Chapter 5 Standing up for Her

• “Yes, Mr. Langley.” Mr. Munoz hurriedly called the police to bring Thomas away.
• Hannah heaved a sigh of relief and lowered her head. When she saw that Connor was still grabbing her arm, an indescribable feeling washed over her.
• Just then, Connor released her and said dispassionately, “You don’t have to thank me. After all, we’ve made love twice, so I won’t turn a blind eye to it when someone is harming you.”
• Upon hearing his emotionless tone, she no longer felt moved by the fact that he had saved her. “Don’t flatter yourself. I didn’t mean to say thanks.”
• Upon finishing her words impatiently, Hannah turned to leave, and Connor didn’t try to stop her.
• Standing in front of her mother’s ward, Hannah started cursing Connor secretly. Right then, a nurse approached her and said, “Miss Fairchild, Mr. Langley told me to treat your wounds for you.”
• “You mean Connor Langley told you to do this?”
• “Yes.”
• Upon hearing the answer, Hannah reckoned that she had to be dreaming. Otherwise, why would Connor make a clean break with her and then tell someone to treat her wounds for her? If this is a dream, why does it feel so real?
• Feeling the pain on her forehead, Hannah gasped.
• The nurse stopped what she was doing and inquired, “Did I hurt you?”
• “No. Please go on.” Upon finishing her words, Hannah lowered her gaze to conceal the strange feeling that was welling up within her from showing in her eyes.
• In the evening, Hannah left her mother’s ward and headed for the home of her best friend, Demi Jones. She had just graduated from college and landed a job as an intern with a monthly salary of two thousand, which wasn’t even enough to pay for her mother’s hospitalization fee. Naturally, she couldn’t afford to rent a house.
• She was sorry for disturbing her friend by asking to stay over in her home. However, she couldn’t go back to the house where her cold-hearted father lived, so she had no other choice.
• Two days later, her wounds were starting to recover.
• After work, she planned to look around for a part-time job, but before she even stepped out of the company, someone from her family called her. Feeling frustrated, she connected the call.
• “Hannah, I’m Susan. Why haven’t you come home after such a long time? As a girl, it’s really inconvenient for you to live outside. Why don’t you come back home?”
• The person over the phone was Susan White, Stephanie’s mother. Although she appeared to be a delicate woman, she was in reality one of the most scheming people on earth. Over the past years, Hannah had been taken advantage of by her countless times.
• In the beginning, when Susan and Stephanie moved into her home, her father was still pretty good to her. However, due to Susan’s exceptional ability in sowing discord, Hannah and her father gradually became enemies.
• Feeling resentful of her, Hannah sneered. “Aunt Susan, aren’t you well aware of the reason I’m not going home?”
• After a moment of silence, Susan went on to say, “Hannah, I know you’re mad at me, but we’re still family. Why don’t you come home and talk it out with us?”
• Just when Hannah was about to reject her, Susan continued, “Even if you don’t care about your own safety, you should think about your mom’s survival. Her hospitalization fee is costly. You’ve just graduated from college, so how are you going to pay for it? Come home and we’ll discuss this matter.”
• I knew this was going to be more complicated than I thought. At such a critical moment, they still threatened me with my mom’s safety.
• Hannah sneered secretly, but she still said, “Alright. I’m going home later.”
• After the call ended, Hannah paced around the entrance of her company for a long time before deciding to go home, for she couldn’t put her mother in a perilous situation.
• She reckoned that they were asking her to go home because of Connor, but they would find out one day that she had nothing to do with him. Therefore, she had to go home and make sure that they wouldn’t harm her mother for the time being. Before she could afford to support herself financially and pay for her mother’s medical fees, she couldn’t afford to have a fallout with the Fairchilds.
• When Hannah returned home and saw that only Thomas and Susan were seated in the living room, she heaved a sigh of relief. However, as soon as she took a seat on the couch, she heard footsteps approaching the door. Raising her head, she saw that Stephanie and Sebastian were swaggering into the living room arm-in-arm.
• “Mom, Dad, we’re sorry for being late.”
• “We’re all family, so you don’t have to apologize.” Susan grinned from ear to ear. “Come on. Take a seat.”
• When she caught a glimpse of the glacial expression on Hannah, her smile froze. After composing herself, she said, “Hannah, all of us were in the wrong for what happened previously. Now that Stephanie and Sebastian have gotten together, and you’re in a relationship with Connor as well, I think we should forget about the past and move on. Do you agree with me?”
• All of us were in the wrong? What did I do wrong? Susan knew all the details of what happened, so how could she say that I was wrong as well?
• Staring at Susan, who sported a flattering smile, Hannah said with a grin, “I don’t really mind what happened, but if news that Stephanie and I have been engaged with the same man is spread, it might be embarrassing for our family.”
• Stephanie’s face darkened when she heard that. However, Susan had reminded her that Hannah had hooked up with a powerful man, so they couldn’t afford to offend her now. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so gentle to Hannah.
• Susan grasped Stephanie’s hands to motion for her to stay calm. “So what if the outsiders may say bad things about us? We have to live our own lives regardless.”
• Pfft. That’s so typical of Susan. Even if the situation is embarrassing enough, she can still talk about it as though it’s no big deal. Sometimes, I wonder how she can be so shameless. Well, if she weren’t so scheming, she wouldn’t have been able to destroy my family and become Thomas’s wife.
• “Alright. It’s dinner time now. We can continue our chat over the meal.” Sensing the awkwardness in the air, Susan suggested that they should have dinner now.
• Although the dishes prepared by the housekeeper were as delicious as usual, Hannah had lost her appetite in the presence of these revolting people. After the dinner, she couldn’t stand to stay in this house any longer, so she directly said, “Aunt Susan, aren’t we supposed to talk about my mom’s medical fees?”
• “Oh, there’s no rush to talk about it. Hannah, your mom has been bedridden for a long time, so I think I can be considered your mother as well. Don’t you think I should ask what happened with you?”
• Faced with her fake kindness, Hannah was disgusted to the core. When she heard Susan claim that the latter was her ‘mother’ as well, she almost couldn’t control her urge to regurgitate what she had just eaten. “Aunt Susan, stop beating around the bush. If you have any questions, just ask away.”
• A sinister glint flashed across her eyes as Susan asked with a smile, “What base are you and Connor in?”
• Sweeping a glance over Susan and Sebastian, who were pretending to be calm, Hannah put on a faint smile and replied languidly, “Well, it’s no big deal. We made love.”