Ch. 401..405

Chapter 401Sylvia knew that she was no match for Odell and had already accepted this fact a few days ago. Still, she could no longer bear to keep silent and burst out with tears in her eyes. “Odell, why are you doing this to me? I’m just another regular person. I’m not some kind of object for you to vent your anger at!” Odell grabbed her by her jaw and looked into her eyes that were soaking with tears. He answered grimly, “Because you betrayed me and you hurt Grandma!”

“I didn’t!” Sylvia could no longer hold herself back. She cried out in a tearful voice, “I didn’t hurt Grandma. And there was never anything going on between me and Edmund. Why do you just refuse to believe me?! Why?!”

Odell frowned deeply. After a moment of silence, he answered, “Because you don’t deserve my trust at all.”

She fell silent. She stared at his stoic expression, her vision had long turned blurry due to the tears in her eyes. She stared blankly for a second before she began to chuckle madly, “Heh… hehe…” It was true. He already proved that he did not trust her when he had her slapped sixty times years ago. How could she forget? Why did she agree to remarry him? What would it take for her to learn her lesson? She did this to herself! She could not stop her laughing fit which only grew louder and more hysterical as time went on.

Odell seemed repulsed by this display and immediately got out of bed. He grabbed a set of clothes and exited the room.

He did not return for a couple of days.

She did not know if he came back during the day when she was sleeping. All she knew was that she had never seen even a glimpse of his shadow during the hours when she was awake.

Until the day she was to see the children.

She woke up and did her makeup, then put on a simple dress before heading to the Carter’s old residence with the bodyguards escorting her. Isabel and Liam had been waiting for her.

She saw them as soon as she stepped out of the car.

She ran to them immediately and took them into her arms.

“Mommy, I miss you so much.”

“Mommy, I miss you too.”

Isabel and Liam said in unison.

Sylvia fought back her tears and forced herself to smile. “Mommy missed both of you too.”

After they hugged for a while, Sylvia took them back into their room.

She sat with them and began asking what they got up to recently. Isabel happily obliged and rambled about the interesting things that happened at school.

Liam chimed in from time to time with his own stories as well.

Sylvia listened to them.

After they finished, it was Liam’s turn to ask her, “Mommy, how have you been?”

Sylvia answered without thinking, “Mommy is doing well.”

“What about Great-grandma?” Sylvia paused for a second and thought about it before answering, “Grandma contracted this disease that makes her sleep all the time, but she’s doing very well.”

This time, Isabel asked, “Mommy, when will you be back with Great-grandma?” Sylvia answered with a soft smile, “I’m not sure yet, but we’ll come back as soon as we can.” “Okay.” Isabel noted with a slight twitch in her voice.

Sylvia smiled tenderly and patted her head.

Shortly after that, the butler informed them from outside, “Miss, time’s up. I’m afraid you’ll have to go back.” The color in Sylvia’s eyes dimmed ever so slightly as she replied, “Got it.” Isabel jumped into her arms and hugged her endearingly. Sylvia smiled gladly and helped Isabel up. Then she took Liam’s hand with her free hand and walked out of the room with them.

They went to the gate.

She kissed and hugged them in turn, then she turned back to the car. The children stood at the door and stared at her.

Forcing herself to turn her head away from them, Sylvia ordered the driver, “Drive.”

Half an hour later, the car stopped at the gates of Odell’s place.

Sylvia got out of the car and saw a white car parked outside the house. Sylvia recognized the car. It was Tara’s.

She stepped into the house with an indifferent look.

She saw Tara sitting on the sofa like she owned the place. She was chewing on some snacks

while chatting with Violet, “Take good care of Grandma. She’s Odell’s most cherished family member. Don’t let anything happen to her, do you understand?”

Violet answered dutifully, “I understand, Miss Tara, no worries.”

Tara seemed like she had something more to say and was just about to speak when she suddenly saw Sylvia enter.

Chapter 402

Sylvia looked at her with an indifferent look in her eyes.

Tara smirked and said in a smug voice, “Sylvia, it was Odell who asked me to visit Grandma. I’m sure you won’t mind.” Sylvia smiled a crooked smile and replied crossly, “I do mind. Would you mind getting out of here?”

The smirk on Tara’s face was wiped away instantly.

Sylvia continued staring at her with hostility. Before long, Tara formed a smile again. “Sylvia, Odell did ask me to come. He also requested that I visit Grandma more often in the future so if you’re not happy with me being here, why don’t you talk to Odell about it? If he wants me to leave, I’ll leave.”

