“Sis, why have you come?” Isabella, seeing Emily suddenly appear, instinctively stood up from her seat, looking puzzled.
However, her reaction, seen through Emily’s eyes, was nothing short of pure guilt.
Without a word, Emily swiftly walked over and delivered a slap across Isabella’s face. The crisp sound of the slap echoed in the quiet enclosed space.
Isabella instinctively covered her swollen cheek, tears streaming down her face.
Sitting across from them, James, for a moment, didn’t react. Only when he saw Emily hitting Isabella did he angrily walk over. He stood between the two women, his gaze fixed on Isabella. Her cheek was red and swollen, tears of grievance glistened in her eyes. Any man witnessing her pitiful appearance would find it difficult to remain unaffected.
James instinctively reached out his hand, but Isabella skillfully avoided his touch.
She was highly averse to his touch now.
Andrew’s concerns seemed really unnecessary. She was so averse to even James’ slightest touch; there was no way she’d entertain any other intimate gestures.
Taking a step back, Isabella deliberately positioned herself behind James, looking at Emily with a pitiful expression. “Sis, why did you hit me?”
However, Emily saw Isabella hiding behind James as a provocation. Her man had turned into a shield for another woman. Emily was nearly consumed by anger and growled, “Why are you here, and what are you doing here?”
“Emily, are you done causing a scene? Isabella and I were just having a meal.” James’s tone was filled with impatience.
Isabella rarely asked him to have dinner together, and now this foolish woman had disrupted it.
“James, do you take me for a fool? Having dinner together now, if I hadn’t shown up, would you have ended up in bed after the meal?”
Emily was trembling with anger. Their first time together was calculated, but afterward, he always took the initiative, always arranging their meetings.
Now that she was just pregnant, he was in such a hurry to sleep with another woman. Men really couldn’t stop themselves from cheating.
Her mentioning ‘going to bed’ so bluntly made James unable to maintain his composure. He just wanted to quickly get rid of this crazy woman, not wanting to embarrass himself further in front of Isabella.
“That’s enough from you. Stop making baseless accusations and come back with me,” James said, reaching for Emily’s arm to drag her away.
“Why should I leave? James, are you feeling guilty?” Emily, however, was not willing to let Isabella off the hook so easily. She shook off James’s hand, turned around, picked up a tall glass from the table, and splashed the wine in it directly onto Isabella’s face.
The red liquid flowed down Isabella’s hair onto her cheeks, and she looked extremely disheveled.
She rubbed her eyes forcefully, trying to make them red. She couldn’t cry, but she had to make it seem like she could.
If it weren’t for acting along with Emily in this play, Emily’s caliber wouldn’t have been enough to touch even a corner of her clothes, let alone slap her or spill wine on her.
Meanwhile, Emily wished she had poured sulfuric acid, to ruin Isabella’s foxy face. Feeling unsatisfied, she reached out, attempting to scratch her face.
“I’ll kill you, shameless fox, seducing your brother-in-law!”
Seeing Emily pouncing, Isabella immediately dodged behind James. The show had almost reached its end; she must have been out of her mind to let Emily touch her again.
“Emily, you’ve misunderstood. James and I were really just having dinner together,” Isabella said, crying.
Playing innocent and helpless was Emily’s trademark. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t do it. She found it quite easy now.
Isabella kept hiding behind James, and most of Emily’s attacks landed on James. His chin was scratched, his face turning increasingly unpleasant.
“Emily, have you had enough? Look at yourself, you’re no different from a shrew,” James spoke with a cold and impatient tone, pushing her away.
Emily stumbled backward, nearly falling, instinctively reaching out to protect her abdomen. She glared fiercely at them and suddenly noticed Isabella, hiding behind James and smirking.
Indeed, she was mocking her.
“James! Are you blind? Can’t you see she’s doing this on purpose, deliberately trying to seduce you, deliberately trying to break us apart. She’s retaliating,” Emily cried out.
However, Isabella cried even more pitifully than her, simultaneously defending herself, “Sis, you’ve really misunderstood me. Though James was once my fiance, after you two got together, I let go. If I really wanted him back, there were plenty of opportunities when you were separating, no need to wait until now.”
Isabella’s words seemed to express grievances on the surface but actually stung with every sentence. She was reminding James that the real home-wrecker and schemer was Emily. Later, when his family declined, the person who pushed him away was also Emily. If even then he could remain indifferent, then he truly would have healed from past pain.
This articulate way of speaking, Isabella learned it from Charlotte. Mother and daughter, they were really good teachers to her.
Indeed, James’s face had become extremely unpleasant, and he pulled her out. “Isabella, let’s go, ignore this lunatic.”
Isabella followed James out of the room. However, Emily chased after them, nearly losing her sanity, crazily attacking Isabella.
Naturally, James wouldn’t allow her to harm Isabella and stood in front of her. His face was scratched by Emily’s attack.
Even if he lacked integrity, he wouldn’t physically harm a woman. However, amidst the struggle, he grew increasingly impatient and his face turned colder. Yet, after Emily slapped him across the face, his expression turned downright icy.
A man being slapped by a woman in public almost drove James to the brink of fury. When Emily lunged at him again, he forcefully pushed her away.
In his rage, the force of the push was not gentle. Emily staggered backward several steps. Unfortunately, right behind her was the staircase, and as she stepped back, her foot missed the step, causing her body to tilt backward.
“Ah!” Emily screamed, reaching out frantically to grab something to stop her fall. However, behind her were only smooth walls and a carved stair railing. She grabbed at nothing, her eyes widened in terror as she tumbled down the stairs.
She landed on the platform of the next level, her forehead hitting the opposite wall, almost fainting from the pain.
However, she didn’t lose consciousness. Maybe the pain from the fall was too much for her to faint.
She felt waves of relentless cramps in her abdomen, warm liquid trickling down her legs.
When she looked down, she saw her pants soaked in a thick pool of blood. The vivid red color made her eyes sting. She panicked and screamed, “Blood, blood! James, James!”