?Chapter 865:


    “Ow! Ah…” Katie gasped, cradling her hand as it flushed red and began to swell. “What the hell is wrong with you? Why’d you hit me?”


    Her eyes shed with fury.


    “If you hadn’t tried to grab my phone, I wouldn’t have needed to. You’ve only got yourself to me,” Christina shot back coolly, her toneced with contempt.


    Katie fumed, jaw tight, as she turned to Brendon in exasperation. “If she won’t sell, then let it be. She’s not qualified to attend Margot’s birthday banquet anyway. She’s just a caregiver.”


    Just as Katie looked ready to throw in the towel, Ynda jumped in hastily. She wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip by. In her eyes, getting that painting might be her golden ticket to changing her entire fate.


    “Christina…” Ynda began in a soft, coaxing voice. “Name your price. We can talk it over. There’s no need to be impulsive, alright? If we agree, it’s a win-win, right? No harm in that.”


    Taking a step forward, Ynda pressed on, trying to sound sincere. “You’re not seriously going to let that painting just collect dust, are you? People might hesitate to pay extra for it, especially when no one even knows if Margot will like it.”


    Ynda kept going, her words piling up like unwanted flyers. To Christina, it was grating.


    “It belongs to me. I’ll handle it however I please. You really shouldn’t act like you’re entitled to what’s not yours. It’s not exactly ttering,” Christina replied with a mocking edge, her eyes gleaming with disdain.


    Ynda’s face went pale, and tears began to brim in her eyes. She looked at Christina with a trembling voice, thick with emotion. “You’re still mad at me for taking Brendon, aren’t you? But I knew him before you did. If it weren’t for you, we would’ve been together a long time ago.”


    Christina barely kept from rolling her eyes. Her patience was wearing thin. “Enough of your bullshit. Are you moving or not? Or are you really trying to pick a fight here?”<fn5a3a> ?????? ???? Find[?]ovel</fn5a3a>


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    Christina didn’t care when Ynda and Brendon first met. By the time she married Brendon, they were already history. If they’d shown even a shred of decency during her marriage, maybe she wouldn’t be so utterly disgusted. But Ynda had knowingly clung to a married man without a trace of shame. Brendon had yed both sides—keeping his past me smoldering while still being Christina’s husband. No matter how much they tried to excuse their behavior, there was no way to scrub it clean.


    “No chance! Why should we let you through? Go on, step over us if you dare,” Katie shot back with defiance, squaring her shoulders as she nted herself in the doorway and stubbornly barred Christina’s path.


    Katie hoped Christina would lose her temper andsh out—then she could run crying to Bethel and finally paint Christina as the wretched viin she so desperately wanted Christina to appear as.


    Just as Christina prepared to put Katie and Brendon in their ce, a frail but authoritative tone broke through,ced with barely restrained fury. “What on earth do you think you are doing?”


    A servant pushed Bethel’s wheelchair toward the group.


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