Zendaya was able to walk, but it wasn’t a pleasant sight. That’s why she chose to sit in a wheelchair and play the role of eye candy. Naturally, Mallory was tasked with pushing her around.
“You seem quite pleased, don’t you?” Zendaya asked.
“What should I be pleased about? That you disrupted my peaceful evening by dragging me to this event or that I have to push your wheelchair?” Mallory replied. She loved annoying Zendaya with passive-aggressive remarks that drove her crazy.
Envy flashed in Zendaya’s eyes as she looked at Mallory. Suddenly, she leisurely said, “How long do you think you can manipulate others with your sex appeal?”
Just as Mallory was about to respond, Zendaya suddenly pushed off the ground with her intact left leg. The wheelchair slipped from Mallory’s grasp and shot straight down the slope.
“Help! Save me!” Zendaya screamed, looking like a butterfly plunging from the sky. All eyes turned to Mallory.
Their mother pushed her way through the crowd and slapped Mallory hard.
Mallory didn’t flinch, nor did she offer any explanation. She simply looked at Zendaya, who was surrounded by doctors, with pity. Her gaze only served to enhance Zendaya’s portrayal of being the wronged party.
Calvin wasn’t too far away. He furrowed his brows at the scene, and his voice was icy as he said, “Come with me.”
Meanwhile, everyone began whispering amongst themselves, commenting on how the Sadler family’s stepdaughter was wicked and that Calvin wouldn’t let her off the hook.
Mallory obediently followed Calvin and entered his study. The tall man had his back to her as he unbuttoned his cuff with one hand, and the phone screen on the table was still lit.
She caught a gentle whiff of sandalwood. It was a rather forbidding scent that perfectly matched his air of mystery.
“Mr. Barrett,” she softly called out. Turning around, he gazed at her for a moment before finally saying, “You’ve lost weight.”
He had been on a business trip to Sumanthova, and they hadn’t spoken on the phone or met in person.
Tiptoeing to help him take off his coat, she could hear his breathing next to her ear as he curtly asked, “Did you do it?”
She didn’t respond. Instead, she gracefully poured a glass of water and handed it to him. “In what capacity are you asking me that question, Mr. Barrett?”
“A year ago, it was you who cornered me in the bathroom without your underwear,” he replied, raising his voice slightly as he refreshed her memory.
Mallory shot him a sidelong glance. “That’s in the past.”
He turned her face back toward him and pried open her mouth with his fingers. Her pale lips instantly regained their color, and saliva trickled from the corners of her mouth.
Struggling fiercely, she bit down and cried out in frustration, “No brother-in-law would treat his sister-in-law like this!”
“What did you call me?” he asked, amused.
“Brother-in-law!”
He chuckled as his hand glided up her delicate leg.
Embarrassment washed over her, and she tried to escape. However, he easily pulled her back and pinned her down on the sofa, fixing his gaze on her lips. “Tell me. Am I the stubborn one, or is it you?”
Not wanting to admit defeat, she was forced to look up. “I thought I made myself clear a month ago.
One month ago, she had sent him a message that read: “Let’s end this.”
He hadn’t responded or reached out to her. Therefore, she thought that was how adults silently parted ways.
Calvin lowered his voice and sounded incredibly seductive as he said, “Then you
shouldn’t have come today. Are you planning to find another rich family’s son after leaving me? Using your ex as a stepping stone is not the way things should be done.”
“Calvin Barrett!”
“You should address me as brother-in-law.”
Mallory couldn’t control her physical reaction to him, and her eyes reddened as she slumped against him. “Do you also believe that I tried to harm Zendaya?”
She lacked morality. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have seduced Zendaya’s husband in the first place. Calvin, too, lacked morality. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have succumbed to Mallory’s seduction and even seemed to be a bit addicted to it.
