Chapter 82
Chapter 82
Chapter 82: Sweet Revenge
When we come downstairs, there’s already a large group of people gathered in the living room. The center of the crowd is Katherine, who is bragging her diamond ring to a few well-dressed ladies.
So Eason still bought the ring for her? I snap my head back glaring at him. He frowns and whispers back: “I was so caught up by our little argument that I didn’t notice she took my credit card.”
That little bitch!
I puff my chest up and march into the living room. The chattering group lapses into a short silence when they notice the unexpected intruder, me. The cold expression on my face immediately sets everyone on the edge of their seats.
Mom stands up from the seat besides Ms. Griswold (seriously I don’t know how she can stand being in the same room with that woman) and welcomes me, “Natalia where have you been? Come and look at Katherine’s engagement ring. It’s so pretty.”
I ignore her and look straight into Katherine’s eyes. “Give me the ring.”
She sits there holding the ring box with her lips slightly parted. I guess she didn’t expect me to come up to her so forcefully. But she quickly recovers from the shock and says weakly, “What do you mean Natalia? This ismy engagement ring. Eason bought it for me. You can’t snatch it away from me simply because you don’t have one.”
The piteous look on her face wins her a few sympathetic looks from people around us.
Mom is twisting her slim fingers together nervously. She always cares very much how these upper- class people perceive her. “Nat, don’t make a scene. Have some manners!”
“Mom. I got this.”
“But-”
Suddenly, Eason’s voice comes behind us. “I bought this ring for you? How come I didn’t remember any of this?”
He walks through the crowd and stands by my side facing Katherine. He sneers with a hint of mockery, “I think the correct expression would be: you stole my credit card and bought the ring along with some other fancy jewelries without checking with me first.”
A buzz ran through the crowd. Katherine flushes embarrassedly within the muttering around the room. Right at this moment, Ms.
Griswold rises from her seat and interrupts everyone’s discussion sternly, “Eason, you are acting like a child. If you don’t like the ring, go and buy another one for Katherine. She is your fiancé. She doesn’t deserve to be treated like this.”
A few ladies agree her with a nod. Ms. Griswold shots a warning glare at me but I only return her a sarcastic eyeroll.
“It’s not the ring I don’t like,” Eason says coldly. “It’s her. This marriage won’t be happening. I’m officially calling it off.”
Mom lets out a short and shrill cry and quickly covers her mouth. The room bursts into a great deal of mutinous muttering as Ms. Griswold clenches her fists furiously.
Katherine already started to cry.
“Eason! This is not your decision to make!” Ms. Griswold roars viciously, forgetting her upper-class manner temporarily.
“Why!” Katherine sobs weakly. “Did I do something wrong? Please just tell me…”
The living room has turned into a complete mass. And right at this moment, a stern voice comes from the staircase, cooling down the hot discussion downstairs instantly:
“What’s happening here!”
Everyone raises their heads to look. It’s Mr. Ramirez, and Katherine’s father Mr. Booth.
How wonderful is that? Everyone I need has arrived at the scene.
Mr. Ramirez strides forward to us. And then the next second, a hard and hot slap has landed on Eason’s face.
“You shamed this family!” he growls lowly.
I jerk up a bit. But Eason grabs my arms and gestures me to calm down. He raises up his swollen face, looking back at Mr. Ramirez firmly.
“You can slap me, hit me, cut me off, or even take away my family name,” Eason says. “But I’m not marrying Katherine Booth. I won’t spend the rest of my life with a dishonorable person like her and wiping her family’s ass.”
Mr. Ramirez slightly frowns, “What are you talking about?”
I break free from Eason’s grip and step forward. I won’t get him fight our battle alone.
“Katherine and her family are carrying huge debts! They are on the edge of going bankrupt!” I raise my voice, making sure everyone hears me clearly. “Mr. Booth is here! Do you deny it?”
Everyone snaps their head around towards Mr. Booth, who is blushing angrily. He slams his hand against the table and yells,
Nonsense! Shawn, you and I are friends for years! Do you believe my words or this lying little twat-”
“Don’t talk to her like that!” Eason snaps.
I snort and turn to Ms. Griswold, whose face is pale like a piece of paper. “And you, Ms. Griswold. You are dating Mr. Booth. And that’s why you arranged this marriage so that the Ramirez’s money can flow naturally to your lover’s household. This marriage is based entirely on schemes and lies!”
“Liar!” Ms. Griswold screams at the top of her lung, pointing a finger at my face. “You are a shameless liar! Someone gets her out of here!”
