Chapter S
As my words hung in the air, everyone around us froze.
Then came piercing laughter.
“Hahahaha! Mr. Wilde, what is this crazy woman saying? She’s Mrs. Reed? Then I must be the richest man on the planet! Are you sure she’s mentally stable?”
“Talk about delusions of grandeur! Everyone knows Mrs. Reed is a gorgeous socialite. This garbage collector thinks she has a chance?”
“Exactly! And Jackson Reed only has a son. This little girl isn’t fit to shine young master Reed’s shoes, let alone be related to him.”
Amid the laughter, Mason yanked me up from the ground.
“Natalie, you couldn’t even come up with a better lie! Jackson Reed, the man at the pinnacle of society, would look at you-my used-up leftovers? Please!”
Mason’s eyes were filled with contempt, as if I were garbage beneath his feet.
“I was actually considering giving you another chance to stay with me if you sincerely apologized. But you’re just a promiscuous woman who even dares to fantasize about Mr. Reed. Natalie, you’re as rotten as this trash-beyond salvation!”
With that, Mason grabbed a nearby ocean waste bin and dumped it over me.
The stench enveloped me, making me retch uncontrollably.
The project managers pinched their noses, cheering him on.
“Well done, Mr. Wilde! That’s exactly how to handle her.”
One man stepped forward with a suggestion:
“Mr. Wilde, rumor has it that Mr. Reed adores his wife. If he learns someone’s impersonating her, he’ll be furious. There’s a cold storage unit nearby-let’s lock her in there until Mr. Reed arrives to deal with her. That could help secure our cooperation with him.”
Looking at their ugly faces, I felt nothing but hatred.
Mason stared at me with disappointment, “Natalie, I’ll give you one last chance to apologize. Just kneel and beg Ivy for forgiveness, and I’ll let this go.
Otherwise…”
“Dream on!” I spat back.
Seeing my defiance, Mason’s expression turned ice-cold.
With just a nod from him, several burly men immediately seized me, binding my hands and feet tightly before throwing me into the cold storage unit.
Inside the freezing chamber, my body was quickly covered in frost.
Survival instinct made me scratch desperately at the door, the skin on my fingertips peeling away to expose raw, bleeding flesh.
Outside, I could hear my daughter screaming “Mommy!” at the top of her lungs, only to be silenced by Ivy slapping her repeatedly.
“Who are you calling Mommy? I’m your mother now! You little beast!”
When my daughter wouldn’t stop crying, Ivy stuffed a filthy, foul-smelling rag into her mouth.
Suddenly, the distant roar of an engine grew louder. Then a black Maybach pulled up with precision not far away.
A pair of long, straight legs stepped out of the car. A man in a bespoke suit with a commanding presence emerged, holding a perfectly adorable little boy in his
arms.
As darkness began to claim my consciousness, the last thing I heard was someone fawning loudly.
“Mr. Reed and the young master have arrived!”
Jackson cradled his son as he stepped out of the car.
Chapter s
He looked around anxiously, but couldn’t spot the lovely figure he was searching for.
Instead, all he found was a swarm of annoying alles buzzing incessantly around him.
Mason approached Jackson with forced casualness, bowing deeply. “Mr. Reed, we’ve been waiting for you. The ocean waste recycling project is nearly complete-we just need your signature. When might you have time to review it?”
As he spoke, Mason’s gaze fell on the little boy in Jackson’s arms.
When he saw the child’s face, inexplicable panic rose in his chest.
The reason was simple-Jackson Reed’s young son looked strikingly similar to Natalie, as if they were cast from the same mold.
Mason wiped cold sweat from his temple.
He reassured himself it must be a coincidence.
A woman as lowly and worthless as Natalie couldn’t possibly have any connection to the Reed family.
Irritated that his beloved wife wasn’t there to greet him, Jackson tugged at his tie in frustration, completely ignoring the obsequious Mason before him.
He strode purposefully toward the rest area.
Mason bit his lip, humiliated but unable to vent his anger. He could only follow behind Jackson with a forced smile.
Jackson’s assistant tapped Mason’s shoulder. “Mr. Wilde, please don’t take it personally. Mr. Reed is just upset because he doesn’t see Mrs. Reed. By the way, Mrs. Reed was supposed to be inspecting here today. Have you seen her?”
Mason frowned in confusion, his expression shifting slightly. Just as he was about to inquire further, a heart-wrenching wail pierced the air.
At that moment, Ivy was forcefully restraining the struggling little girl, her manicured nails digging cruelly into the child’s flesh.
You little brat, stop moving or I’ll kill you!” she hissed.
The little girl spotted Jackson walking past and summoned all her strength to spit out the rag.
She let out a desperate scream: “DADDY!”
