Chapter 6
“No,” Vera rolled her eyes. “You haven’t satisfied me yet.”
“What else do you need me to do?” Lydia stared at her, a deadness in her eyes.
Vera curled her lips into a smile, glancing around before replying sweetly, “I want you to become a social pariah. Completely destitute.”
Lydia trembled violently, looking at Vera in horror.
Vera slipped a sharp ornament into Lydia’s hand and forced it against her own face.
The sharp object instantly cut Vera’s cheek, drawing blood.
“Ah!” Vera cried out. “Miss Reed, do you really want me dead that badly?”
“Why do you keep pushing me? I love Julian, but I never intended to come between you two! I just wanted to take care of him in his final days…”
JE
“If you want to kill me, can’t it at least wait until I’ve accompanied him to the end? I can give you ‘Eternity,’ give you all my money…” Vera collapsed in tears, kneeling before Lydia.
The celebration suddenly went silent as guests turned to watch.
For weeks, rumors about Lydia had been circulating online-painting her as the evil woman who had broken up Julian and Vera.
For a moment, everyone looked at her with the most venomous contempt, wishing her dead.
Lydia stood frozen, the bloodied ornament falling from her hand.
Julian grabbed her wrist, his gaze icy. “Lydia Reed! Who gave you permission to hurt someone?”
Lydia winced in pain, looking up at him, her pale face showing a trace of helplessness. She suddenly felt exhausted, not wanting to defend herself.
Her broken nails were still bleeding, her swollen palms incapable of gripping anything. Had he looked even once, he would have known she couldn’t possibly have injured Vera.
“Take her to the police station,” Julian ordered.
Utterly disappointed, Julian shoved her away and carried Vera, who had fallen to the ground, toward the exit.
Julian’s bodyguards rushed over, seized Lydia, and took her to a detention center.
Waiting for her were several burly female inmates who immediately pinned her to the ground, savagely beating her, forcing her head into a dirty sink, and stomping on her fingers one by one….
In just one hour, Lydia was tortured to the brink of death.
She thought, perhaps dying would be better.
At least she had recovered the Reed shares.
If she died, she could apologize to her mother.
If she had listened to her mother from the beginning, stayed away from Julian, and married into the Winters family, she wouldn’t have ended up like this.
She had thought she could hold on until she left…
In her daze, she saw her white-haired father. Since her mother’s death, he had handed the company over to assistants and gone abroad alone.
Her father hated her for making her mother ill, for not even going to see her mother one last time.
Tears blurred her vision. She must be hallucinating-her father would never forgive her.
She closed her eyes, waiting for death.
*Lydia, sweetheart, Daddy’s here. I’m sorry I’m late.” Her father’s voice suddenly reached her ears, and Lydia opened her eyes.
“Dad… Dad…” she said excitedly, trying to get up despite her injuries. “I’m so sorry, Dad.”
“Don’t be afraid. Daddy’s here now.” Her father’s tears flowed freely as he lifted Lydia up and walked unsteadily out of the detention center. “I’m taking you home. Just hold on a little longer.”
Lydia collapsed in her father’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably. As soon as they got into the car, she passed out from exhaustion.
Her father took Lydia back to the Reed family home. Concerned that Julian might hurt her again, he brought in a professional medical team to treat
her at home.
While Lydia was still unconscious, angry netizens and reporters surrounded the Reed mansion.
Vera had gained countless fans because of “Eternity,” and when they heard Lydia had hurt her, they came spontaneously to seek revenge.
Mr. Reed sent security to drive them away, but they violently attacked the guards, throwing stones at the windows and ramming the doors.
“Lydia Reed, go apologize to Vera!” they shouted as they broke into the mansion.
