A ck BMW sped down a straight asphalt road.
Inside the car, coughing echoed nonstop. Wendy looked at Julia worriedly. "Julia, what are we going to do about your cough?"
Julia coughed violently. Suddenly, she spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Julia, you''re coughing up blood!" Wendy panicked. "What do we do now? We don''t have any medicine! That wretched Natalie won''t let Goodwill Pharmacy sell medicine to us." She patted Julia''s back and cursed Natalie out.
Momentster, she suggested, "Let''s rob their supplies. It''ste and dark. No one will be there. We''ll sneak in and steal the medicine. There must be no one at the pharmacy now. Natalie is probably at the hospital with Marcus, waiting on Sophia. If we go now, we''ll definitely find the medicine you need."
"Alright... let''s give it a try." Julia was tempted. Only the Goodwill Pharmacy''s medicine could treat her condition. The unending cough was like torture to her.
"Okay, we''ll go now."
"Head to Goodwill Pharmacy," Wendy ordered, then handed Julia a thermos of warm water. "We need to find Ruby. I tried calling her, but she''s still not answering. If she goes back to the Sinir residence and Ivan catches her, it won''t end well for us."
Wendy frowned and said, "Julia, call Ruby."
"Okay." Julia took out her phone and dialed Ruby''s number.
It rang for a long time before someone answered. "Hello, are you Ruby''s mother?"
"Who are you?" Julia''s brow furrowed. "Why do you have my daughter''s phone?"
"I''m her boyfriend. Why else would I have her phone? Ma''am, it''ste. Don''t disturb our sleep."
He hung up right after.
Julia started coughing again, her anger ring.
"Did you hear that, Wendy? Ruby is outside sleeping with some guy! I had her chase Zane for two whole years, and she never got him. Then I told her to go after Zachary, but he was at the hospital with Samantha. That idiot! What has she been doing?"
She coughed even more violently.
Wendy patted her back, trying to soothe her. "Ruby''s grown now, and you can''t control everything she does. We took so many valuables when we left. We''ll have enough to livefortably for the rest of our lives.
"As long as Ruby doesn''t go back and let Ivan get his hands on her, we''ll be fine. She''s not a child anymore, so don''t worry too much."
Even though Julia knew Wendy had a point, she couldn''t shake a vague sense of unease, afraid that something might happen to Ruby.
...
At the same time, a man threw Ruby right back into the Sinir residence.
"Ms. Sinir, I''ve brought you home safely. No need to thank me!" He whistled, then got on his motorcycle and rode away.
"Hey!" Ruby called after him, but she felt a sudden yank on her hair and was pulled inside.
"You already knew you weren''t my daughter, didn''t you?" Ivan red at her, his eyes red with rage. "Tell me where your bitch of a mother ran off to! She stole so much of my belongings and fled. And I wasted all these years raising a bastard like you!"
"Ah!" Ruby cried out in pain. "Dad, please let go!"
"Never!" Ivan yanked her hair even harder, forcing her to the floor. "You always knew I wasn''t your father, didn''t you?"
"I... I am your daughter!" Ruby gasped. "Dad, I am your daughter!"
"No, you''re not!" He roared, louder than before. "You''re the bastard that your mother had with some other man!"
Ruby trembled and clutched her head, terrified as she began to sob.
"Damn it! Julia dares to run off with my money? Then, I''ll sell you to some old man," Ivan threatened viciously.
He dragged her up the stairs to a room on the second floor and threw her inside. Then, he locked the door from the outside.
"Ruby Sinir, stay in there. No, you''re not a Sinir," he spat through clenched teeth, punching the wall hard.
The thought of having doted on her for so many years-when in reality she was another man''s child-nearly made him copse in rage.
"Unless you can get your wretched mother toe crawling back, you can just rot in there!"
"Dad! Dad!" Ruby pounded on the door. "Let me out, let me out!"
"Don''t call me Dad. You don''t deserve it," he snarled before storming downstairs.
Ivan reached downstairs. He took out his phone and checked the time-it was already 6:00 am.
He slumped onto the couch. Julia, had dismissed all the maids, and the vi had been stripped of anything valuable. The gold bars, jewets, and shares from his safe were all gone.
He closed his eyes. Tears slipped silently down his face.
Just this past evening, he had been full of affection with Julia. By midnight, after he visited the hospital, he''d lost everything.
No, he still had Sinir Group. And he still had Sophia, his real daughter.
Sophia was close to Marcus, wasn''t she? That meant he could ask Marcus for help.
Yes, the business card. Ethan''s business card.
Ivan shot off the couch and rushed outside. He fished the card out of the trash bin.
Sophia was also Sky''s fiancée. Since Emma stabbed her, he could demandpensation from the Walker family.
As long as the Walkers or Marcus lent him a hand, Sinir Group''s crisis would be resolved.
Without wasting any time, Ivan
pulled o
I out his phone and called,
Ethan. After hearing the dial
a short while, the call connected.
for
"Hello, Mr. Sinir. You''re calling so early. Does that mean you''ve changed your mind?"
"Mr. Carter, I want to meet Mr. Holden. Can you set up an appointment, please?" "Sorry, Mr. Holden isn''t meeting anyone today. But I can meet you, Mr. Sinir." Ethan smiled and continued, "Is that convenient for you? I have the acquisition contract with me now. I can bring it over."
"What?" Ivan thought he''d heard wrong. In disbelief, he asked again, "What did you say?"
"An acquisition contract," Ethan repeated patiently. "The Sinir Group''s scandal has alreadye out. Mr. Sinir, haven''t you seen the news? Oh, right. You must have been dealing with your family issues all night. It''s no surprise you missed the reports about the scandal."