“This is my home!” I shout back. “If someone needs to leave, it’s you guys. Call me a liar all you want. But here’s the hard proof!” Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.
I take out that recorder, which contains all our conversations from yesterday, and hit the play button.
Ms. Griswold’s voice flows out from the recorder, “…Do you know what you are facing? We are fucking powerful people. I can stamp you out like a fucking cockroach if I want to-”
“Stop!!!!”
She screams furiously, waving her hands in the middle air like a mad person, her face contorting with rage.
“How dare you! You piece of shit! How dare you recorded it!”
She lunges at me like a crazy lion as if she’s trying to kill me. Eason immediately drags me into his arms to protect me. Yet at the same time, another person wraps around her arms around Ms. Griswold’s waist and tackles her to the ground.
My mom sits on top of Ms. Griswold, pining her hands to the floor. “Don’t touch my daughter!”
Mom?? I’m stunned. I’ve never seen this aggressive side of her.
“Alicia!” Mr. Ramirez hurries forward and helps her up. “Are you alright?”
Mom grabs his collar with shaking hands,
She attacked my daughter! Under my roof! I -I won’t allow it!”
“Guards!” Mr. Ramirez raises his voice.
Almost instantly, a few bodyguards rush into the living room and contains Ms. Griswold forcefully.
“Shawn Ramirez!” the crazy woman struggles violently. “Let me go! Or I swear to god, everyone will hear about this tomorrow! The scandal will fly across town like a rocketship!”
“The scandal is already out there, and you caused it,” Mr. Ramirez says in an expressionless voice.
He turns around facing all guests, “My dear friends and family, I’m sorry for you to see this. But there are some family disputes that
I need to settle first.”
Most people are too shocked to say a word.
And some of them are eager to see more dramas.
Mr. Ramirez looks around the room, his icy eyes traveling pass Ms. Griswold’s face, and eventually fixes his gaze on Mr. Booth, who is sweating like hell right now.
“I won’t ask you about the debt,” Mr. Ramirez slowly speaks up, “because I’ll look into that myself. Just answer me this. Did you gang up with anyone else to steal Eason’s inheritance?”
Mr. Booth gulps, breathing hard. It seems like he is melting down there.
I almost feel sorry for him. It takes a lot of guts to handle the pressure from Mr. Ramirez. And apparently, this man doesn’t have any.
Eventually, he falls apart and mutters lowly,
“…yes.”
“Pfff!” Ms. Griswold spits at him, “You weak wuss! Why did I choose you?! You got no spine!!”
“It isn’t my fault!” Mr. Booth yells back. ” You know Shawn. He will find out everything eventually! I’ve told you. This is a terrible idea to begin with-”
“Enough.”
Mr. Ramirez waves his hand dismissively, looking disgusted. “Guards, get them out of here.”
His bodyguards pull Ms. Griswold up from the floor and drag her to the front gate, despite her violent kicking, biting, struggling and cursing. They dump her on the snow ground outside. Mr. Booth runs like a rat. He doesn’t even need anyone to escort him.
When bodyguards come to Katherine, she clings to the chair like a sloth and refuses to be removed.
“No! No please! Don’t kick me out!” she screams and cries like a baby. “I didn’t know any of their plans! I love you Eason! Trust me!!”
I stand in front of her, looking down at her pretty face being smudged by tears and snots. She used to be a lively girl with a pleasant personality. But everything has changed.
“Cut the crap.” I grab her hairs forcing her head up and snatch the ring box from her. ” You don’t love him. You don’t even know his middle name. You are only after his money.”
She bursts into a desperate meltdown and still refuses to let go. Eventually the guards have to take her along with the chair and throw them outside. It’s an ugly mess.
“So…” Eason stands close to me, whispering beside my ears. “Do you know my middle name?”
“Not yet,” I giggle. “But I’ll hear you say it when you say your vows.”
We look at each other and laugh out together. A sign of victory is dancing in both of our eyes.
“Here is your ring,” I hand him the ring box.
He takes it and tosses aside like a piece of trash. “It’s tarnished. We’ll get a better one later.”
What! It’s a million-dollars ring! He has to get over his lavish lifestyle.
Yet before I get to scold him, Mr. Ramirez’s voice comes behind us, “Eason and Natalia. Can I see you both for a minute?”
Oh crap.
“Shawn,” mom looks at us nervously. “We still have guests here. Can’t this wait?”
“Don’t worry. This won’t take long. Stay here with our guests and we will be right back.”
With that said, he turns around heading upstairs to his study.