Sylvia scoffed. “Then what’s the point of asking me if I mind?”

Tara’s eyes gleamed. “It’s just that… we used to be friends. I just wanted to talk to you.” “You sure you’re not just intentionally saying that to irritate me so I’d suspect you got together with Odell again?”

Tara’s face turned visibly pale.

She never expected Sylvia to expose her scheme in such a calm and straightforward manner. This woman should be fuming with jealousy and rage any second now. Sylvia could not be bothered to play this foolish game of exchanging witty insults back and forth. She grunted and walked past Tara, heading upstairs. She was not expecting Tara to immediately trail after her.

Sylvia had just entered the bedroom when Tara pushed the door open.

Tara seemed like she had transformed into another person now that she had come upstairs. She stood at the doorway and observed Sylvia’s room with a look of disgust.

“This room is so dark. Why do you live in some kind of ruin like this?” Sylvia snapped crossly, “Close the door.” Tara snorted. “Sylvia, do me a favor and drop the act. Stop acting all high and mighty and accept the fact that no matter how hard you try to seduce Odell, he’s still going to use you as a device to vent his anger.”

Sylvia felt a tightness in her chest and glared at her adversary. “Tara, you’d better get out of here right now!”

Tara laughed at this threat. “Wait, was I right? It’s strange to me that you’d do something like pushing Grandına down the cliff with Edmund helping you when you finally succeed in remarrying Odell You’ve ruined Grandma’s life. How could you be so evil?”

Sylvia glared at her murderously “You want to repeat that?”

Tara turned up her nose at Sylvia and taunted, “I’m saying that you’re a shameless b*tch!”

Almost instantly, Sylvia lunged at her and delivered a blow to her face.

The smack was as loud as thunder.

Tara’s eyes widened with shock. “How dare you hit me?!” Sylvia slapped her on the other cheek with her backhand. Tara stumbled several steps backward, writhing with pain. She covered her swollen face and gave Sylvia a sinister look. Sylvia was expecting her to strike back, but that was when she suddenly collapsed and sat on the floor, covering her face and whimpering weakly, “It hurts…” Sylvia frowned. It did not take long for her to understand why Tara reacted this way.

While she was crying her heart out, Odell’s tall and distinctive body suddenly appeared.

He approached Tara and helped her up, immediately noticing her reddening and swollen cheeks.

His expression darkened. “What happened to your face?”

“It’s just… Sylvia wasn’t happy when she saw me coming to see Grandma. I only came up to explain to her I was only here to visit Grandma and nothing else, but she refused to believe me

Odell glanced at Sylvia. There was a storm inside his eyes. Sylvia grimaced. Tara probably saw Odell approaching before she came upstairs. This would explain how she timed it so well. She intentionally riled Sylvia up so she would hit her, then Odell would stumble into the scene. With such supreme acting skills, it would seem like time had done nothing to blunt her skills.

 

Chapter 403

Tara flung herself into Odell’s arm and voiced her sorrows, “Odell, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have come to see Grandma at this time. I should’ve known that Sylvia wouldn’t like seeing me here. I hope I don’t cause you any trouble...”

Odell gently patted her on her back and assured her, " It's not your fault."

Then, he turned to Sylvia and asked with sharp hostility, “Did you hit her?”

“Yes, I hit her...” Sylvia met his gaze boldly and motioned with her hands. “Not just once but twice. My hand is still shaking from how hard I hit her. ”

Odell, "..."

Sylvia crossed her arms and continued, “Are you going to slap me to make things right for her? What’s it gonna be, twenty or two hundred slaps? Hurry up and get on with it if you’re going to do it. I need to rest after.”

His face darkened.

The cries of Tara who was still clinging onto him had turned into soft whimpers by this point.

Tara slowly turned to Sylvia and noticed the bold and arrogant expression she wore. She clasped her hands firmly and turned back to Odell, sobbing a little as she said, "Odell, forget it. I’ll be fine. I’m just going to go home and rub some ointment on it and it will recover in a few days. I hope I don’t cause any problems between you and Sylvia.”

Odell frowned sternly.

Tara looked at him with tears in her eyes and looked fully like a damsel in distress.

The air became terribly still for a moment, until Odell broke the silence. “Alright, you just go home and take care of yourself.”

Tara was astonished by this response.

“Pfft.” Sylvia chuckled.

Odell turned up and shot her a look.

Sylvia pursed her lips and held back her laughter.

