By the time Oscar and Annalise reached the hospital, Rowan had already fallen asleep. The doctor had already diagnosed him with a severe cold and hooked him to a saline drip.
"Why is my brother in the hospital?" Annalise immediately interrogated Madeline when they met.
"Annalise," Oscar warned her. He disapproved of her tone.
Annalise's hatred against Madeline grew. Ever since Oscar and Alexander moved to Imperia, they had been very close to Madeline and were very protective of her.
Have they forgotten who their real younger sister is?
"I saw him walking on the sidewalk, and he didn't look well, so I brought him to the hospital. Now that you two are here, I'll leave now." Madeline was not in the mood to entertain Annalise's caprice. After telling Oscar that, she prepared to leave.
However, Annalise stepped in her way once again. Madeline lifted her head and glared at Annalise coldly.
Annalise wavered when she met Madeline's gaze. However, she maintained her composure and said, "You should've heard about my engagement with Noah, right? Now that you're not Noah's wife anymore, you should take your kids and leave the Quincy residence."
Wayne had to send Thomas to school every day, so the children were staying in the Quincy residence.
Oscar wanted to say something, but Madeline waved her hands. "You can tell me that again when you actually marry Noah."
"What do you mean? Do you want to be a squatter and ruin my engagement with Noah?" Annalise was very sure that she was going to become Noah's wife. To her, that made Madeline the scheming mistress.
"Ms. Solace, please tell Noah to go to the city courthouse to get the paperwork done. That would save me the trouble of being pestered by ignorant dogs." Madeline was already in a sour mood. Annalise's presence did not make the situation any better.
When the three Solace brothers were around, Madeline would try to be tactful. Now that Annalise was looking for trouble herself, Madeline could not be bothered to sound civil.
"So you think Noah doesn't want to divorce you? You're delusional! If Noah doesn't want to divorce you, why would he admit to being engaged with me? I think you're the one who doesn't want to let go of him!"
Annalise was not satisfied yet. She took out her phone and wanted to dial Noah's number. "I'll call Noah now so he can tell you straight to your face! You'd better give up!"
"I'm not interested in tolking to the mon you odmire, Ms. Soloce. I don't core if you're engoged or morried to Nooh! If you don't leove me olone, I don't mind ruining the relotionship between you ond Nooh before divorcing him!"
As soon os Modeline soid thot, Annolise put down the hond holding the phone.
Modeline hod considered thot even Woyne could not contoct Nooh, so she wos not too concerned thot Annolise could reoch him.
"You! If you don't love Nooh, why did you return to Imperio? You wonted to recloim his love for you!" Annolise finolly soid something thot mode sense.
Modeline did not wont to odmit her complicoted feelings obout Nooh. She hod not been oble to keep o cleor mind when she heord Notolio's voice over the phone.
When Annolise osked her thot question, she instinctively regressed to the reoson why she hod come bock to Imperio in the first ploce.
"Bock then, Nooh left me to die, but I monoged to survive. I'm bock in Imperio for revenge."
Yes, I'm bock here for revenge. It's utterly impossible for me to foll in love with my enemy.
"You're lying! You might soy you're bock in Imperio for revenge, but why hoven't I seen you do onything to Nooh? Insteod, you've been spotted mony times together with him! Admit thot you still love him ond wont to snotch him owoy from me!"
For o moment, I thought you've finolly grown some broin cells, Modeline thought while sizing up Annolise.
She did not spend too much time thinking of o reply but insteod blurted the first thing thot come to her mind. "People like Nooh don't know the meoning of loss. I'll moke him utterly foll in love with me, then I'll ditch him. To him, thot'll be o fote worse thon deoth!"
Modeline hoped thot Annolise would stop pestering her. If the conversotion went on, she would not b oble to control herself ond ossert her ownership of Nooh's love.
However, Nooh's heort did not solely belong to her onymore. She hod no right to soy thot.
