Free Web NovelChapter 88: Chapter 88: Not Ethan Lockwood?
"Arrest him! Hurry up and arrest him, he’s hitting people!"
"Quick, take a video and post it online..."
The hallway was a chaotic mess. Sonia Quincy held her belly, walking out of the room with a blank expression.
"Sonia." Felix Preston strode into the living room and reached out to steady her. "Why did you come out? Was the noise getting to be too much?"
Sonia shook her head, a faint smile playing on her lips. "Did you win the fight?"
"Of course." Felix raised an eyebrow smugly. "That guy? He couldn’t even touch a single hair on my head."
"Impressive." Sonia gave him a thumbs-up, then leaned into his arms and said in a voice only they could hear, "Felix Preston, wreck him!"
Felix lifted a hand to cup her face, a mischievous grin on his lips. "No problem."
"I’m going out for a bit." Sonia patted his arm and stepped out of his embrace. "I saw an old acquaintance. Thought I’d go say hello."
"Old acquaintance?" Felix was completely baffled, unable to guess who she was talking about.
Sonia: "That’s right, an old acquaintance. His last name is Lockwood, and he’s really asking for it."
Lockwood... As soon as she gave that clue, Felix knew exactly who it was.
"What’s he doing here? Is his compassion overflowing again?"
"Probably." Sonia gave a sarcastic laugh. "He should be on his way up. I’ll go to the elevators to head him off. You hold down the fort here. Don’t worry about me."
Felix took her hand and turned to walk her out. "I’ll see you out."
"Where do you think you’re going?"
The people crowding the hallway refused to move, blocking Felix and Sonia’s path completely.
"This isn’t over yet! Not a single one of you from the Preston Family is leaving!"
Felix took off his glasses and shot a cold look at the man who had spoken. "Was that punch earlier not satisfying enough for you? You want another one?"
The man, his face swollen and lopsided, took a fearless step forward. "Not at all! If you’ve got the guts, hit me again! Come on, right here on my head! You’d better kill me! If you don’t kill me, I’ll look down on you!"
"Stop trying to cause trouble here!"
Before Felix could respond, the lead police officer stepped forward and separated the two.
"The police and lawyers are right here. Are you trying to falsely imprison them? Move it. If you keep causing a scene like this, you’ll lose any ground you have, even if you were in the right."
The officer’s words had an effect. Upon hearing them, the man reluctantly cleared a path.
Felix protectively escorted Sonia out. She walked straight to the elevator bank, quietly waiting for her "old acquaintance" to arrive.
DING—
Two minutes later, the elevator doors opened in front of Sonia. She stepped forward, blocking Ethan Lockwood, who was just about to exit.
"Sonia Quincy?" Ethan Lockwood looked at her, completely astonished. Her appearance seemed to take him by surprise.
Sonia stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the first floor, leaving Ethan with nothing but her cold back.
"Cut the act. The only reason you came here was to find me, wasn’t it?"
Ethan Lockwood frowned but didn’t deny it. "How did you know I was coming to find you?"
"Hmph..." Sonia scoffed and didn’t answer.
The elevator stopped on the first floor. When the doors opened, Sonia walked out without a backward glance.
"Follow me."
"Wait for me by the entrance." Ethan Lockwood left his assistant behind and followed Sonia alone.
This residential complex was quite old; both the green spaces and the public areas looked a bit dated.
Sonia didn’t walk far, stopping after about thirty seconds under a thick camphor tree.
"What do you want from me?" She turned to face Ethan Lockwood, throwing the question at him directly, without a hint of hesitation.
Ethan Lockwood looked down, adjusting the cuff of his right suit sleeve. His movements were elegant, his bearing noble. "I told you a long time ago to sell the house to me, but you were just too stubborn. Look at you now, in trouble again."
"..." Sonia stared at him with a smirk that wasn’t quite a smile, not rushing to reply.
He slowly raised his eyes and sized Sonia up and down several times, his gaze finally landing on her stomach.
"Five months pregnant. Has Felix Preston given you a single day of peace?"
"..." Sonia still didn’t say a word.
Ethan Lockwood lowered his arm and took a step closer to Sonia. "This family has already posted about you online. Now, all of Aethelburg knows Felix Preston’s house is tainted. If you don’t handle this properly, you might end up stuck with this house for good."
"So?" Sonia asked.
Ethan Lockwood lifted his chin slightly, skillfully adopting that condescending look of his. "So, I’m willing to give you another chance. All you have to do is say the word and humble yourself a bit, and I’ll take this house off your hands. Seven million. I won’t short you a single cent."
"..." Sonia took a deep breath and then exhaled heavily. "Ethan Lockwood, don’t you find this tiresome?"
Ethan Lockwood: "Tiresome how?"
Sonia placed a hand on her hip, her gaze revealing a deep-seated exhaustion. "You send people to cause trouble at my house again and again, each time making a bigger scene than the last, and all for what? Just to see me at my wit’s end, and then offer seven million for a house that’s only worth three?"
"Ethan Lockwood, is there something wrong with your head? Besides annoying me, what could you possibly gain from a stunt like this?"
"...What are you talking about?" Ethan Lockwood’s sharp brows furrowed unconsciously, clear confusion appearing in his eyes. "Sonia Quincy, are you saying I deliberately sent this family to make trouble for you?"
"Weren’t they?" Sonia shot back. "To humiliate me, first you sent that ridiculous Ms. Armstrong. Then you really went all out, getting some old woman on death’s door to collapse in my house. Ethan Lockwood, what the hell are you trying to do? My life is already miserable enough. Haven’t you had enough of a laugh at my expense?"
"I..." Ethan Lockwood looked utterly aggrieved, as if he’d been gravely wronged. "Sonia Quincy, I admit it, I sent Ms. Armstrong. I did want to humiliate you. I did want to get back at you for Cecilia. But I swear, the group of people blocking your door right now has nothing to do with me. They aren’t my people."
"Not your people?" Sonia laughed. "Ethan Lockwood, do you really think I’d believe that?"
"The old woman had barely died before her family was posting about us online. In less than a few hours, they’d made dozens of posts, and every single one gained a lot of traction."
"There are thousands of netizens supporting them in the comments. And these netizens are strangely in sync. Not only do they post the exact same abusive comments, but they also simultaneously reposted the posts that doxxed our home address and property documents."
"What’s even more in sync is that all their account profiles are completely blank, and every single one was registered less than three days ago."
"Oh, and by the way, they’re all devout believers in feudal superstitions. They genuinely believe nonsense like the house can curse you to death the moment you step inside! How quaint!"
