Did Samuel Lockwood forget all the things his mother did to her?
Samuel just chose to blindly believe his mother, not even willing to trust his own wife?
"I’m not making a scene..."
Ivy Linden was exhausted, with Samuel’s mother’s words ringing in her ears. She told her that if Ivy didn’t accept her arrangements and refused to leave the Lockwood family, she wouldn’t let Ivy have a good life there, and she would find every possible means to make her suffer.
"Ivy, tell me, where are you?" Samuel Lockwood just wanted to find her quickly and didn’t want to argue any further.
Ivy said nothing, her fingers trembling as she pressed the hang-up button and handed the phone to Ivana Monroe.
Ivana Monroe’s phone rang again, it was Samuel Lockwood calling.
"Hang up," Ivy said, her eyes red, knowing there was nothing more between her and Samuel to talk about.
"Can I say one thing to him?" Ivana asked Ivy.
Ivy’s wet lashes trembled, without answering, which was a tacit approval.
Ivana answered the call, and Samuel’s harsh voice came through.
"Ivy Linden, what exactly do you want? Do you want me, Samuel Lockwood, to get on my knees and beg you to come back?"
"This is Ivana Monroe."
Samuel paused: "Give the phone to Ivy."
Ivana frowned and said, "She’s had too much to drink. If you truly care for her, give her some time for everyone to cool down."
Samuel went silent for a moment on the phone, then said, "Sorry, I apologize for my previous attitude. Please take care of Ivy."
Ivana was momentarily stunned; Samuel was angry, yet unexpectedly apologizing to her was surprising. Get full chapters from NoveI~Fire.net
She said, "Even if you didn’t ask, I would still take care of her."
Ivana hung up and saw Ivy grab another open beer bottle in the room, holding it to her lips, drinking it down.
Ivana took the beer from her, "Ivy, stop drinking, it’s bad for your health."
Crying with her hand over her heart, Ivy said, "Ivana, this time Samuel and I might really be over. I’m in so much pain. I want to numb it with alcohol."
Ivana said painfully, "Ivy, you’re drunk."
Tears rolled down Ivy’s cheeks, her expression numb, "Am I? But my mind has never been clearer."
The Lockwood family, only one child per generation, from the time she married into the family, both the father-in-law and the mother-in-law ordered her to give birth to a grandson.
At that time, though Ivy thought the elders of the Lockwood family were biased against girls, she didn’t care. She could bear children, and even for Samuel’s sake, she would bear more kids.
Later, after Nicole was born, she didn’t know why, but she found it difficult to conceive. She wanted to go to the hospital, but Samuel was unwilling, always refusing with various reasons.
Now, she realized Samuel had known about her situation all along...
Samuel loved her, and she loved him just as much.
She couldn’t bear Samuel having a child with another woman and bringing it home to raise, so she optioned for the worst choice... to leave Samuel and give in to his mother.
Ivana squatted in front of Ivy, cupped her face seriously, and said, "Ivy, I know you’re hurting right now. But no matter how painful things are, we must face them bravely."
"You raised Nicole from the start, she calls you mommy, sees you as her closest and dearest. Have you thought about what would happen to Nicole if you really ended things with Samuel?"
Ivy was taken aback, tears flowing continuously as she said tearfully, "Nicole’s grandma said... if I left, Nicole’s real mom could come back to Samuel, and she should love Nicole more than I do..."
Samuel’s mother was really ruthless, even saying such things to Ivy.
Ivana said, "But have you asked Nicole? Would she want to accept another mommy? Nicole is only six, she’s attached to you, and it would be hard for her to accept a stranger. If you leave her, she’ll cry her heart out."
Ivy cried even harder, "Nicole... my Nicole... I’ve always treated her like a precious treasure. Even knowing I’m not her biological mother, I still love her so much."
Ivana hugged Ivy, letting her cry in her arms.
Ivy’s crying turned into sobs, "Ivana, I’m so tired, I want to go home with you and get some sleep."
Ivana smiled, knowing that Ivy had thought things through a little.
"Alright, I’ll take you home."
Ivy’s legs were unsteady, and even with Ivana supporting her, she staggered and swayed. Ivana, being small, struggled to keep her from falling.
Some men, shaking their heads, walked past, clearly high.
While Ivana was supporting the unsteady Ivy, she accidentally bumped into the shoulder of a shirtless man.
The shirtless man blocked Ivana and Ivy’s way, looking at Ivana with glowing eyes and a rogue smile on his lips, "Gorgeous lady, you took advantage of me, what do you think we should do about it?"
The other men saw this and immediately got excited, whistling and surrounding Ivana and Ivy.
"What do we do? Get it back! The gorgeous lady is really curvy, what a hot body! Boss, have fun with her..."
"Isn’t it boring for the boss to have all the fun alone? Let’s take her to the private room and all have fun with her. And her drunken little friend is also quite pretty~ tonight’s luck is really good."
"Gorgeous lady, you better come with us! The more you resist, the more excited we get."
The shirtless man was just a thug, and having had some alcohol, was now excited by his cronies’ words. Looking at Ivana’s pretty face, his body was surging with lust.
Such a beautiful A-grade beauty, this was the first he had encountered.
The shirtless man took the lead to grab Ivana, and his cronies also reached out, with one grabbing Ivy’s butt.
Ivy let out a shout and turned, slapping the crony’s face.
"Stupid slut, you dare hit me?"
The crony harshly swung a hand at Ivy’s face.
In a panic, Ivana kicked the crony who was swinging his hand, wearing high heels, hitting the crony in the abdomen caused him to hold his stomach in pain and squat, unable to speak.
"Stupid slut, you hit my crony?"
The shirtless man’s face twisted, raised his hand, and slapped hard. Ivana couldn’t dodge and had to withstand the hard slap.
Ivana’s cheek rapidly swelled, a red line of blood streaming from her mouth corner.
The shirtless man thought that with this slap, Ivana would be frightened, crying and begging for mercy.