Chapter 271 Sell Me Out
They understood they were in the wrong as Carl was the one who pushed Emma.
Seeing that Rayna was keeping quiet, Emma smiled faintly with a smug look in her eyes. “You didn’t know any better, Ms. Garland, so I won’t hold you accountable. I hope you can respect your elders in the future and learn your manners.”
“There’s no need for you to lecture my people about manners, Mrs. Xavier.” Curtis spoke in a deep, powerful voice as he laid his broad hand on Rayna’s shoulder, which instantly calmed her down.
Glancing at him, Emma uttered, “Ah, it’s you, Curtis.”
Curtis nodded and allowed Rayna to lean against his sturdy body, providing her with a great sense of security. “I know what kind of person she is, Mrs. Xavier. I also know there are some things you are clearly aware of as well.”
“Aware of what? I don’t want to speak too much, but since you’re Theodore’s close friend, I must remind you that you shouldn’t let your guard down around some people.”
Narrowing his eyes, Curtis spat coldly, “You shouldn’t shed your pretenses, Mrs. Xavier. I’m willing to speak to you peacefully because I respect Theodore.”
Furious, she yelled, “You insolent brat! Do you know she—”
“The contract, right?” Rayna cut her off and replied coldly, “Save your effort. I’ll tell him what I should tell him myself!”
With that, she grabbed Curtis’ and Carl’s hands before leaving with them.
“Look at him, Theodore!” Emma was absolutely furious that she was disrespected by a couple of youngsters. “I only wanted to offer him a few words of advice, yet he had the gall to speak to me like that!”
Coldly, Theodore retorted, “My good relationship with Curtis is something that’s between us, Mom. It’s not like he’s your son. You should be glad he didn’t get angry at you for bullying his people.”
“Whose side are you on, Theodore?”
Instead of answering the question, he asked, “Did you threaten Rayna with the contract?”
Emma argued unreasonably, “She and that child next to her disrespected their elder! I can’t believe that little boy had enough strength to push me into the fountain!”
The boy was here? Promptly, Theodore turned to the entrance. Sadly, Curtis and the others were already gone. Now that I think about it, Rayna did seem like she was trying to hide something behind her. I guess that something must be the boy.
“You know Curtis’ personality, Mom.” Pursing his lip, he continued, “If you piss him off, you’ll get chased out of Norwal City. I won’t help you if that happens.”
“Am I still your mother, Theodore?” Emma didn’t expect her son would speak to her like that. “I’m doing this for your own good! If you hadn’t kept thinking about Jasmine and that woman as soon as you returned, I wouldn’t have acted like this! There are so many women in the world, so why must you love a woman like her? Her family background isn’t good enough!”
Annoyed, he rebuffed, “We’ve already broken up!”
Grabbing his hand, Emma examined the ring on his finger. It seems like Jasmine didn’t lie to me!
She questioned, “In that case, what is this? Ah, I see. After you learned about Jasmine’s fake marriage with Curtis, you ran to their wedding because you plan to wait until he leaves before you jump in and marry her. Did I get it right?”
“So what if that’s the case?”
“So what?” Raising her voice, she shouted, “Let me tell you something, Theodore. I would rather you marry a poor, homeless woman than Jasmine! I’ll never accept her! If I let her into the Xavier family, what do you think others will say?”
“Are you done?” Theodore’s expression was as black as ink. “Why do you refuse to leave her be? Are you saying people who don’t have a good family background don’t even deserve human rights?”
A smile formed on Emma’s countenance. “You sure know a lot. I bet you’ve always been paying attention to her matters in secret. If you think about her again, I’ll divorce your father, Theodore!”
Coldly, he questioned, “Now you’re just being tyrannical! What does this have to do with my father?”
“It’s his fault for not raising a good son!”
“You’re still wet. Let me send you back.” Sanders Group was the host of the event, so Theodore didn’t want to argue with her there.
Upon shoving him away, Emma tidied her gown. “I can go back by myself. You’d better use this opportunity today to talk things through with Jasmine. I don’t care how high she climbs. She’ll never be part of the Xavier family!”
Hearing that, Theodore rubbed his eyebrows, feeling very exasperated.
After Rayna left the hotel, she hailed a taxi and stuffed Carl inside. Then she waited for another taxi before entering the vehicle with Curtis.
“You’re sending him back home alone? Why? We’re heading back to the condominium anyway, aren’t we?” Curtis asked.
“He may be young, but he’s excellent. You don’t need to worry about him.” Waving her hand, she continued, “Also, we’re not going to the condominium. We’ll go to your house.”
“Mhm,” he muttered.
His plain response made her panic a little. There was a brief silence before Rayna asked, “You’re not going to ask me why we’re going to your place?”
“It’s not the first time you’re going there, so why would I ask?” Glimpsing at her, Curtis continued, “Compared to that, I’m more interested in the ‘contract’ you and Mrs. Xavier spoke of.”
“It’s…” The contents of the contract were quite complicated, so she wasn’t sure how to explain it.
“Is there something going on behind the scene?” His voice deepened.
“No, no, I can tell you about it. Just… don’t get angry, okay?”
“Well, it depends.”
This man is way too calm! I know he’ll learn about it sooner or later, even if I keep my mouth shut. If he learns the truth from Theodore or Mrs. Xavier instead, I bet he’ll be even more furious. I don’t think I have a choice here. Upon steeling herself, she told him everything without hiding any details, from the first time Theodore met her to why Emma looked for her earlier.
Three minutes after she finished her story, Curtis was still sitting there silently with his legs crossed. His expression didn’t change at all. While his look darkened, it didn’t seem like he was livid.
Pressing her hand on her chest, Rayna thought, Things aren’t actually that bad, so he shouldn’t be angry.
The next moment, he inquired in a deep voice, “So, Theodore came looking for you with the contract to ask you to keep your distance from me. The contract states that, as long as I marry Jasmine, you’ll get a few houses and sports cars. Then, you signed the contract without hesitation. Did I get it right?”
“Yes… No!” She quickly changed her answer. “Mr. Xavier thinks Ms. Sanders likes you and that I’m a third wheel bothering you two. That’s why he came to me with the contract.”
“And you signed it without hesitation?”
“I had no choice.” Rayna apologized to Theodore in her mind and explained, “You know how… intimidating Mr. Xavier can be. If I refused to sign, I was afraid he would bully the elders in my family.”
Curtis snorted. “Is that so? I didn’t know Theodore likes to take his frustration out on old people when he fails.”
A sheepish smile was set on her face. “Maybe I was overthinking it.”
“Are you blind, Rayna? Hmm?” He clasped her face as he stared at her with a slightly darkened look. “You’re willing to sell a gold mine like me out for a little benefit from someone else?”
Upon weakly raising her hand, Rayna informed in a small voice, “I swear, Mr. Xavier forced me to sign the contract. Besides, it’s partly your fault, too. You were the one who told Mr. Xavier about your fake marriage, resulting in him getting jealous and dragging me into this mess.”
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