To think that she initially expected Odell to punish her with twenty slaps at least.

Tara seemed to be fighting back tears at this point and she spoke with a nasally voice, “Alright, then I'll leave first. Please don’t quarrel with her because of me, especially since you two finally remarried.”

Odell's eyes turned dark for a split second. “Don’t worry, be careful on the way home.”

He let her go.

Tara was infuriated and clenched her teeth silently. She continued putting on a wounded look as she went downstairs.

Sylvia closed the door as she was going to rest.

Before she could close the door, a large hand pressed against the surface of the door and shoved it in the other direction.

Bang!

The door slammed hard against the wall.

Odell stepped toward Sylvia with a grim expression like the devil himself.

Sylvia instinctively grabbed at the collar of her shirt while slowly pacing backward. "Odell, I... I'm going to rest."

Odell smirked coldly. “You seem very energetic to me.”

Sylvia felt the words caught in her throat. She prepared to dash past him and make a run for it.

Just when it seemed like she could get away, she felt a large hand grabbing her from behind.

He effortlessly pulled her into his body with only one arm, then wrapped another arm firmly around her waist.

Sylvia immediately tried to push him away.

He snorted as if amused. Then, he cupped her face with his palm and silenced her with his lips.

Sylvia could not possibly resist his domineering strength.

Within seconds, she was thrown onto the bed.

Odell seemed like he was going to rip her limbs apart as if this was his way of indirectly avenging Tara for the two slaps she received.

Silence finally descended on the room around evening when Sylvia finally passed out.

She curled into a ball like a cat would, exhaustion spread across every cell of her body.

Odell lay beside her and noticed something was wrong. He raised his hand and gently caressed her. " Sylvia."

Sylvia closed her eyes tightly. Her chapped lips quivered, “No... don't..."

She was trembling all over.

Chapter 404

Odell looked at her face which was glowing beet red. After a brief silence, he stroked her forehead again.

It was burning.

Odell immediately reached for his phone and made a call. “Tell Mr. Forger to come here immediately.”

Shortly after, the family doctor arrived with a medicine box in tow.

Odell stood beside the bed and looked at Sylvia who was still passed out from sleep on the bed. He enquired with a stern frown, "What's wrong with her? 11

“Master Carter, the madam has a fever and is very weak at the moment. She needs a good rest more than anything else.” After a brief hesitation, he added in a low voice, “I think you two should abstain from making love for the next few days.”

Odell answered with a queer look, "Got it."

The doctor turned around and left.

Sylvia was still curled up like a ball and in a deep sleep.

Odell stared at her silently.

After a long time, he walked out with a sullen expression.

It was almost 9 p.m. when Sylvia woke up.

She quickly rolled herself out of bed.

She was still feeling terribly exhausted and could hardly muster the strength to move.

She reached the living room on the first floor with her legs trembling the entire time she walked.

She drank three glasses of water in one go and found something to eat. Only then did she feel slightly better.

Then, she went to Madam Carter’s room.

Violet was watching the madam by the bed and when she saw Sylvia appear, she got up and informed, “ Miss, Master Carter says that you should focus on resting tonight. Please get some rest, I'll watch over the madam.”

"No, you should get some rest as well,” Sylvia said and sat down beside the bed.

Since Sylvia insisted, Violet had no choice but to leave the room.

Sylvia did not bring any painting supplies this time around.

She was still feeling utterly exhausted and wanted nothing more than to just sit and watch Madam Carter.

After a long silence, she began to feel some of her vitality returning to her. She began talking to Madam Carter, “Grandma, I went back to see Liam and Isabel today. They are doing very well and they both miss you very much..."

She retold some of the stories the children told her as if she was making small talk with the bedridden patient.

....

Meanwhile, in a car parked just outside the gate.

Odell was by himself in the backseat with a phone in his hand. The display showed live surveillance footage of Madam Carter’s room.

Every word Sylvia uttered could be heard clearly.

It was not hard to hear the tint of exhaustion in her voice.

Still, she managed to speak gently and with clarity.

She told Madam Carter all sorts of stories about Isabel and Liam, making sure to pick the most interesting little tales.

Soon, Odell’s jet-black eyebrows twitched.

Ever since he moved Madam Carter here, Sylvia had been watching over her every night. Similarly, he watched over them every night as well.

Even now, he could not figure out how was it that the same person who hurt Madam Carter could speak to her with such affection.

How was she not haunted by guilt? Why did she never oppose the idea of living with Madam Carter?

