Chapter 23
She might have been tough, but there was no way she had the strength to hoist a grown man up in the air.
“You think you can push everyone around with your money and power! I’m calling the cops! Let them deal with you. Ah!” Her words were cut short by a stinging slap that nearly knocked her off her feet.
“Shut your mouth!” Billy bellowed. “You have the nerve to call the police? Your coddling turned him into this troublemaker, always making a scene!”
The woman was stunned and crumpled to the ground with a wail, sobbing, “I can’t take this anymore! You side with an outsider over your family. Being with you has been nothing but bad luck…”
Hubert lifted his hand in disgust while Brenda and Judith from the Perez family stepped forward, coaxing and firmly escorting the weeping mother and son away.
Billy was kicking himself. What a mistake it was to bring his brainless wife and good-for-nothing kid to the Perez family’s shindig.
His company was hanging by a thread, counting on a loan from Vector Vista Bank to stay afloat. And they were doomed after offending the Richardson family!
Billy plastered a smile and bowed apologetically, “Mr. and Mrs. Richardson, I’m so sorry for that. Please don’t stoop to their level. I promise I’ll give him a good talking-to wh ve get home!”
“It’s okay. He’s just a kid,” Leanne responded, much more graciously than Curtis, as handed back the water gun. “Children are delicate. You can’t punish them too harsh few light taps should do.”
Billy was speechless.
The poolside drama finally concluded, and the troublesome family left, with the onlook dispersing.
Jennifer couldn’t help but chew Curtis out, “How old are you, picking on a kid, huh? Shame
on you.”
“What’s there to be ashamed of?” Curtis replied lazily, a sly smile on his face. “You know, I’m always a bad guy.”
Jennifer was about to give Leanne a piece of her mind. After all, the whole drama started because of her.
Before she could speak, Curtis signaled a servant from the Perez family. “Go fetch Leanne’s coat.”
11.15
Chapter 23
Leanne’s shawl was wet, and with the chilly outdoor temperature, it was almost like jumping into a pool.
The servant returned with Leanne’s overcoat and brought her a hand warmer.
Jennifer let it go. “Fine, you two should head back soon as well.”
Wrapped up in a cashmere coat and clutching a hand warmer, Leanne began to feel the warmth seeping back into her as she sat in the heated car.
But
it was
was a superficial warmth. When Leanne got off and entered her house, her hands, briefly warmed, grew cold again in the biting wind.
Taking her coat, Curtis felt her icy fingers and frowned. “How can your hands still be so
cold after all that time?”
Then, before Leanne could react, one of her hands were seized by his.
She looked at his hand, silent.
Curtis instructed Laura to draw a bath and make some hot cocoa. After taking care of
those details, he turned back.
“The other one.” he commanded.
Leanne looked up at Curtis. Seeing she didn’t react, Curtis took her other hand and held both in his, warming them.
“Don’t you know how to fight back when someone bullies you?” he asked casually, glancing at her.
“If v
you hadn’t been there, I would have pushed him into the pool myself,” she said, eye
downcast.
Curtis found her method juvenile, lacking finesse, “And what would you have done whe his parents came after you?”
“Push him in, then yell for help. I’d act like the hero and jump in to save him when people come. Would they dare to accuse me, a lifesaver?”
11:15