Chapter 121
"But Polly, why should we greet them?" Emely whispered to her.
Polly rolled her eyes at her, and an evil smirk appeared on her face. "Of course, we must tell him the bad things about Cherise. Do you want Cherise to be happy with men after her?"
Emely tried to pull her back. "Don't you remember that Cherise is an Alster and not just any Alster, but the heiress? She's even more powerful than her brother, and we both know the Alster Group is more influential than the Amery Group." Polly stopped walking and turned to look at Emly. "So?" she sneered. "We are just going to tell him the truth. Since when have you become a coward and afraid of her?"
Emely bit her bottom lip and put on her timid and vulnerable expression. "I'm just... I'm scared she would retaliate and bankrupt the Amery Group." She then grabbed Polly's hand and added, "I don't want you or Dahlia to suffer, Polly. Especially now that Hudson is siding with Cherise."
Polly smiled at her and squeezed their joined hands with her free one. "Emely, you are so nice to think of me and Mom, unlike that bitch Cherise."
Then she scoffed, "I really don't know what kind of spell that bitch had put on my brother." She paused for a while, then added, "And don't worry about her bankrupting the Amery Group. She won't have the heart to do it. We still have Grandma, and she loves Grandma too much to let her lose the Amery Group."
"Now, let's go and tell that Theodore Kingston and the girl who is with him about how Cherise has insulted us."
Polly pulled Emely forward again, and Emely acted helplessly like she had no choice but to follow her. While inside, she sneered at the gullible Polly.
She needed Polly to help her get Hudson, or that man'd kill her. And she didn't want Hudson to be poor because then what was the point of being with him?
A big plus point of being with Hudson was his wealth and influence. If she became the Young Madam of the Amery family, everyone would not bow down to her and would not look down on her or her family.
Speaking of her family, she needed to bring her brother to Country B as soon as possible to start the next phase of her plan.NôvelDrama.Org content.
Theo and Erica were eating cronuts and having hot chocolate, with Erica chatting excitedly about her new college, music, and everything else that made her happy. At the same time, Theo patiently listened to her chatter and gave responses when suddenly two ladies sat unceremoniously on the empty seats at their table.
Both brother and sister looked at the uninvited guests, and Theo frowned when he saw the two
women.
"Theo, do you know them?" Erica whispered to her brother.
"No, I don't," Theo replied, although he knew them.
"Hi, you must be Theodore Kingston," Polly said cheerfully. "I'm Polly Amery, Hudson Amery's younger sister, and this is Emely." She gestured to Emely, who still looked down and acted timidly.
"Sorry for disturbing your time with your..." Polly looked at Erica, who scooted closer to Theo. She felt uncomfortable by the way Polly was staring at her.
"Please get straight to your point, Miss Polly," Theo said instead of answering. "I'm sure you came to us and joined us without being invited because you have something to say."
Polly laughed and batted her eyelashes, trying to look coy while, in fact, it made even Erica, as a young woman, shudder just by how weirdly psychotic Polly looked.
"You are very perceptive, Theo," she said.
"Mr. Kingston," Theo said softly. "You have not earned the right to me by my first name casually."
Polly's facade nearly cracked, and she wanted nothing but to yell at Theodore. Who did he think he was to say those words to her? He was just someone from a fallen family and apparently didn't know his place!
But instead, she kept smiling and waved her hand. "Oh, we are just here to talk about Cherise."
Erica, who had been looking and eating her cronut, perked up and looked at Polly. "Cherise?" she asked. She liked Cherise and would love to learn more about her.
"Yes." Polly smiled smugly, finally being able to get the attention of someone, even though not Theodore.
She looked at the young woman and thought she must be Theodore's younger sister or cousin whom he loved like Julian loved Cherise.
An idea formed in Polly's mind. If she could get this girl into her side, she could persuade Theodore to hate Cherise, Polly thought with glee.
"You know Cherise used to be my brother's wife, right?" Polly changed tactics and rearranged her expression to be pitiful. "You might not know this, but after their divorce, she kept insulting me and my mother whenever we met."
She pretended to dab the corners of her eyes, playing the victim of being verbally abused after doing nothing wrong. She was betting both of them did not know about what her mother and she had done to Cherise since they had just arrived at Country B. Erica frowned and thought Cherise would not do that. Cherise was very nice to her and had shown no signs of becoming a vile woman, even though she and her brother were from a fallen family.
"I don't believe you," Erica suddenly exclaimed in a small voice.
"Excuse me?" Polly finally cracked and glared at her.
Erica straightened her body, braved herself to meet Polly's scary gaze, and said tremblingly, "Cherise helped me a lot and is always nice. If she's horrible to you, you must have done something awful to her."
"And you are right, Erica." Theo reached out and squeezed her hand, making Erica's body sag a bit in relief. This was the first time she had ever stood up for or confronted someone, which was a terrifying experience.
Theo kept his hold on Erica's hand, offering comfort as he told Polly, "Miss Polly, don't think anyone doesn't know how you and your mother treated Cherise before. The two of you were the ones who abused her, and now you shamelessly smeared her name. I never knew the high and mighty Amery family loves to play victims. It is a shame really for an upper-class lady to resort to such a lowly scheme like some gold-digging country bumpkin."
Theo had no problems with people from the lower classes; he just threw those words back at Polly because she used to say them to Cherise.
As expected, Polly's face turned red from rage, but before she could retort, Theo stood up, gently pulling Erica with her.
"I'd like to say it was nice meeting you, but I can't," Theo said. "It was our misfortune to meet you, and we wish never to cross paths with you again." Theo's voice was still gentle and soft, but his words were as sharp as knives.
Polly watched Theo walk away with Erica, and with no one to blame, she yanked Emely's hair, making her cry out, and slapped her, unbothered by the people staring at them.
"Why didn't you help me?" Polly hissed at Emely, who had tears running down her face.
"I-I-I didn't know how to help," she sobbed.
"You are useless," Polly spat, leaving her at the cafe.
Emely clenched her fists tightly and thought soon Polly would know not to mess with her.
Theo wrapped Erica's shoulder with his arm as they walked, and he praised her, "I'm proud of what you did back then."
"I just... I know Cherise is not a bad person," Erica said shyly. "She even helped me to get private lessons with Mr. Leonard, the maestro of pianists who never took any more students." "You like Cherise, don't you?" Theo asked her, and Erica bobbed her head shyly.
"Will you help me to get her?" Theo asked with a gentle smile.
"Of course!" Erica's eyes shone brightly at the thought of Cherise as her sister-in-law. "I will help you with anything you need to win her."
Theo chuckled and dotingly pinched the tip of her nose as they wandered around Country B's city center.
At Cherise's penthouse, Hudson checked her at 2 p.m. He thought of waking her up to feed her lunch, but he found her sweating, her eyebrows furrowed, like she was having a bad dream. He moved toward her and touched her arm to wake her up and find it warm. He placed his hand on her forehead and cursed when he felt her burning up.
With no other thought, he picked up his phone and dialed Keith.