Sonia squinted ambiguously as she made a mental note to visit the doctor later. She wanted to know what was wrong with her health to the point where it made Tina so concerned.
“Suit yourself then.” Upon noticing Sonia’s insistence, Rose decided to give up trying to persuade Sonia even further.
Jean coldly grunted and said, “Mom, I think she must have forgotten her place.”
“Shut up!” Rose berated Jean, who shivered in silence when she heard Rose’s harsh response.
Despite her old age, Rose was still feared and revered for her status. Therefore, Jean had never dared to openly defy Rose, but only complained and grumbled behind her back.
“By the way, this is for you, Sonia.” Rose suddenly raised her hand and took something out from her pillow, which turned out to be a bunch of keys dangling in the air with a red thread.
“Is this what you said you wanted to give me, Grandma?” Sonia curiously held the keys in her hands.
As both Jean and Tina were expecting something much more valuable, they instantly lost their interest when they saw the set of dusty keys.
Rose nodded as she replied, “Yeah, your father gave me this six years ago and told me to give them to you one day. I should have given them to you earlier, but it slipped my mind the last time. So, I guess there is no time like now to pass it to you.”
Sonia looked at the keys in her hands with a bewildered look. “Why didn’t Dad give me the keys himself? Why did he ask you to hand them over to me instead?” It was at that moment that she realized her father and Rose had long known each other.
As she seemingly knew what was on Sonia’s mind, Rose smiled and answered, “Your grandpa and my old man used to be military brothers back then. Thus, when he couldn’t locate you six years ago, he entrusted me with the keys because I was the only one whom he could trust in Seafield. Shortly after that, your father…” Rose didn’t finish her sentence but trailed off with a sigh.
Nevertheless, Sonia knew that Rose would mention her father’s suicide. As she was reminded of that tragic incident, Sonia regretted her decision to leave her father to chase her stepmother who siphoned their fortune. If I hadn’t gone after that woman, I would’ve been by my father’s side and made sure that he wouldn’t do anything stupid. At the thought of the heartbreaking memory, Sonia’s tears began to roll down her cheeks as she began to sob. “Grandma, did Dad mention what these keys are for?”
“Of course, he did.” Rose gave Sonia a piece of tissue paper and said, “Your dad told me the keys are for you to access Reed Residence, where there is something extremely important for you there. He also mentioned that it was a necklace that you must locate and retrieve because it holds a huge secret, but nonetheless, he didn’t tell me what it was about.”
“Alright, I understand. Thanks, Grandma.” Sonia rubbed her nose with a tissue paper and sniffled, fighting back her tears as she forced a smile.
Meanwhile, Rose patted Sonia’s hand and responded, “It’s getting late now, so you should head home now. Visit me again next time.”
“I will,” Sonia answered. “I’ll make a move first then, Grandma.” She then grabbed her purse and walked toward the door without even bothering to look at Jean and Tina.
Jean mocked, “How rude!”
Upon hearing Jean’s words, Sonia paused at the door for a while before she chuckled and left the room in an unfazed manner. When she was about to reach the elevator, she suddenly heard someone calling out, “Wait up.”
Sonia stopped in her tracks and turned to look at the lady. “What’s the matter, Miss Gray?”
“Let’s have a word,” Tina said with a smile.
“A word?” Sonia raised her eyebrows in bewilderment.
“That’s right.”
Sonia smiled. “With all due respect, I don’t think there is anything we can talk about between us.”
“No, there is really a lot we can talk about,” Tina answered with a soft voice as she intentionally glanced at Sonia’s stomach.
It was about more than a month ago when Cynthia managed to stalk and take some photos of Sonia and Toby entering the same room for a long time. Since those two were alone, Tina believed that they must have likely shared an intimate moment together. Furthermore, Sonia’s nauseous reaction when she smelled the chicken soup had convinced Tina even more that she was likely pregnant.
The longer she is pregnant, the more sensitive her body becomes. As for now, Sonia must be thinking she is just feeling unwell, but if she finds out she is pregnant in the hospital, she may confront Toby with her child and hold him responsible for that. At the thought of that, Tina clenched her fists and swore that she mustn’t allow Sonia to do that. Toby is a responsible man. If he discovers Sonia’s pregnancy, there is no telling that he’ll remarry her for the sake of their child, which will render my years of effort a waste. No, I will not be made a fool out of that! Tina’s face twisted in anger, her eyes filled with malice.
Sonia squinted as she was able to see through Tina’s evil intention. “Fine, let’s talk.” She looked down. “I’m curious to find out what you want to talk to me about anyway.”
“Since you are okay with it, you should probably come with me.” Tina’s eyes narrowed as she smiled.
Sonia’s eyes darkened. “Aren’t we going to talk here?”
“It’s not convenient as there are many people.”
“Sure, lead the way then.” She smiled and gestured for Tina to show the way.
Tina coldly grunted and cursed Sonia in her heart, Just keep smiling. I want to see whether you will have the last laugh later! Her lips curled upward as she turned around to take a step forward.
With her eyes glued onto Tina’s back, Sonia appeared to be calm as she pursed her lips and took her phone out of her purse to dial Toby’s number. Although she had no idea what was wrong with Tina, Sonia knew she was definitely up to no good, judging from her malicious look. Nothing can be good, especially now that she is trying to isolate me by taking me to some hidden place. Isn’t it obvious that she is trying to do me harm? If that’s the case, I must do something in my defense. That’s right; I’m going to show Toby just how wicked this lady can be.
Since Sonia believed that Toby would change his mind about Tina once Tina was exposed, she was counting on that tactic to make him break up with Tina. If it really has to come to that, Tina will have no one but herself to blame.
Soon, the call was connected as Toby spoke with a soothing and deep voice, “What’s the matter?” However, Sonia didn’t respond as she stared at her phone screen. Instead, she picked up her pace and followed Tina closely to the stairwell.
Sonia placed her phone behind her back and asked, “Miss Gray, now that we’re in the hospital’s stairwell, can you tell me what exactly we’re going to talk about?”
Thinking that Sonia had accidentally called him by mistake, Toby was about to hang up the phone when his eyes suddenly dilated in surprise. Wait a minute! Is Sonia now with Tina?
Tina raised her arms without answering Sonia’s question. Instead, she looked up and scanned her surroundings. “There isn’t a security camera here, is there?”
“What do you think you’re doing?” Sonia pursed her lips and warily looked at Tina.
At the same time, Toby was also curious about Tina’s intention on Sonia. Soon, he quickly realized that Sonia didn’t call him by accident. Instead, she had intentionally rang him so that he could overhear the conversation between her and Tina, even tipping him off about the address of her whereabouts. Realizing something was awry, Toby tightened his fingers around the phone and instructed Tom to make haste. “Speed up.”
“Yes, Sir.” Tom responded with an affirmative hum and he floored the accelerator even harder.
Back on the stairs, Tina covered her mouth and chuckled evilly before she glared at Sonia with a menacing look on her face. “Do you have any idea how much I hate you, Miss Reed? I’ve hated you since the first day we met in university. You and I are like arch nemeses and there is only room for one of us to survive. In that case, you must die, Sonia!”
