novelraw Chapter 301 - 302: Returning the Bride Price
Chapter 301 - 302: Returning the Bride Price
Chapter 301: Chapter 302: Returning the Bride Price
Sienna Johnson had dispatched Lucas Robertson to Abyanabad to investigate Adrian Desmond’s affairs, but Lucas Robertson had not yet returned, nor had he even called. Consequently, she knew very little about Adrian Desmond’s situation.
"What exactly are you trying to say?" Sienna Johnson’s patience wore thin; she didn’t want to exchange another word with this woman.
"Adrian Desmond is mine! Stay away from him!" Melanie Carpenter sounded like a mother animal fiercely protecting her young, her tone dripping with hostility.
"Melanie Carpenter, what are you afraid of?" Sienna Johnson detected the insecurity in her voice and chuckled.
"I’m not afraid of you!"
"If you’re not afraid, then why are you calling me? It’s been four years. Haven’t you managed to win Sixth Master’s heart yet?"
Sienna Johnson found Melanie Carpenter to be a pitiful, tragic, and lamentable woman; she had even slit her wrists in a suicide attempt for a man.
Love ought to have dignity. From the moment Melanie Carpenter used suicide to coerce Adrian Desmond, her image was utterly ruined. Even if she played the part of a dutiful wife and an innocent, pitiable victim now, she would no longer win his affection.
Actually, four years ago, she too could have used suicide to pressure Adrian Desmond. With her intelligence, if she had wanted to play that game, she could have done it far better than Melanie Carpenter.
"Melanie Carpenter, ask yourself, do you truly love Adrian Desmond? If you genuinely loved him, you wouldn’t have used suicide to force him. This kind of love, coerced through threats of death, is so vain, so selfish, so cruel..."
That was why, four years ago, when Melanie Carpenter used suicide to pressure Adrian Desmond, Sienna Johnson hadn’t... She didn’t want Adrian Desmond to be caught in a difficult position between two women.
She disdained such tactics!
Melanie Carpenter lost control of her emotions, screaming hysterically at Sienna Johnson, "Mai, didn’t you leave? Weren’t you supposed to have disappeared? Why did you have to reappear? Why?!"
"Stop yelling at me, both of you! If you two have problems, can you please sort them out privately, behind closed doors? I am not your punching bag!"
Adrian Desmond had already yelled at her in the hospital room, and now Melanie Carpenter was yelling at her too. Who did they think they were?
"Mai, since you left, you should never have come back! If you dare to stay, I’ll find someone to kill you and that little bastard you bore!"
"Melanie Carpenter, you’re a mother yourself! I implore you, accumulate some good karma for your son!"
Curly was Sienna Johnson’s precious child. Melanie Carpenter cursing her Curly like that thoroughly infuriated Sienna Johnson.
"You should accumulate some good karma for your daughter too! Stop flirting around all day! Be a good role model for her, so she doesn’t grow up to be shameless like you, relying on her pretty face to seduce other women’s fiancés and destroy their happiness! Mai, you’ll suffer retribution!"
Sienna Johnson felt like she was going to be angered to death. "Melanie Carpenter, you know perfectly well what kind of man Adrian Desmond is. Whether I seduced your fiancé or your fiancé shamelessly imprisoned and raped me—you know the truth in your heart!"
"..."
"Stop always playing the victim! I’m a victim too! Neither of you ever asked me if I was willing!"
She had loved Adrian Desmond, yes, but had he ever given her the right to say "no" back then?
"Melanie Carpenter, take your man and hurry back to Abyanabad. Even if every other man in the world dropped dead, I would never like him again!"
Sienna Johnson angrily slammed down the phone, her good mood for the day utterly ruined by Melanie Carpenter’s inexplicable call.
"Adrian Desmond, you bastard! You can’t even handle your own woman, so you both come to bully me!" She pounded the table, venting the fury in her heart.
Being treated as a homewrecker, blamed by the original wife—it was an unbearable feeling. Sienna Johnson’s face was like the gloomy sky before a torrential downpour, so dark it looked as if water could drip from it.
「In the hospital room.」
Adrian Desmond had been incredibly frustrated during his hospital stay. He had initially schemed to leverage his injury for some "benefits" from Sienna Johnson, but that woman had been so ruthless and heartless, she hadn’t even shown her face once.
"Sixth Master, have something to eat," Walter Klein said with a sigh, looking at the man who seemed to radiate a dark aura.
"Perhaps... I could call Madam for you?" Walter Klein thought Adrian Desmond was truly pitiful, and couldn’t help but add his suggestion.
Adrian Desmond was instantly triggered. "Call her for what? I’m not dead. Why would she come?"
Walter Klein stood by Adrian Desmond’s bedside window, saw his angry face, and advised, "Sixth Master, I think you should change your strategy."
Adrian Desmond’s attention was caught. He looked at Walter Klein, his eyes urging him to continue. Walter Klein took a deep breath and, drawing on his pitifully meager experience with romance, said, "Madam clearly prefers the gentle and considerate type. You, on the other hand, insist on treating her so domineeringly. Of course, she’s unhappy. Why not try being gentle with her? Ask about her day, show her you care... Over time, perhaps Madam will soften..."
"Will it really work?" Adrian Desmond asked uncertainly.
"Does Sixth Master have any other, better ideas?"
Adrian Desmond didn’t want their relationship to remain so strained either. He sounded tough on the surface, but inwardly, he was already a wreck. They had a child together—could they really separate? Curly was so pretty and lovely. The thought of a stepfather, that big bad wolf, was too dangerous.
"Sixth Master, Madam isn’t calling you, but you can call her," Walter Klein egged him on.
"Why should I be the one to call her?" Adrian Desmond said, looking thoroughly frustrated. "Even if I called, she wouldn’t answer."
"How about I make the call then?"
"If you want to call her, can I stop you?" Adrian Desmond grumbled, then fixed his gaze on Walter Klein, his eyes silently urging him to hurry up and make the call.
Dealing with such a proud and contrary Sixth Master, Walter Klein felt quite pitiful himself.
In Adrian Desmond’s presence, Walter Klein called Sienna Johnson. She answered surprisingly quickly. "Madam, it’s Walter. Sixth Master, he... Huh? You want to speak with Sixth Master? Great, great..." Walter Klein hadn’t expected Sienna Johnson to actually want to talk to Adrian Desmond, and a look of delight spread across his face. "I’ll pass the phone to Sixth Master right now."
Adrian Desmond was momentarily struck silent.
"Sixth Master, Madam wants to speak with you," Walter Klein said, handing the phone to Adrian Desmond.
Adrian Desmond took it, still dumbfounded. He hadn’t expected happiness to arrive so suddenly.
"Sixth Master, hurry up and take the call."
Adrian Desmond put the phone to his ear. "Why are you calling me?"
Walter Klein was speechless...
"Since we’ve broken up, I naturally cannot accept the betrothal gifts. Where are you staying now? I’ll have someone return them."
Having just ended her call with Melanie Carpenter, Sienna Johnson still had a bellyful of anger with nowhere to vent, and now she had found the perfect target.
She didn’t have a single kind word for Adrian Desmond.
"What did you say?" Adrian Desmond bit out, his teeth clenched.
"I said, I want to return the betrothal gifts to you."
"Why return them to me?"
"We’re not getting married anymore, so of course, I have to return them to you. I’m not some marriage scammer. Did you expect me to hold onto your betrothal gifts even if we’re not getting married?" She certainly wouldn’t give Melanie Carpenter any leverage.