Chapter 8
967words
The crowd dispersed, leaving only Sydney and me, her eyes bloodshot with anger. She stormed toward me. "I've been so good to you, Chloe! Why on earth would you do this to me?"
Good to me? All the favors I did for her in my previous life turned into a fire that burned my entire family.
Was that called being good to me? What about getting me drunk and sending me to sleep with those men?
Sydney truly had zero conscience left. I went over all the horrible things she had done, my body trembling without me even realizing it.
If life hadn't given me a second chance, everything my family and I went through would be buried forever in that raging fire.
I smirked and whispered in her ear, "There are still more surprises to come. Want to guess what they are?"
She snorted. "I don't know why you're so smug. Aren't you in the same place as me now? Or did you think the factory would still want you?"
"Wait, you didn't know my family owns a factory?"
Sydney's face flushed red, her finger trembling as she pointed at me. "You… Your family has a factory, and you never told me? You just watched me get tricked?"
The factory belonged to my family, the Mansons, so why did a random Cox feel entitled to join us?
Besides, I had already learned the hard way what happened when I took someone like her in. Only a fool would repeat that mistake.
…
Sydney, with no money to her name, tried to sell the gold necklace Fred gave her, only to find out it was fake. With nowhere else to go, she ended up at the gate of my neighborhood.
Still, who would take in a stranger like her?
"After everything I did to get you into college, you end up fooling around?" A man shouted and slapped Sydney.
She snapped her head up, terrified. "Dad, why are you here?"
Her father, Arthur Cox, didn't give her a chance to explain herself. She quickly hid behind me. "Did you tell my dad to come here, Chloe? What on earth do you want from me?"
Nothing much, just for her to pay for what she had done in my previous life.
I pulled her out from behind me, forcing her to face Arthur. "I heard you got someone else to knock you up."
Sydney glared at me, then stammered to deny it. She should've kept quiet, and Arthur might've spared her another slap. "How dare you still deny it? Come with me and take me to the baby's father!"
He then grabbed her and started dragging her away.
"I'm not going! Please, Dad!"
Naturally, the fuming Arthur couldn't stand any resistance. He spun around and kicked her. "Don't tell me you don't know who the father is!"
He suddenly pulled out a knife from behind him.
Like father, like daughter. They were equally ruthless.
Seeing that, Sydney burst into tears and collapsed to her feet in front of him. "I'll tell you, Dad. I'll tell you… The father of the baby is actually…"
She looked up at me. "Chloe's father."
My world shattered. How could she accuse someone of something they didn't do without caring about the legal consequences?
Arthur narrowed his eyes at me. "You've been hiding your cards well, young lady. You wanted to use me to get rid of your father so you could inherit the family business."
A greedy, excited smile spread across his face. "Come on, Syd. I'll take you to live the good life."
I had no idea how they found out where my family's factory was. Regardless, they rushed over in a big hurry. It just so happened to be lunchtime for the workers.
"Get your ass out of here, Manson!" he shouted. "You knocked my daughter up and then hid like a coward. If you don't give me an explanation today, I'll press charges for rape!"
The workers crowded around to watch, which only made Arthur even more arrogant.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
At last, Dad hurried out. The moment he saw me, he yanked me close, brow furrowed. "What trouble have you gotten into?"
Typical. Not one bit of concern for me.
I told him to come closer. "This man says you knocked up his daughter."
"Like hell, I—" He quickly covered his mouth, then hissed, "What in the world? I don't even know her. How could it be my kid?"
Of course, I believed him. That was why I had already called the baby's father. For now, I would let Arthur make a scene—the merrier, the better.
"You have to help me, Chloe. If they keep making a scene like this, it'll ruin my reputation!" Dad whispered frantically.
I shot him a glare, and only then did he finally shut up.
"What, lost your nerve? If you don't come up with 500 thousand today, I'll drag this on for as long as I can!" Arthur threatened.
More and more people gathered around. Sydney's face lost its color by the second. She quietly tugged at his sleeve, trying to get him to leave, but why would he stop just before achieving his goal?
He slapped her again and shouted, "Stay out of this!" Then, he pressured Dad to hand over the money.
Time ticked by, second after second. Arthur finally lost his patience. "This is your last warning, Manson. You have ten more minutes left. If I don't see the money by then, I'm calling the cops."