Unless...

No, impossible.

She had to be the one who hurt Madam Carter.

The only reason that she could carry herself as if she had never done wrong was that she did not have to push Madam Carter off the cliff herself. It was Edmund who did the dirty work for her!

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

In these three days, Odell never showed up once when Sylvia was awake.

Sylvia had the luxury of freedom. She slept during the day and watched over Madam Carter at night. In her free time, she would make conversations with Violet.

She managed to extract some information from Violet.

For instance, she found out that Violet worked in the house during the day but had to spend the night in a separate house.

The moment she stepped into the house for her shift, she had to hand over her phone to the bodyguard posted by the door.

Even the doctor who came to examine Madam Carter was no exception to this rule.

This meant that there was no way for Sylvia to get her hands on a phone to contact the outside world.

Chapter 405

Over time, Sylvia and Violet became more comfortable with each other and eventually, Violet broached the subject. “Miss, I think Master Carter seems kind of distant toward you. Did you two fight?”

Sylvia was taken aback by this question and asked Violet, ’’Don 1 you know about what happened?”

“What happened?” Violet asked with a blank look.

Sylvia seemed surprised by this and proceeded to explain, “He thinks I’m the one responsible for putting Madam Carter in this state.”

“Huh?!” Violet asked with widened eyes.

Sylvia became curious. "Haven't you heard anyone talk about this?"

Violet explained, "Everyone said that Madam Carter became like this because she accidentally fell. Besides, I don 1 think you ’ re that kind of bad person who would do something like that.”

Sylvia smiled and said nothing.

She suddenly remembered what Tara said to her on purpose to provoke her the last time they met.

Since even Violet was not informed of the details, how was it that Tara came to know how she was the one who pushed Madam Carter down the hill? How was she so confident in accusing her of working with Edmund?

It seemed to Sylvia that Violet knew about what happened at the resort on that day.

Was it Odell who told her, or did she get the information from someone else?

1

1

Come to think of it, Ramona and the others knew about what happened to Madam Carter as well. Even though Ramona and Tara were not acquainted, Ramona was an avid collector of paintings and must have connections to many famous artists. It was rather likely that their social circle intersected at one point or another and that was how Tara came to know of the details.

The next morning.

Sylvia was just swapping shifts to take care of Madam Carter. As soon as she stepped out of Madam Carter’s room, she ran into Odell.

He was wearing a black shirt with an uninterested look on his face. His aura was as imposing as usual.

She shrank subconsciously.

Odell glanced at her before walking past her to enter Madam Carter’s room.

She heaved a sigh of relief, then went upstairs to the bedroom.

She took a shower, put on comfortable pajamas, and planned to catch some rest.

As soon as she emerged from the shower, she saw a man inside her room.

He was leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed in front of him. His dark eyes fixed intently on her.

She felt the strength drain out of her legs against her will.

That was when a thought suddenly occurred to her.

She recollected herself and went to him without being prompted to.

He gave her a narrow look.

She put her arms around his neck, then stood on tiptoe to kiss him on his lips.

A queer sort of silence descended on the room for several seconds.

He wrapped his large, muscular arms around her waist.

In an instant, she found herself on the bed.

...

After a series of hectic actions, a wave of silence reigned over the room again.

Sylvia was lying in his arms. Upon noticing that he was about to leave, she pinned him down with her weight and spoke in a soft voice, "Odell, could you stay here?”

Odell paused and regarded her with an odd look.

She suddenly explained, "I know you hate me, but I want to be more than a tool for you to release your

frustration on. I want you to sleep with me even if just for a while."

With that, she fixed him with an expectant look.

He remained silent for a moment with a furtive look. Then, he lay down and shared a pillow with her.

He did not utter a single word, but he silently put his arms around her.

It would appear that he agreed to her request.

She rested her head on his chest.

After some time, she could feel Odell’s breathing turn into a slow and regular rhythm. That was when she carefully pried herself away from his arms.

She gently rolled past him and got out of bed. Then she dug his phone out of the shirt thrown on the floor.

She found the phone.

She had seen him unlock it with a fingerprint.

She picked up his right thumb and pressed it onto the fingerprint sensor. Immediately, the phone was unlocked.

She stealthily took the phone to the balcony and entered the familiar phone number of Sherry. She drew a deep breath and made the call.

It only rang twice before someone picked up.

The first thing Sherry asked was, “Who’s this?” Sylvia whispered, “Sherry, it's me."