Dear Sweetheart Chapter 24 Reclaim What Is Mine
“Mr. Faymon, you’ve crossed the line.” Rayna could barely breathe as whatever Curtis pulled off came like a bolt from the blue. “Didn’t you ask me to deal with my matters as quickly as possible so that we could talk about our cooperation?”
“Pardon me, Ms. Garland. Since when did I say that this is for free?”
Rayna was left speechless at how cunning and sly these capitalists were.
With a deep breath, Rayna tried her best to calm herself down while Curtis kept the same indifferent look on his face. He asked, “Ms. Garland, shall I send you to a hotel, or should I drop you somewhere else?”
“I might have to trouble you to send me home, Mr. Faymon.” Rayna forced a smile. She squeezed the words out of her teeth. However, there was something more important that she had to attend to. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Rayna did not tell the driver about her address, but about ten minutes later, the car came to a stop at the Faymon residence.
When she returned to her senses and tried to ask about it, all that remained of the car in her sight were its rear lights. The chilly wind in the night had her trembling in the cold. As she looked at the brightly lit house, her gaze turned cold.
“Huh? Mom, you’re still awake?” Rayna was surprised to see Rolanda watching television in the living room. With another look around, she confirmed that Curtis had Julian occupied when she didn’t see Julian’s shoes at the doorstep.
At that point, Rayna felt grateful to Curtis for what he had done.
When she returned home, she was afraid of Julian, fearing that his presence would hinder what she was about to do. Yet, Curtis had already arranged everything for her as if he knew what she was about to do in her next step.
“I can’t sleep.” Perhaps, it was because of Rayna’s pregnancy Rolanda’s attitude toward her was considerably better. She did not put up her usual stern expression. “When you’re pregnant, you shouldn’t run around. What if something happens to the child?”
“I know. I’m being careful all the while so that I won’t hurt the child.” Rayna smiled and sat down beside Rolanda.
“Mom, I would like to borrow some money from you.”
Upon the mention of money, Rolanda’s expression darkened. “I’ve no money! Julian and you have been in charge of your own money ever since your marriage. Since when did I take any money from you?”
Hearing that, Rayna could not fathom what gave Rolanda the right to say that.
When she married Julian, Rolanda had always been trying to fish for information and hint to Rayna that she was poor and that she dared not go out with her friends because she had no money. As a result, Rayna would always give her money.
Since then, Rolanda would always pull the same trick on Rayna a couple of times every month. She would even throw tantrums at her unsuccessful attempts, and Julian never batted an eye. That put Raina in a situation where she would give Rolanda half of her salary.
Rayna concealed the intense hatred she harbored toward Rolanda and said faintly, “Mom, I had no choice. My mother is terribly ill now, and the hospital will chase her out if I can’t pay the fees.”
“I don’t have any money with me!” No matter how hard Rayna tried, Rolanda insisted that she had no money. Instead, she said, “You should transfer your mother to a smaller hospital. Small sickness won’t cost much!”
At this point, Rayna couldn’t help but question herself. Back then, when Rolanda went to the hospital because of the pain in her back, she indirectly mocked and complained about Rayna to the nurses because Rayna was too occupied by her work to visit Rolanda.
Besides, despite her minor problem, Rolanda insisted that she needed to stay in the hospital for half a month and have a complete body check-up. She even had Rayna pay for everything; in return, she spouted cold and harsh comments after what Rayna did for her.
“Even a smaller hospital would cost a great deal!” Seeing how Rolanda responded, Rayna hurled everything aside and went all in. “The money I gave you all these years amounted to more than one hundred thousand, and you dare tell me you have no money?”
As if there was a fire burning beneath her, Rolanda sprang up from the couch and reprimanded, “Oh? Are you going to start this right now? You married my son, which makes me your mother-in-law, so is it not right for you to give me some allowance?”
“Yes. I took you as my mother-in-law, but have you done the same to me? Did you even take me as your daughter-in-law?” Rayna sneered. “My mother needs money to get her sickness treated, and here you are, talking in a manner as if you wanted something bad to happen to my mother!”
