How should I know what to do? If I had known about it, I wouldn’t be so nervous right now. How did Sonia know that something would happen to the Stryders? Tina bit her lower lip, her eyes dark as she glanced in the direction where Sonia left.
Meanwhile, Sonia arrived at the surgical department with Zane’s help. The doctor in the department was surprised to see her. “Didn’t you just come to change the dressing on your head last night? Why are you here again?”
Sonia didn’t expect the doctor to recognize her, so she cleared her throat awkwardly. “I came to have my leg checked this time.”
“Your leg?” The doctor bent down and looked around the corner of the table toward her feet. Upon seeing her swollen ankle, he shook his head sympathetically. “Miss, you are really having a streak of bad luck. You sprained your ankle when the injury on your head has yet to heal. You’d better go get an exorcism.”
“Pfft!” Unable to contain himself, Zane burst into laughter.
Sonia was already blushing because of what the doctor said, and when she heard Zane’s laughter, she was even more furious. Therefore, she elbowed him squarely in the waist. “Shut up!”
“Ouch!” Zane clutched his waist in pain, his face contorting with agony. “Woman, you hit hard!”
“You deserved it for laughing at me.” Sonia glared at him coldly.
With a pout, Zane muttered, “Fine, fine! I won’t laugh at you anymore.”
Sonia only let him off the hook after letting out a huff. While the doctor helped Sonia relocate the joint in her ankle and applied some medicine on it, Zane was busy finding out what happened to the Stryders.
When he learned that the current head of the Stryder Family was taken away by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, while other members of the Stryder Family were also being investigated, he turned his head slightly to check out Sonia in astonishment. It’s odd that she caught wind of what would happen to the Stryders when even I didn’t foresee that.
Having overheard Zane’s phone call, Sonia knew exactly why he was staring at her like that. A smile tugged on her lips as she spoke. “You’d like to know how I knew something would happen to the Stryders, right?”
“Yeah.” Zane nodded rapidly. “Tell me about it.”
“Nope!” Sonia rejected his request smilingly.
For a moment, Zane choked on his own words before leaning in with a cheeky smile on his face. “Don’t be like that when I helped you out during your confrontation with Tina and her gang earlier.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“So tell me. What exactly happened?”
Upon realizing that Zane was indeed curious about what happened, Sonia stopped teasing him and gave a summary of the incident. “Wasn’t Tina kidnapped? It seems like the kidnapper was one of my suitors. Therefore, Tina was convinced that I was the one who orchestrated the incident to avenge myself for this.” Sonia pointed at the bandage on her head. “Meanwhile, Melody used her status as the daughter of the Stryders to get several major banks in Seafield to reject my loan application in order to seek revenge against me in Tina’s stead.”
“Hold on. You’re saying that Melody used her status…” Zane’s eyes widened in shock.
Sonia nodded. “Yup.”
It took some time for Zane to collect himself before letting out a wry chuckle. “I see. Interfering with political affairs in other cities is generally a taboo among government officials. Not even her father dared to do that, but she did it nonetheless. Her father must be utterly vexed when he knew his daughter dragged him into such a huge hole filled with crap.” His comical description elicited from Sonia a laugh, which made Zane stare at her. “Were you the one who reported it?”
Sonia shook her head. “Nope. One of my employees with a prestigious background did that.”
“An employee with a prestigious background?” A look of amazement fleeted across Zane’s gaze. “You sure got lucky there.”
Sonia chuckled nonchalantly. “Yeah. I do have luck on my side.” Even though she encountered many problems ever since taking over Paradigm Co., she managed to maneuver herself out of situations with the help of the people around her. Charles, Rebecca, Zane, and Z-H were all dear to her because of that. She found herself fortunate to have met them.
“With the Stryders down, Melody will definitely hold a grudge against Tina. I bet Tina will be having a hard time from now on. After all, Melody is one hell of a madwoman,” Zane commented smilingly without even disguising the gloating look on his face.
A smile tugged on Sonia’s lips as she remained silent. Tina, having a hard time? I don’t think so. With Toby at her side, she will be well protected.
By that point, the doctor already finished bandaging Sonia up. He even gave her two crutches. Thus, she turned down Zane’s offer to support her, opting to get out of the hospital alone on the crutches. When she reached the parking lot, she saw a familiar face. It was none other than Julia, who was talking to the driver.
Julia stopped talking the moment she noticed someone watching her. When she turned around with a thermos in her hand, the elegant smile on her face faded away into a look of indifference. Her eyes were full of disdain as soon as she saw Sonia.
Already used to being on the receiving end of such looks, Sonia didn’t lose her temper. Instead, she continued heading toward her car while supporting herself using the crutches. When she brushed past Julia, she caught a glimpse of the necklace that the latter was wearing around her neck.
The vintage necklace had lost its luster, which indicated that it was probably an antique from many years ago. It was surprising that the matriarch of the Grays would wear such an unfashionable necklace. However, what caught Sonia’s attention was the familiarity of the necklace. She had seen it somewhere, but she couldn’t recall the circumstances under which she saw it.
Without giving it much thought, Sonia got into the car. It was Zane who greeted Julia after that, whom Julia smiled at before asking, “Do you share a good relationship with her?”
Zane knew whom Julia was referring to, so he glanced at Sonia’s car. “She’s alright. You seem to have something to tell me by asking that question.”
“Pardon me for being direct, but you should stay away from her, Mr. Coleman. She’s an evil woman who would only bring about misfortune to the people around her.” Julia could hardly hide her disdain as she spoke.
A smile tugged on Zane’s lips. “An evil woman? I don’t think that’s the case. What led you to that conclusion?”
“Isn’t the incident with Tina self-explanatory?” Julia frowned.
Zane spread his hands. “But from what I gathered, Sonia played no part in that. Even if she did, Tina was the one who dealt the first blow, so Sonia merely did that in retaliation to Tina’s actions. I suppose Tina is the more evil of the two.”
“You—” Julia was so angered that her face darkened instantaneously. Then, she snorted and said, “I’m only offering you advice because you’re Toby’s friend. It’s fine if you’re not taking it. I pray that you won’t regret it in the future.”
With a smile on his face, Zane retorted, “It won’t matter if I regret this. Most importantly, I know Toby will.” All of a sudden, he bent down to whisper into Julia’s ear, “Although Toby is blind to your daughter’s true nature, I am not. Besides, Toby won’t be blind forever, so he will eventually find out about it. What will she do when the time comes?”
Julia fell silent while staring at Zane in terror. From her point of view, he looked like the embodiment of the devil itself with that smile plastered on his face. Her lips quivered as if she had something to say, but she ended up keeping it to herself. After tightening her grip on the thermos, she left with a pale face.
Zane touched his chin as he watched Julia flee the scene. Although the smile on his face broadened, his gaze was as chilly as ever. Since Julia was Toby’s future mother-in-law, Zane figured he should have been more courteous to her for Toby’s sake.
However, the Grays hadn’t been too nice. Even though the Grays were based in Seafield, they bypassed the Colemans and reached out to the Stryders in Norfolk. It was a humiliation to the Colemans, so he saw no reason to be nice to any of the Grays.
“What did you tell her to scare her to the point of fleeing?” Sonia inquired curiously when Zane got back into the car.
