Vivian thought that the God of Death was reaching out his hand to her in invitation, but it turned out that it was just her lungs filling up with water instead of air.
With her eyes wide open, she struggled to get her head above water, but a strong hand was braced on the base of her neck, pushing her down on her back in the bathtub.
Vivian did not expect that Jessica would want to drown her. Jessica did not have the guts to do something like that.
Also, she would be hunted down by the law. After all, drowning a person was still a crime, and Vivian believed that even if Noah did not like her, he would still investigate the cause of her death.
Even if her father put the interests of the Ye family first, he would not remain uninvolved in her death. Howard would take her drowning as a challenge to his power and dignity.
If she died now, the damage on both the Shi family and the Ye family would be catastrophic, even more so if the public found out that she perished in the hands of Jessica.
With these thoughts running in her head, Vivian slowly stopped struggling and conserved what little air remained in her lungs.
Jessica would not dare end her like this.
Feeling Vivian slow down, Yvonne narrowed her eyes. She grabbed Vivian and hoisted her up.
"Phew!" Vivian sat up in the bathtub and gasped for air. She wheezed so wildly that she trembled and almost collapsed.
A triumphant smile slowly spread across her wet face.
'I was right.
Jessica won't kill me.'
The smile on Vivian's face made Yvonne's heart tremble. Yvonne could tell that Vivian already knew they wouldn't kill her.
For a moment, the hair on the back of Yvonne's neck stood on end. She might be looking at the most dangerous woman in Lexingport City.
Vivian had been quiet during her entire ordeal. She took the torture while making little to no noise at all. All her face showed was a shadow of a wince, which meant that she had tremendous control and concentration.
If Yvonne's experience was any indication, such a person did absolutely anything to exact revenge.
Seeing Vivian take retribution like water off a duck's back, Yvonne was able to understand her better. She might look angelic and harmless, but she was the most dangerous kind of cunning. Her talent for manipulation allowed her to fly through the ranks of the city's noble ladies.
She even successfully tricked Jessica into giving her uncensored information.
Looking at the woman sitting in the bathtub with sharp eyes, Yvonne gritted her teeth and silenced the intensifying panic in her heart.
"The toiletries are over there as well as some clean clothes. Come out after you're done bathing. Don't try anything stupid." After saying that, Yvonne turned around and walked out of the bathroom.
After Yvonne left, Vivian slapped the water to vent her anger. She wanted to scream, but she was afraid that Yvonne would come back and shove her to the bottom of the tub again.
She would not endure such humiliation a second time.
She clenched her hands into fists, and her long nails dug deeply enough into her palms to leave red marks.
At the moment, Vivian could not remember a time when she hated Jessica more.
Her swollen face and the whip marks all over her body were all because of Jessica.
She did not want to know what else Jessica would do to torture her.
Vivian was at the end of her rope. She could not stand any more torture.
But what else could she do except to bear it? Every breath she drew annoyed the hell out of Jessica.
Jessica would not listen to her pleas for mercy now. If anything, they would only encourage her savagery.
So Vivian had no choice but to keep calm and endure.
Sooner or later, a way out would present itself.
Taking a deep, relaxing breath, Vivian began bathing herself. At the moment, she was just glad that she got to wash away the filth and stench the torture had left.
While she was cleaning herself up, an unexpected guest came to Stone Road.
Julie ignored the guards and stormed the gates of the Shi family estate.
One of the guards immediately followed her and started dragging her out. Julie pulled out a fruit knife from her purse and waved it to the guard's face.
In a heartbeat, the guard was able to knock the knife out of her hand and into a nearby flower bed.
She had to save her daughter no matter the cost.
"You're holding my daughter prisoner?" Julie's hand that was holding the fruit knife had begun sweating. She added in a low voice, "Don't you know it's illegal to imprison a person?"
"Imprison?" Jake sighed and shook his head. "We're not imprisoning your daughter. We're just making her pay for what she's done."
"We have done nothing!" Julie retorted.
Jake simply smiled and replied, "It's you who installed the bug in Jessica's necklace. It's also you who called Sam and caused him to have a stroke. You sent all the potential Rh-negative blood donors out of Lexingport City during the time of Sam's surgery so that you'd be the only viable donor left. You coerced John into marrying Vivian in exchange for saving Sam's life with your blood."
Julie's eyes widened. How did Jake know everything?
Wasn't the bug not the only thing mentioned that day?
How did he know about Sam's blood transfusion?
Julie's hand shook, and the fruit knife fell to the ground. She bent down to pick it up, but Jake kicked it away.
"It's for Howard's sake that we haven't exposed these things to the public. If you don't accept the punishment now, you will be disgraced." Jake turned around and warned her.
Although he was already old, his eyes were still filled with the cruelty of his youth. He surely looked like the man no one in their right mind would provoke.
Julie was so frightened that she almost forgot to breathe. When Jake turned around and continued to walk forward, she said in a trembling voice, "Do you have any evidence to back your allegations?"
"You just don't give up, do you? It's over. You and your daughter are already exposed. If you keep fighting, you'll be hated by everyone in the city."
Jake suddenly stopped and faced her once again. Julie was too scared to move or talk back.
Now without her husband's protection, she and her daughter were like two fragile boats floating at sea. It would not take much to smash them against the waves, and for the Shi family, that was just like lifting a finger.
At this point, she had to shut her mouth and obey.
Before she entered the room where Vivian was being held, Julie heard glass breaking followed by a loud scolding.
"You can't even hold a cup of tea right. Why are you so useless?"
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