Don't Be a Tease, Mr. Blackwood

Chapter 158: Chapter 158: Wifey, Do You Believe Me Now?

10:00 AM.

The Kane Residence.

The doorbell rang. A maid walked to the entryway and turned on the video intercom, revealing a black sedan parked outside the gate.

No one got out of the car. Instead, someone was thrown from the back seat.

The person was wrapped tightly in a white bedsheet, secured with a rope. Recognizing the person in the sheet as their young miss, Vianne Kane, the maid turned pale and immediately called for help.

By the time Damian Morgan arrived outside with his men, the black sedan was already gone.

Vianne Kane was a disheveled mess, wrapped in the bedsheet with her hair in disarray. She was unconscious. Without a second thought, Damian Morgan scooped her up and hurried back inside.

Seeing her daughter’s miserable state, Bianca Kane struggled up from the sofa.

After returning from Sophie Shaw’s company, she had been lying face down on the sofa. She’d called a physical therapist to the house to massage her back and sprained ankle, and the pain had now subsided considerably.

"Call the doctor right away," she ordered the butler, then hurried upstairs after Damian Morgan.

After placing Vianne Kane on the bed, Damian Morgan carefully untied the rope binding her. When he pulled back the white sheet, he found Vianne completely naked. The lacerated wounds on her back were a shocking sight.

Bianca Kane covered her mouth, nearly fainting on the spot. Damian Morgan steadied her, and only then did she manage to compose herself.

When the family doctor arrived and finished his examination, he gestured for Bianca Kane to speak with him outside.

Confused, Bianca Kane followed the doctor out of the room. "Are her injuries serious?"

The doctor’s expression was grim. "Miss Vianne was sexually assaulted."

Bianca Kane’s vision went black. The doctor caught her and asked, "Mrs. Kane, should we call the police?"

"No, not yet. I’ll handle this."

She instructed the doctor not to speak of this to anyone and had him tend to the wounds on Vianne Kane’s back first. Afterward, she sent the anxious Damian Morgan away, telling him to go back to the office.

After the doctor left, she kept a vigil by Vianne Kane’s bedside, waiting until she regained consciousness.

The moment she saw her, tears streamed down Vianne Kane’s face.

"Vianne, tell Mom what happened."

Vianne Kane let out a sob and burst into tears. "Co... Conor Sullivan isn’t dead," she wailed. "He’s still alive. It was him... He did this to me."

"And Sophie Shaw... she set me up! She’s the one who sent me to Conor Sullivan’s bed."

Vianne Kane was crying too hard to speak clearly. "Mom, you have to help me. Help me get justice."

She didn’t dare to think about what had happened in that hotel suite. Just the thought of it sent a chill through her entire body.

Conor Sullivan had treated her less than human, tormenting her all night. In the morning, he had even tied her up and viciously whipped her with a belt.

As he whipped her, the man had said, "You have your dear sister to thank for landing in my hands. She’s the one who gave you to me."

"Mom, do you know why Damian returned the Heart of the Ocean to Sophie Shaw?" Vianne Kane, a sobbing wreck, said between hiccups, "Sophie knew about me and Conor Sullivan all along. She used it to threaten Damian, forcing him to give back the shares. For my sake, Damian just handed over the Heart of the Ocean."

Furious and heartbroken, Bianca Kane hugged Vianne Kane, gritting her teeth. "Don’t you worry. Mom will make sure you get justice."

"Conor Sullivan recorded it. He’ll come after me again. Mom... I’m scared..."

Vianne Kane couldn’t stop crying, her body trembling uncontrollably. A moment later, she fainted in Bianca Kane’s arms.

—

Lunch break.

Sophie Shaw was still deciding what to eat for lunch when a message came from Alaric Blackwood. He said he was sending a driver to pick her up so they could have lunch together.

When the driver arrived and dropped her off at the restaurant, she found not only Alaric Blackwood but also her cousin, Evan Ford.

The two men were sitting stiffly upright.

After they ordered and the food arrived, Alaric Blackwood kicked Evan Ford’s shin under the table.

Evan Ford cleared his throat and broke the silence. "Alaric doesn’t give you a hard time, does he?" he asked Sophie Shaw.

Sophie Shaw shook her head.

"If he does, you tell your cousin, and I’ll take care of him for you."

Alaric Blackwood: "..."

He shot Evan Ford a helpless look. ’Is that what I asked you to say?’ he thought.

Evan Ford received the signal in his eyes, cleared his throat again, and got down to business. "Sophie, actually, Alaric’s personal life is quite respectable."

Sophie Shaw: ?

"He isn’t involved in any messy relationships. Those rumors aren’t true."

Sophie Shaw turned to Alaric Blackwood in confusion. The man nodded with a perfectly straight face and chimed in, "Evan’s right. I’m a man of great self-control."

Sophie Shaw pretty much understood why he had brought her out to eat—and why he’d brought Evan Ford along.

She said nothing, just quietly ate her meal.

Alaric Blackwood watched her expression carefully, but since she didn’t react, he had no idea what she was thinking.

After the meal, he left Evan Ford with the task of paying the bill and led Sophie Shaw downstairs, leaving ahead of him.

He drove Sophie Shaw to the Heart of the Ocean building. "So, does my wife believe me now?"

"Believe what about you?"

"Believe that I don’t sleep around."

"But you do flirt with other women, don’t you?"

"..."

Sophie Shaw unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. Just as she walked into the office building, a figure rose from the lobby’s waiting area and approached her.

It was Joseph Shaw.

She was surprised to see him here. Joseph Shaw rarely came to the Heart of the Ocean, having shown no interest in it, both then and now.

Seeing the grim look on his face as he approached, she tried to sidestep him to get to the elevator, but Joseph Shaw grabbed her by the wrist.

"Sophie, you’ve disappointed me so much."

His face dark, Joseph Shaw yanked Sophie Shaw forward and slapped her across the face.

The sudden disappointment and the slap came so unexpectedly that Sophie Shaw had no time to react before it landed.

The force of the blow was so heavy that her ears rang instantly, and she collapsed to the ground.

There was a receptionist and security guards in the office building’s lobby. Seeing this, a guard came forward, but just as he was about to ask what was happening, Joseph Shaw seized Sophie Shaw’s wrist, pulled her to her feet, and dragged her furiously outside.

At the corner of the building, he threw her aside. Sophie Shaw slammed into the wall, her shoulder throbbing with pain.

Joseph Shaw stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at Sophie Shaw, who was leaning against the wall with reddened eyes. He remembered the phone call from Bianca Kane, telling him that Sophie had sent Vianne Kane to a man’s bed last night. His fury was uncontrollable.

He raised his hand to slap her again, but this time, Sophie Shaw didn’t just take it. She mustered all her strength and blocked his hand.

"What gives you the right to hit me?"

They hadn’t seen each other in ages, and the first thing he did was hit her. Sophie Shaw was stunned.

"You have the nerve to ask me? What you did to Vianne was worse than an animal."

Joseph Shaw finished speaking and wrenched his arm free, his rage boiling over. "Even if you and Vianne aren’t related by blood, she’s legally your stepsister! To do this for a scumbag like Damian Morgan—to actually persecute her and send her to a man’s bed... Have you lost your mind? How could you do something so vile?"