Chapter 759: Chapter 759: The Deal
"Why didn’t you report me to Dad, but came to me instead, why?" Marian questioned in some confusion.
"You don’t need to know the reason, you just need to understand that I’ve got leverage on you now. You need to pay a certain price to destroy these things that are fatal to you. Anyway, no matter how much I say, with your intelligence, you wouldn’t understand." Claude looked at Marian with contempt, which made Marian feel both humiliated and angry, but she didn’t dare do anything to Claude, not even speak up, feeling utterly intimidated.
"What do you want me to do for you?" Marian asked.
"You don’t need to do anything. I’m afraid you’d just mess things up. What I want is simple. Didn’t Dad give you two factories last month? Give me those two factories, plus one of the malls under your name." Claude spoke in a nonchalant tone.
"Mall? What do you mean by just one mall? I only have two malls under my name!" Marian felt as if her heart was being squeezed by a giant hand, hurting terribly.
"Are you reminding me that you have two malls, so I can ask for another one?" Claude showed a sly smile typical of a businessman looking at Marian.
When Claude didn’t smile, the bastards and illegitimate children were already afraid of him. Now that he smiled, Marian realized how merciful he was when he didn’t smile.
"No, no, no, I didn’t mean that. I’ll give you what you want, please stop smiling at me, I’m scared." Marian waved her hand frantically, fear taking over, and only when she saw Claude’s eyes getting colder did she stop talking.
Comforting herself constantly, in her heart she told herself that assets, though significantly reduced, were less important than her life. As long as this matter was resolved without anyone knowing, she’d still have the chance to gain Dad’s affection and regain what was lost.
Marian continually comforted herself and hypnotized herself to forcibly endure the heartache she felt.
Seeing as his objective for this visit had been achieved, Claude didn’t waste more words on Marian. Staying in someone else’s room with their scent everywhere made Claude feel uncomfortable.
Marian watched as Claude stood up from the sofa to leave, and was again stunned, looking at Claude’s back in disbelief as she asked, "You’re leaving just like that?"
"Don’t worry. I’m a man of my word. As long as I get what I want by tomorrow, I will delete all evidence regarding this matter and won’t hand it over to Dad." Claude said.
Seeing that Claude misunderstood her meaning, Marian felt a bit embarrassed and asked, "I didn’t mean that. I wanted to ask, you’re just letting me go like this? Not asking me to do anything else for you?" Marian couldn’t believe that Claude was actually letting her go so easily. Compared to Norman, who’d been thrown out of the restaurant over a mere dirty look, this couldn’t be explained by luck alone.
If it weren’t for Claude still being in the room, Marian would have jumped over to the window to check if it was raining red outside, or, driven by boldness, asked Claude if his mother had another daughter then, which happened to be her, to explain why Claude let her go time and again.
Savoring Marian’s confusion, Claude’s eyelid twitched uncontrollably, replying simply with a "No need," and stopped paying attention to Marian, fearing he’d catch her foolish aura and get infected with the same stupidity, which would be quite the loss.
Soon, Claude’s figure disappeared into the vast night, while Marian, watching the direction of his departure, sank deeply into thought. Had it not been for the sudden knocking on the door, Marian might have really gone to investigate if she was Claude’s real sister, unable to explain why Claude was always particularly lenient towards her.
Just as this time, she committed something as grave as plotting to kill him. If someone was trying to kill me, especially someone vying for family inheritance, wouldn’t anyone be furious? If they had the evidence of someone’s murder intent at hand, wouldn’t they strive to kill the opponent? How could one let the person off for just some money?
Unfortunately, the reality didn’t give Marian enough time to think as her room welcomed the first wave of visitors.
Marian blocked her door, looking at Nancy’s face, which she disliked, impatiently said, "Why did you come to my room? Say whatever you want to say quickly, no, I dislike you so much that I think you should stop talking and just leave." Marian said as she tried to push the visitor out, but Nancy brushed her arm aside and walked into the room.
Marian was astounded. Nancy always played the role of someone so weak it seemed a gust of wind could topple her, and this intrusion was entirely out of character, "What are you suddenly doing in my room? My room doesn’t welcome you, don’t you know? Your presence here stinks up my room, get out at once." Marian pointed towards the door and loudly told Nancy.
In truth, Marian found Nancy’s smell unbearable usually avoiding her whenever possible. Marian truly believed the air in her room was turning foul, the more Nancy stayed, the more Marian’s features twisted in unpleasant disdain.
Meanwhile, Nancy, accused of making the room stink, would never come into such a gaudy room if not intensely curious about what Claude just said to Marian. Similarly, if she wasn’t maintaining her persona, she would’ve made Marian understand what a true social beating was.
Nancy used deep breaths to control her emotions, maintaining an expression as timid as always, stared pathetically at Marian and said, "How can you say such a thing to me? I’m just concerned about you since we’re sisters. Even if we’re not of the same mother, we still share the same father, an unbreakable bond."
Nancy knew exactly what made Marian snap, what made her lose control, and indeed, when Nacy pulled out her trump card, Marian had the urge to scratch off that despicable face.
If not for fear of being seen, or Nancy tattling to Dad, Marian would’ve beaten this ugly woman beyond recognition.
"You’re the biggest bitch I’ve ever met. Besides pretending, what else can you do all day? Oh right, you’re good at tattling, irking me. You just want to know what Claude said to me, don’t you? Well, I’m not telling. I’ll let curiosity eat at you. If you have the guts, go tattle to Dad. Even if you do, I still won’t tell you!"