บท 7: Chapter 7
Bring Stacy Back?!
Jane couldn't help stealing a nervous glance towards Ethan but he remained as unmoved and silent as ever.
She felt a wry, bitter laugh bubble to her lips. She had fooled herself into thinking that Ethan had approved of her. Like a delusional, lovesick fool, she had even been truly fond of him, wanting to be his dutiful wife…
It wasn't that she had truly wanted to marry Ethan Harrington but the Harrisons would never let this slide… to say nothing of what they would do to her grandmother. The thought sent a pang of pain through her heart and she felt her eyes prick with tears.
Upon hearing Toby's pronouncement, the Harrison family's faces fell. To wed Stacy to that sickly cripple, with his pasty, disfigured face…
Stacy herself would never agree, but even all of Ursula's love for her daughter couldn't compel her to allow Stacy to come back and face such a match.
"That doesn't seem quite appropriate Young Master Toby", she objected.
"No matter how you put it, Jane already went through all the necessary rites with your brother. And after the… consummation of the marriage last night, she essentially belongs to him.
"If you were to send her back to us, what kind of future would she have?"
Can't you see the weakling can't even get up from his wheelchair?
Toby wanted to scoff. Like he would even be capable of the act, with such useless legs!
"I'm telling you, if you don't get Stacy back, I'll see to it that your whole family becomes bankrupt. This is what you get for daring to make fools of the Harrington family!"
If the second son of the Harringtons wanted to ruin the small company owned by the Harrisons, all it would take was a few words.
Peter's face paled and he hurriedly stuttered out, "Young Master Toby, please… please don't. I'll find Stacy and bring her back this instant".
"Bring her back?", a furious Ursula wailed, "are you planning to send my daughter to her death?"
"Do you want to send our family to our deaths?" Peter shot back, "what are we going to survive on without the company?"
Of course Ursula didn't want to see the company go bankrupt. She burst into tears of rage.
Selene was still calculating a plan in her head, "Young Master Toby, perhaps…"
Between sips of tea, Ethan glanced at Selene from the corner of his eye.
"You don't want your sister to come back? That's fine. Are you planning to take her place?"
"No!" Selene darted behind her mother in fear.
Ethan coughed once, then twice. He fixed his cold gaze on Peter.
"We don't have to make the switch if you're unwilling but I have conditions".
Peter felt a chill shoot down his spine and couldn't repress a shiver. Since when was this weakling capable of wielding such a threatening, murderous demeanor?
"What conditions? Name anything you like Young Master Ethan, as long as it is within my power, you shall have it!"
Ethan had brought his brother here not as a spectator but as a tool. The Harrisons held him in contempt due to his physical frailty but they looked at Toby with fear. Even if Toby was backed into a corner with no options, the Harrisons wouldn't be able to leverage him to negotiate a way out.
"A bride should have a dowry, isn't that right?"
Peter felt a sense of dread creeping up in him but he made himself nod.
"It is, Young Master".
"In that case, I want you to return the ten million dollars the Harringtons gave you in exchange for your daughter's hand… and pay additional ten million for my wife's dowry!"
Peter was struck with horror. Ten million was a hefty sum as it was, but twenty? He inwardly cursed Jane for being an investment that had only thrown money down the drain.
Jane was no less surprised. Twenty million? Was she hallucinating?
Ethan finished his sentence with a cough.
"No?" he asked, "Bruce, get a lawyer, tell them the Harrison family cheated us!"
"Right away, Young Master!"
"No! Don't! We'll give you the money!"
Ursula bawled and battered her husband with her fists.
"My daughter is worth more than all the money in the world! Say yes Peter, or I'll never forgive you!"
For his daughter, Peter had no choice but to give in, "I'll pay".
The Harrisons had a small company, but they had several hundred million worth of assets. Still, coughing up a sum of money this huge was enough to make them want to vomit blood.
Peter signed a check for twenty million dollars and passed it to Bruce, reluctant to let go. Bruce pulled the check away from him anyway and placed it in Jane's palm. She stared at the check, unblinking.
Had Peter really just forked over such a gigantic amount?
"Is this really for me?", she glanced at Ethan, unclear of his intent.
"You're my wife now", Ethan said coolly, "that makes you the mistress of the Harringtons. It's just a check. There will be more stuff to come in the future".
Jane gripped the check and lowered her eyes, "You don't want Stacy back?"
Ethan looked back at her blankly. Was this why she had bowed her head and stayed quiet just now?
He hadn't stopped his brother from demanding that Stacy come back, not simply to intimidate the Harrisons but also to ensure that they would acquiesce to hand over their money.
"You kissed me at the wedding, that makes you mine".
Jane stared at him, her eyes shinning.
"You mean …. I'm really your wife?
"Yes"
She didn't have to come back to the Harrisons and she could stop worrying about her grandmother. Jane felt a heavy burden lift from her heart.
Come what May, this man had saved her from the Harrison family, and or that, she was deeply grateful to him.
Ethan coughed twice and spared a glance at Peter.
"You know better than anyone why Stacy left the country, and why you let Jane marry me in her place. I believe you owe my wife an apology".
An apology? Wasn't twenty million dollars enough?
"The little slut chose to be a social climber of her own accord", Ursula's face was full of venom, "And you expect us to apologize to her?"
Ethan coughed and Bruce backhanded Ursula across the face.
"This is your warning, Mrs Harrison, for daring to slander the Young Mistress of the Harringtons!"
As he spoke, he snatched up the knife lying by the fruit bowl; it's blade held a cold glint like it was prepared to embed itself in her throat in less than a heartbeat.
Ursula shut her mouth, too terrified to speak.
Taking advantage of the Harrisons' silence, Bruce continued, "Do you think we didn't look into how one bride ended up getting swapped for another?"
"Stacy left two hours before the wedding and Miss Selene even sent her off. You planned for our Young Mistress to marry our Young Master. What nonsense to claim that she coerced Stacy into letting her take her place!"
"Now to cover up your actions, you still have the audacity to tarnish the Young Mistress' good name!"
When he was done speaking, Bruce drove the knife into the sofa, tearing a gash in the surface and a loud ominous rip filled the air.
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