breathing hard. She had hit him, screamed at him, and said everything she could think of–both things she should have said and things she shouldn’t have.
Given her current situation, Valerie needed a long–term meal ticket. Without one, she couldn’t even maintain a normal life, let alone medical treatment. Clayton was her only option, and she had to hold onto him at all costs.
Valerie’s voice softened as she spoke, “Clayton, we’ve already reached this point. You could beat me to death or i could beat you to death, but we can never go back to how things were.
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“Let’s just try to make a good life together from now on. I won’t be so materialistic anymore, and you need to stop being so arrogant. If we work together as husband and wife, we can make this work.”
After saying this, Valerie walked over and patted Clayton’s back.
Clayton twisted away from her touch and pushed himself up from his knees to stand. His voice was hoarse. “You can live your life in prison. I’ll take good
care of Luna.”
‘Live with Valerie? Not even for one day. Stay the hell away from me,‘ Clayton thought. Every time he looked at her, he remembered that the Patel family’s current mess was entirely her fault.
Valerie had schemed against him and driven Audrey away, but then she hadn’t even cherished their marriage. To keep him tied down, she had cheated and picked up some disgusting disease.
If Clayton hadn’t discovered it in time, he might have been raising someone else’s child and caught her infection too.
Clayton despised Valerie now, but honestly, Valerie had no respect for him either.
A perfectly good law firm was gone–John got arrested for embezzlement, and Wyatt had somehow pissed off the wrong people and got transferred to some dead–end department in the middle of nowhere.
Clayton had donated bone marrow and turned into a walking health disaster. If Valerie and him actually ended up living together, who knew who’d be taking care of whom. But right now, Clayton was the only option she could grab onto.
‘Might as well stay with him while I look for another sugar daddy,‘ Valerie thought. ‘It’s not like I’m going to let myself starve.
Valerie felt disgusted inside, but her face showed nothing but gentle devotion. After all, playing pretend was what she did best.
“Luna is my biological daughter. There’s no way a child should abandon her real mother for a stepfather. Besides, Luna can’t live without me,” Valerie said sweetly, turning to Luna. “Luna, isn’t that right?”
But then, she realized that Luna was nowhere to be seen. “Luna? Luna. Luna’s gone!”
Clayton’s head snapped up as he looked around frantically. Everything had been so chaotic that he couldn’t even remember when he’d let go of Luna’s hand. He and Valerie searched along the street, never imagining that Luna had run back into the hospital.
Luna felt an unspeakable terror toward Valerie. She had witnessed firsthand how ruthless Audrey could be when dealing with Valerie. So in her mind, when Valerie lost control, only Audrey could handle her.
The moment Clayton and Valerie started fighting, Luna turned and ran straight back into the hospital.
Luna weaved through the crowds of people, using her memory to navigate toward the parking garage where she’d last seen Audrey.
Audrey had already left, but Luna didn’t know that. She went from car to car, searching desperately but finding nothing.
Just when Luna was getting frantic and didn’t know what else to do, she suddenly spotted Hardy walking out with Edward. ‘Those two people know Audrey,‘ she thought.
“You won’t listen to me, but you should at least listen to the doctor. Keep the medicated patches on and make sure you stay warm.” Edward nagged on and on.
Hardy remained silent.
Edward continued, “Maybe we should skip today’s livestream? I can explain to your fans.”
Hardy was about to wave him off when a little girl suddenly threw herself into his arms.
Edward’s eyes went wide with shock. “No way. Are your fans really this young now? Oh my goodness.”
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Hardy shot him an annoyed look and glanced around searching for Luna’s parents. “Hey there, little one. If you can tell me War Eagle’s best record, I’ll give you some merch, okay?” Hardy crouched down and pulled out a keychain to entertain the child.
War Eagle was Hardy’s gaming name in the esports world.
Luna couldn’t understand what he was saying, but she stared at the keychain in his hand. It had a pretty plastic figurine attached to it. When she’d gone to KFC with Audrey, some kids who bought Happy Meals got similar keychains as toys.
Seeing her focused on the keychain, Edward got more playful. “Okay, how about this? Tell me who’s more handsome, him or me? Answer that and the keychain is yours.”
Luna tilted her head up to look at Hardy.
Hardy didn’t see any adults nearby looking for a lost child, so he looked down at her. The two of them locked eyes.
Hardy’s face showed no expression at all. It was as cold and lifeless as stagnant water. Not only would children find him unapproachable, but even women who were attracted to handsome faces couldn’t feel any warmth toward him despite his good looks.
Edward was confident that Luna would choose him.
AD
