Chapter 8
Awakened from her sleep, Veronica sat up, grabbed a coat to throw over her shoulders, and walked to the door. Through the peephole, she saw David’s furious face outside, and her eyes narrowed in displeasure.
She thought. This so–called father of mine always seems to pick the perfect time to stir up trouble.
“Veronica, I know you’re in there. Open this damn door right now.” David’s unrestrained shouting came from outside. Even through the door, his voice was loud and clear at such close range.
A flash of coldness passed through Veronica’s eyes. But in the next instant, she returned to her usual lazy demeanor. She pulled the door open. “Do you have any idea what time it is?”
Her tone was laid–back as she looked up and cast David a glance. In that moment, her eyes looked so much like her mother Claudia’s that David was briefly thrown off
But he quickly regained himself, his anger undiminished as he barked, “What did you do today?”
Veronica raised her gaze. David flung a newspaper at her, shouting, “If you don’t care about your reputation, that’s your problem. But if you drag down our family and disgrace us, I’ll publish a statement tomorrow cutting ties with you.”
Veronica smirked, “And since when do I have anything to do with you?”
You brat, David roared.
Veronica paid no attention to his reaction. Her slender fingers flipped through the newspaper, landing immediately on the large photo printed inside. The subject, of course, was her, and the location was the bus stop earlier that afternoon when she had exchanged numbers with Douglas.
She didn’t bother with the dense text printed beside it, and her focus was elsewhere. “Who took this photo! It actually looks pretty nice,” Veronica asked.
David was nearly driven mad by Veronica’s attitude. He thought, Dad’s been pressing me nonstop these past two days to bring Veronica back to Weston Villa, and that alone has already been a headache.
I didn’t expect Veronica to be so shameless, always causing trouble and dragging me down with her, making me lose face as well.
If I had known, I might as well have left her in that poor village. At her age, she should have already been married with kids there.
David demanded, “Is the man in the photo your lover from the village!”
Veronica, who had been studying the angle from which the photo was taken, was caught off guard by the sudden question. A moment later, she broke into a smile. “Mr. Weston, do you think everyone is like you, constantly falling for someone new?”
She had originally wanted to call David blind, but then thought better of it, realizing it would be an insult to the visually impaired.
David, humiliated and furious, raised his hand again to strike her.
This time, without Linda there to stop him, he thought he could finally teach Veronica a lesson. But just as his hand was about to land on Veronica’s cheek, she caught his wrist in a firm grip.
David’s face turned livid. “How dare you lay hands on me? I’m your f
your father.
Veronica looked up, the faint smile gone. She snorted, “Before you call yourself my father, think about what kind of man you’ve become.”
With that, she flung his hand away. She thought, I haven’t even moved into Weston Villa yet, and they’ve already come to harass me again and again. Do they really take me for a pushover?
How dare
you raise a hand against your own father? I’m gonna make you pay for it,” David shouted.
He rolled up his sleeves, ready to charge at Veronica. She didn’t move or flinch, watching him with the faintest trace of a smile on her
“What’s going on here? Oh well, if it isn’t my niece Ronie?” A careless voice came from the side, and as the words fell, Colton walked over with his hands stuffed in his pockets.
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