Tiffany had hidden herself in her room the moment she guessed that the one outside was Raymond. She didn't dare go out, for she knew that she would be toast if she showed her face to her brother.
Though she would probably suffer the same fate even if she stayed inside, she decided to buy herself as much time as she could.
"Tiffany! Your brother has come!"
In the fond hope that Raymond would allow them to move back to the old residence, Jean turned around to look for Tiffany.
She called out to Tiffany several times, but there was no response. Feeling somewhat awkward, she looked at Raymond who was standing in the doorway. "Give me a second, Ray. I'll go inside and get her."
With that Jean hurriedly into the house and went upstairs to the door of Tiffany's room. "Your brother came to see you. Why are you hiding in your room?"
"Mom, he's definitely here to have me repay him the money!"
It struck Jean that Tiffany was being paranoid. "What nonsense is this? When was your brother ever short of money? By the way, when did you borrow money from him?!"
"You don't remember, Mom? I told you a couple of days ago I took the bank card he gave Scarlett to cover living expenses and spent all the money on it!"
Jean's face was dark with rage. "You shameless spendthrift! Just open up! Your brother won't kill you, not when you have me by your side!"
Tiffany refused to open the door. Naturally, she knew that Raymond wouldn't kill her, but he had a lot of other ways to punish her.
Jean was infuriated by Tiffany's attitude. Having realized that she wouldn't open the door, Jean had no choice but to ask the butler to bring her the key to the room. "Are you stupid? You can't hide forever, you know?"
Tiffany, naturally, was aware that she couldn't hide forever, but there was nothing she could do about it. That was Raymond out there!
That was Raymond who had chucked them out of the house!
"Come out here! You hear me? Your brother has come. If you refuse to see him, you'll never be allowed to go back to the Shaw Residence!"
No matter how hard Jean tried to convince Tiffany, the latter still wouldn’t come out.
Eventually Jean was resigned. She walked back to Raymond and said, "She has a stomachache. Why don't you come in and wait for a while? I haven't had a meal with you for quite some time!"
Raymond slid Jean a sideways glance. "No need. Tell Tiffany she had her chance."
Having finished speaking, Raymond doubled back to his car and ducked inside. Showing no regard for Jean's attempts to have him stay, he pressed down on the gas pedal and drove off.
A leopard cannot change its spots!
It was almost six o'clock when Scarlett ended the conference. Recalling Raymond's words, she pulled out her cellphone and sent him a text message.
Raymond soon texted her back. "I'm right downstairs."
Scarlett lifted her eyebrows, put away her cellphone and swiveled her head aside to glance at Katherine who was next to her. " Secretary Lawrence, I'm afraid I'll have to leave you in charge of the project. I need to get going."
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