For an entire week straight, Dorothy was stuck in the guest room. Apart from eating and sleeping, she spent the rest of her time talking to Belle on the phone, trying her best to accompany her daughter.
As she was having a video call with Belle, Belle asked in a childlike way, “Mommy, when will you come back from your business trip? I miss you, I miss you so much.”
Dorothy looked at her daughter’s watery and expectant eyes on the screen, and her heart almost broke.
She suppressed the sobs in her throat, winked at her daughter and smiled as if nothing had happened. She said, “Baby, listen to Madam Wood and Germaine obediently. I will come back and play with you once I’m done with work in a few days.”
Belle pouted and said, “Of course I’ve listened to them. I’ve eaten and slept like an obedient little girl, but Germaine said that it will take a long time for you to come back. I don’t want that! I want you to come back and play with me now.”
Seeing Belle’s big, black eyes filled with tears, Dorothy stopped smiling. She forced a smile and comforted her, saying in a gentle voice, “Alright, I will be back in a few days. I can hear Germaine calling you. Go on, it’s almost time to eat.”
She reluctantly ended the call. Soon after, Germaine called her.
When Dorothy answered the call, Germaine’s restless roar came to her ear. “Dory, Credence imprisoned you and won’t allow you to come out. Let’s think about this. There must be a way! Why did you agree to cooperate with Rosalie? With that b*tch’s personality, if you cooperate with her, she will definitely plot against you until nothing is left… D*mn, she certainly won’t be that kind to you. There’s something amiss here.”
“Germaine, in here, I’m treated like a criminal. Other than accepting Rosalie’s help, do you think there’s any other way for me to leave?”
“Have you thought about the consequences of angering Credence? Juelz will not be the only one suffering by then and he’s going to treat you even worse. If anything happens to you, then what about Belle?”
“No, that won’t do. I strongly disagree with your cooperation with Rosalie. She’s a ruthless snake. She’s bound to bite you behind your back.”
“How about I go to Credence and tell him that Belle is not someone else’s daughter, but his own biological daughter. I’ll ask him and see if he still wants Belle to be alive.”
“Why must you suffer so much for Belle, but he remains fine? How could he imprison you and make you his sex slave?! What wishful thinking he has! F*ck, why won’t he just die already?”
She said, “No! Germaine, don’t go to Credence.”
Dorothy shouted, and her eyes were full of determination and fierceness. “You know as well that he doesn’t love me. He doesn’t love me at all. I don’t want to use Belle as leverage against his feelings, and I don’t want to repeat those painful and unbearable days that I have had to go through for those past four years. I only want to cure Belle’s body, nothing else.”
If she wanted to tell Credence the truth, she would have done that a long time ago. Why would she wait until now?
Faced with Dorothy’s stubbornness, Germaine could not do anything other than agree, thus she let it go with a sigh.
After the video call ended, Dorothy noticed that it was already 7: 30p. m. After a while, a maid would bring her dinner.
Dorothy sat on the sofa and waited in boredom.
As expected, after a while, someone arrived. However, it was not the maid. It was Rosalie instead, who was wearing exquisite makeup.
As soon as she entered the door, she threw a dagger at Dorothy, and her eyes and brows turned cold. “Dorothy, I’ve arranged everything. Credence has something urgent to attend to at the company tonight. He will come back at about nine o’clock. When he comes to you, you can use this dagger and point it at me, then force him to let you go.”
“Me taking you as hostage? Do you think he will agree?”
Dorothy raised her eyebrows and said lightly, “Credence is not one to be persuaded that easily. No one can force him to submit. I am afraid that both of our legs will be broken before I can escape.”
“Do you have any better ideas?” Rosalie’s smile was a little strange, and the sneer on the corners of her lips grew even more intense. “Or, perhaps, you don’t want to leave Credence at all?”
After a pause, Rosalie’s pretentious expression disappeared, and her eyes turned gloomy. “Dorothy, are you going to give up your daughter’s life for a man who doesn’t love you?”
Belle’s life was even more important than her own. How could she bear to let Belle be schemed by Dorothy?
Although she thought that Rosalie’s method was somewhat strange, for Belle’s sake, and to return to her side as soon as possible, Dorothy had no choice but to agree to this subpar plan.
When she saw Dorothy nodding her head, Rosalie smiled coldly in her heart.
To Rosalie, Dorothy was just a b*tch who had always wanted to take Credence away from her. She was the same as a shameful woman who had sold her own body in a bar, and she wanted nothing more than to kill her to vent her anger.
However, such an insignificant woman like her had been imprisoned by Credence, a result not what Rosalie had aimed for.
She had a better plan to let Dorothy die a horrible death.
The two of them talked for a bit to refine the details. After the servants brought them food, they sat opposite of each other and had dinner for the first time. Then, they waited in silence for Credence to come back.
Due to the silence, the atmosphere of the empty room turned somewhat awkward and strange.
Dorothy looked at Rosalie’s cold face and forced herself to smile. “It has been six years. How are our parents? How have they been?”
Rosalie was flustered for a moment and sneered, “Dorothy, don’t pretend to care about my parents. If you really want to repay the kindness of them raising you, you would not have taken away my beloved man, and you shouldn’t have secretly given birth to his child behind his back too! You’re so shameless. You only think about yourself. Have you ever considered my feelings? Have you ever considered my parents’ feelings?”
Dorothy’s initial intention had been to ask about her foster parents, but she had not expected Rosalie to scold her for that. Thus, she felt slightly amused.
“Rosalie, you are really pathetic. Your mind is so twisted!”
Dorothy calmly looked at her frustrated and gloomy expression.
Although both of them had been raised by Caleb and Linda, she was not like Rosalie at all. She was not jealous, filled with hatred, nor was she not good at scheming and framing, Rosalie’s worst quality. She had not used any dirty means to achieve her goal.
“Dorothy, you are just an orphan, from a welfare home, an illegitimate child abandoned by your own parents. Who is more pitiful than you?”
Rosalie grew angrier due to Dorothy’s sympathetic expression. She lost control of her emotions and shouted, “Don’t you forget, I am Credence’s legitimate fiancée. Who do you think you are? You’re just a shameless mistress trying hard to seduce Credence. You are a shameless b*tch. Don’t you find yourself disgusting?”
“Are you angry? You’re noble and elegant, a lady from the Fisher family. What’s the point of arguing with a b*tch like me?”
Dorothy genuinely had no clue what was wrong with this woman. She stared at Rosalie with a stern face and wanted to give her a slap to wake her up. “Credence is coming back soon. What’s the use in making a fuss now?”
As soon as she said that, heavy footsteps could be heard coming from outside the corridor. Dorothy and Rosalie turned around to look outside at the same time.