Fiona approached Hattie with a cane in hand, scrutinizing her up and down with a growing sense of resentment. She hated Hattie, Harry, and everyone around her. If it weren’t for them, she wouldn’t be in this situation today. Since she was not doing well, no one else deserved to be either.
“Turn off your phone, let’s talk slowly,” Fiona instructed.
Hattie kept a watchful eye on Fiona, who was equally cautious.
Fiona understood that she was not as clever as Hattie; she had failed twice. She was not as ruthless as her, calculating even her own child for revenge against Harry.
Hattie smirked and turned off her phone in front of Fiona.
They were in an outer suburb, surrounded by old alleyways. In the dim light of the broken street lamps at night, with no one around, only the occasional wild dog passing by. The alley bushes rustled, likely from rats.
Fiona did not immediately respond to Hattie’s words. “Hattie, we actually met a long time ago. You may not remember, but it was about twenty-three years ago when you were about six or seven years old. Do you remember?”
Hattie frowned; she really didn’t remember much from that young age. How could she remember meeting someone named Fiona amidst the daily interactions? She had no recollection.
“I don’t remember. I never bother remembering unimportant people.”
Both had fallen into dust, both had been bullied and injured. Hattie had even spent two years in prison. She had expected to become more restrained after enduring such inhuman treatment in prison, but perhaps her pride, confidence, and assertiveness were ingrained in her bones and could not be erased.
She looked at Fiona with no disgust or hatred in her eyes, as if she was watching ants on the roadside-insignificant. What Fiona detested the most was Hattie’s parents’ superiority despite being nothing themselves and looking down on her.
Who was Hattie to be entitled like that?
“Do you really not remember? Do you remember giving a gold chain with a small lock pendant to someone to pass on to Harry years ago?”
Hattie delved into her memories, her eyes now lit up after Fiona’s detailed description, recalling everything clearly.
“It was you?”
Fiona suddenly laughed, “That’s right, it was me. You gave me a gold chain to pass on to Harry, but I didn’t tell him it was from you. He thought it was my help all this time, which is why he treated me so well. Hattie, you’re smart in life but chose to be clueless in that moment. I only managed to survive beside Harry with your help.”
Twenty-three years ago, during the incident at Harry’s house, where he knelt under the rain near the Mason family’s land, he appealed to Mayor Su for help. At that time, Hattie had only glanced at them briefly, wanting to get off but was stopped by her parents. They often visited each other, so she was quite familiar with Harry. She recalled following Harry and teasing him as “Harry brother.”
Hattie was never short of friends, and Harry was just one of them, but the most special one. They had made a childhood promise, teased by parents, saying Harry was her little fiancé.
Their families had been close, but when the Stewart family was in trouble and knelt in front of the Mason family for help, they received no aid or acknowledgment.
Hattie asked her parents why they didn’t help the Stewart family.
Her father simply replied, “It’s a matter for adults; children stay out of it.”
At that young age, she didn’t understand much but knew Harry’s family needed money. How could she, as his friend, not help? So she gave a gold chain she always wore to a girl her age to pass it on to Harry.
After that, she never saw or heard from Harry again, thinking the chain never reached his hands and she never helped him.
Although the chain did reach Harry in the end, Fiona took the credit, and she never owed Harry anything.
Hattie’s mind raced, but her face remained unusually calm, fixating on Fiona with her unblinking dark eyes, showing a chilling and terrifying demeanor.
But there were even more shocking revelations waiting for her. Fiona wanted to see how long Hattie could maintain that calm facade.
“Don’t you want to know why your family met with such destruction? Years ago, Harry exchanged the gold chain you gave him for a significant sum of money. With that capital, he slowly expanded his influence, starting by helping those who had grudges with your Mason family. The Stewart family initially had some business cooperation with the Mason family, but Harry distributed their information for free. As time passed, within five or six years, your Mason family fell.”
“Also, your parents’ sudden deaths were because of Harry. Seeking revenge against your family, he wanted you to become like him. Knowing your parents’ loving relationship, he left them to choose. Little did he know they all perished… So, Hattie, if you hadn’t given that gold chain to Harry, your Mason family wouldn’t have met such tragic fate.”