Charlotte Miller met Ava Walker’s unyielding gaze. She had never looked down on anyone, but Ava and her mother were truly problematic.
Ava’s mother, determined not to let Charlotte give birth to the Hallow Family’s child and receive more affection, or perhaps aware that her daughter was interested in Atlas Hallow, had doubled the contraceptive dose in Charlotte’s breakfast. Had it been poison instead, Charlotte would already be lying in the cold ground.
Maybe it wasn’t that she lacked the cruelty needed. Ava’s mother knew that using poison would bring too much trouble to herself and her daughter. If there were a way out, she might not have been around long ago.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Who gave you the courage and confidence to mock others repeatedly? Why? Because you’re the Hallow Family’s Young Madam? Unfortunately, so am I. If you must judge by status, we’re equals. What gives you the right?" Last night, Charlotte was nearly driven mad by Atlas Hallow. This morning, encountering someone as crazy as Ava, could she even enjoy breakfast peacefully to regain her strength?
No way. She had to find a way to leave the Hallow Family.
Once this thought appeared, it grew wildly like weeds on a wasteland, endlessly...
Atlas Hallow looked into Charlotte’s amber eyes and saw the hidden thoughts there. With his sharp lips slowly pursed, he thought he should set a fire to burn away the wild grass in her eyes.
Leave? How could she decide that now?
"Mock you? Shouldn’t I? Weren’t you the one who came running to him? What’s there to be proud of?" Ava, nearly throwing the cup in her hand, stopped herself due to Atlas sitting there with a grim and cold expression.
"As if you two were in love before getting married, so we’re in the same situation..." Charlotte said, standing up to leave the dining room. If she ate anymore, she might suffer indigestion.
Atlas stood up, his cold gaze sweeping over Ava, then followed Charlotte into the elevator.
Amir Hallow also stood up, smiling at an infuriated and trembling Ava, his enchanting eyes swirling with amusement: "She has a point. Can you argue against it? Don’t mess with her anymore; she’s not the kind of pushover like me that you can bully."
After speaking, he too left the dining room, leaving Ava quivering with anger, along with the bleak autumn wind and fallen leaves outside the window.
"Does your mother know you have such a sharp tongue?" No one truly understood Charlotte, including Atlas, who hadn’t fully figured out this peculiar woman.
She was charming and gentle, but it was just a deceptive appearance. In reality, she was a little tiger, only her teeth and claws had yet to grow; otherwise, they would be harmful weapons.
"How would she know? I’m not like this with her. I treat everyone differently," Charlotte said, her voice a bit hoarse, looking at Atlas with an expression that seemed to question if he was foolish.
"How do you plan to treat me?" The elevator ascended slowly, and the oppressive feeling remained. Charlotte didn’t want to answer this question. She took a deep breath, as though the elevator was running out of oxygen and she needed an extra breath to survive.
"I don’t want to live here. Can we move out? After all, the commute to work from here takes a while, and with year-end overtime, the time wasted on the road means I can’t get proper sleep," Charlotte cautiously suggested, dodging his question. Leaving the Hallow Family was an incredibly difficult game of chess for her, requiring careful strategy and cautious moves, however small they may be.
"You don’t want to answer my question? If you give me a satisfactory answer, I might agree to it." Atlas stood beside her, and the moment the elevator doors opened, Charlotte clearly felt a sense of relief wash over her whole being.
Giving a satisfactory answer seemed too difficult. Who knew what this deeply enigmatic and moody man considered to be a satisfactory answer?