Rolanda never saw that coming. She never expected the gentle and obedient Rayna, who never refuted her, would talk back to her. She was so shocked by Rayna’s reaction that she forgot to talk back.
Is this a dream?
In the meantime, Rayna stood up and asked calmly, “Are you going to give me some money or not?”
“No!” Perhaps it was because of Rayna talking back to her, Rolanda’s expression was awful. “Rayna, you might as well say that you no longer want to be with my son! Get a divorce!”
“And that’s where you’re wrong. I love Julian so much that I even have his child in me. Do you think I’ll accept a divorce?” Rayna smiled in response. She knew that Rolanda wouldn’t give her the money she wanted if she remained soft and gentle.
She whipped her phone out from her purse, and as she played a video, she held her phone up high so that Rolanda could see what was being played.
Initially clueless about what Rayna was up to, Rolanda quickly snapped out of it after seeing herself in the video. Without a second thought, she lunged at Rayna, who agilely evaded her.
“You know. I have quite a handful of similar video recordings like this one,” Rayna revealed, “Tell me. What would your friends do when they learn that you would cheat in the card game and even steal their belongings?”
“Y-You! What are you talking about? This video is a video you edited!” Rolanda cursed angrily. Despite how she looked, she was secretly panicking. As a result, she lunged at Rayna again. “You b*tch!”
When Rolanda came charging at her, Rayna showed no mercy. With a swing of her leg, she precisely landed a kick on Rolanda’s knee, breaking her balance and toppling her onto the ground. As Rolanda fell to the ground, her forehead collided with the coffee table, and blood started seeping out from her wound.
“Oh, my, I am bleeding!” Upon finding herself bleeding, Rolanda shrieked, “Take me to the hospital now!”
At the same time, a couple of housekeepers rushed to the scene after capturing the odd movements. They, however, shuddered and walked away as if nothing had happened when Rayna shot them a glare for trying to help.
After chasing the housekeepers away, Rayna squatted in front of Rolanda and said gently, “Mom, I have your friends’ contacts in my WhatsApp. If you think the video is fake, why don’t I send them a copy of it so that they can prove it?”
“Rayna, you evil wretch!” Rolanda pressed her hands against her wound, her body shaking in anger. “My son had been good to you, and this is how you repay his kindness? By bullying his mother?”
“Mom, you should know who is the evil wretch here better than me.” Rayna picked up Rolanda’s phone and delivered it to her. “Wire me the money, or I’ll send these videos to everyone.”
There was another grand show waiting for her in the hotel tomorrow, so she didn’t want to waste another second with Rolanda.
She was tired, and she needed to sleep.
At first, Rolanda thought Rayna was just trying to intimidate her. However, just as she thought Rayna was putting up an act, Rayna had already sent one of the videos to one of her friends right before her face. In that split second, Rolanda panicked.
“Okay. I will do it!” Rolanda gave in. After struggling so much to get into her current circle that allowed her to brag to her other relatives, she would become a laughing stock if everyone learned that she was a cheater.
Through three separate transactions, Rolanda wired the amount Rayna demanded to her before glowering at Rayna. “I’ve transferred you the money. Can you delete the videos now?”
“The transactions would need time to be processed at this hour. We’ll talk about it once I receive the cash.” Rayna kept her phone away.
Realizing that Rayna fooled her, the anger in Rolanda burned even stronger. She started hurling curses at Rayna but could not get back on her feet after spraining her ankles.
With the money received, Rayna left instead of staying in the Faymon residence. That house was no longer where she would call home. The thought of merely staying in that place disgusted her. With that, she returned to Metropolitan Hotel and checked in.
“Ms. Garland, right?” The receptionist delivered a keycard to Rayna swiftly. “This is the room your friend had booked for you. He told us to pass you the keycard upon your arrival.”
The room was room 8084, located directly opposite room 8082.
Upon seeing the keycard, Rayna instantly realized that was also part of Curtis’ arrangements, though she was a little surprised. She wondered why Curtis arranged a room for her as she didn’t mention anything about returning to the hotel.
However, after recalling how shrewd Curtis was, Rayna quickly found herself drenched in her cold sweat, for Curtis had predicted all her moves.
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