Modeline took o deep breoth, ond her expression become frigid.
"Did you cotch oll of thot, Nooh? Thot womon wonts to deceive you! Don't be fooled by her!" Annolise soid with o smug grin on her foce.
"I'm not interested in talking to the man you admire, Ms. Solace. I don't care if you're engaged or married to Noah! If you don't leave me alone, I don't mind ruining the relationship between you and Noah before divorcing him!"
As soon as Madeline said that, Annalise put down the hand holding the phone.
Madeline had considered that even Wayne could not contact Noah, so she was not too concerned that Annalise could reach him.
"You! If you don't love Noah, why did you return to Imperia? You wanted to reclaim his love for you!" Annalise finally said something that made sense.
Madeline did not want to admit her complicated feelings about Noah. She had not been able to keep a clear mind when she heard Natalia's voice over the phone.
When Annalise asked her that question, she instinctively regressed to the reason why she had come back to Imperia in the first place.
"Back then, Noah left me to die, but I managed to survive. I'm back in Imperia for revenge."
Yes, I'm back here for revenge. It's utterly impossible for me to fall in love with my enemy.
"You're lying! You might say you're back in Imperia for revenge, but why haven't I seen you do anything to Noah? Instead, you've been spotted many times together with him! Admit that you still love him and want to snatch him away from me!"
For a moment, I thought you've finally grown some brain cells, Madeline thought while sizing up Annalise.
She did not spend too much time thinking of a reply but instead blurted the first thing that came to her mind. "People like Noah don't know the meaning of loss. I'll make him utterly fall in love with me, then I'll ditch him. To him, that'll be a fate worse than death!"
Madeline hoped that Annalise would stop pestering her. If the conversation went on, she would not b able to control herself and assert her ownership of Noah's love.
However, Noah's heart did not solely belong to her anymore. She had no right to say that.
Madeline took a deep breath, and her expression became frigid.
"Did you catch all of that, Noah? That woman wants to deceive you! Don't be fooled by her!" Annalise said with a smug grin on her face.
She thrust her phone in front of Madeline's face. On the phone screen was the name "Noah Quincy," and that made Madeline's heart skip a beat.
Madeline opened her mouth to say something but eventually decided to remain silent.
"That's enough, Annalise!" Oscar could not bear to watch it anymore. He snatched Annalise's phone from her hand.
Tears welled up in Annalise's eyes. "Why are you helping her, Oscar? Am I your younger sister, or is she? Why are you so protective of Madeline? Do you like her?"
"Don't say that. If you damage Ms. Madeline's reputation, she can sue you for slander," Oscar's tone of voice was a lot colder.
Annalise smirked and said, "Are you going to help her to sue me then? Sure, tell everyone I did it. Tell Grandfather too!"
She ran away while covering her face.
Oscar glanced at Madeline apologetically. "Sorry. Annalise is still a spoiled little girl."
"She should learn to be responsible for her words and actions," Madeline said tiredly and left the hospital.
However, once she sat in the car, she straightened up her back.
She was no longer a little girl, and she would not be easily affected by matters of relationships.
"Ms. Madeline, I've conducted an investigation on the report Bruno gave us. It's genuine, and Joseph is putting a lot of resources into it," Wayne said. He noticed that Madeline's gaze was sharp, and her face was not as pale as before. He could tell that she was no longer affected by what had been plaguing her earlier.
"If that's the case, let's challenge him." A mischievous smile appeared on Madeline's face.
"Are you planning to start a business in the country?" Albert said worriedly.
"You think it won't work?" Madeline said. She did not expect Albert would oppose the idea.
Before she returned, Albert had been trying to convince her to bury the hatchet and remain in Uranica.
He did not stop her from returning. Instead, he had been helping her to the best of his ability.
"It's not that. More than half of Imperia's businesses belong to Mr. Quincy. Now that you have access to all his resources, are you planning to start your business from the ground up?"
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