Chapter 9
The next day, everything went according to plan.
Harvey told Jackson about our plan and suspicions. As for Sofia, we didn’t tell her anything to avoid her rushing over to pick a fight with Ruby directly.
After dinner, I pulled Sofia back to our room to sleep.
Harvey and Jackson crouched in the corner of the yard, waiting for Ruby to show up.
I lay in bed with Sofia snoring beside me. I thought anxiously, “What if I’m wrong about this?”
Fortunately, Ruby didn’t disappoint me.
In the middle of the night, a commotion erupted downstairs.
“Let go of me! Let me go!” a woman’s voice cried out.
It was clearly Ruby’s voice. Hearing this, I couldn’t hold back any longer and got out of bed immediately.
The loud noise had already woken up the neighbors.
At that moment, our small yard was packed inside and out with onlookers.
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Ruby sat disheveled on the ground. Under the dim light, she looked particularly pitiful.
She cried, “Harvey, what did I do wrong? Why are you and Jackson treating me like this?”
Late at night, there was a pitiful–looking woman and two cold men in my yard.
The surrounding crowd immediately started gossiping.
A woman said, “Harvey, you can’t betray Violet.”
Hearing her words, Harvey nearly fainted.
He said helplessly, “What are you thinking? She tried to set fire to our house. Look at all this oil spilled on the ground. If we hadn’t discovered it in time, all four of us would’ve been burned to ashes by now.”
Hearing his words, everyone in the crowd was stunned.
Someone asked skeptically, “The Clark family’s daughter couldn’t possibly do such a thing, right?”
A man replied, “You never know. I could tell she was no good from the start. If she could report on others back then, she’s certainly capable of arson now.”
The crowd discussed heatedly, and some people called the police
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Chapter 9
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I wiped my face with my hand, then stepped forward, grabbed Ruby’s hair, and slapped her.
I shouted, “We treated you so well, like our own sister, and you tried to burn us to death just to steal our men? How can someone as vicious as you exist in this world?”
Hearing my words, Ruby sobbed, “Violet, please forgive me, okay? I was just confused for a moment, led astray by bad thoughts. Please forgive me this once. I promise I’ll stay far away from them from now on.”
Then she turned to look at Harvey and Jackson: “Harvey, Jackson, I was just jealous of how well you treat your wives. Before, it was just the three of us. But ever since you got
married, I felt like I was drifting further and further away from
you.”
Hearing her explanation, some people wavered and began urging us to let Ruby go.
Seeing more and more people speaking up for her, Ruby put on an even more pitiful act.
She crawled to Harvey’s feet, clutching his pant leg, looking especially pathetic.
Harvey bent down and whispered something in her ear. Then
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Ruby collapsed on the ground as if all her strength had drained
away.
Just as everyone was wondering what was happening, Ruby suddenly screamed with bloodshot eyes, “Yes! I did try to set the fire! So what? If it weren’t for my dad helping you, would you have the good life you have now? One of you holds a high position, the other is a major livestock farmer. You have everything, shouldn’t you think about repaying your benefactor? If you weren’t so stingy and didn’t think I had feelings for you two, would I have resorted to arson? It’s my fault for not being capable enough. If you had all died here today, everything you
have would’ve been mine.”
As Ruby shouted these words, everyone in the yard stared wide–eyed. At that moment, the police arrived and heard the truth firsthand.
So the police didn’t waste words and directly handcuffed Ruby, preparing to take her away.
Watching Ruby about to be taken away, I thought to myself, “If Ruby hadn’t pulled these stunts, our two families would’ve already prepared half of our respective assets as a thank–you gift, planning to give it to her when she got married. What a
shame.”
Then everyone saw Ruby turn back to look at me in disbelief, then close her eyes and faint.
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After everyone left, Harvey tapped my nose with his finger and said with a smile, “You’re such a little troublemaker.”
I smiled back, “Doesn’t she claim she can hear my thoughts? I just wanted her to regret it every time she thinks about this in prison. The most painful thing in the world should be ‘what I
uld have had,‘ right?”
Hearing my words, both Harvey and Jackson nodded in
agreement.
Thinking about Ruby’s reaction earlier, I couldn’t help but ask, “What did you whisper to her just now? Why did she suddenly spill everything?”
Harvey took my hand and walked toward the house while giving my belly a meaningful look: “Want to know? I’ll tell you after our baby is born.”
Seeing his smug expression, I pinched his arm hard.
Just as I was about to speak, a sleepy voice interrupted: “Violet, why didn’t you take me when you went out for good food?”
Thinking about Jackson who had been grinning at us earlier, Harvey and I exchanged glances, then said in unison, “Jackson insisted on dragging us out. I wanted to wake you up, but he wouldn’t let me.”
After saying this, we smiled at each other under Jackson’s accusatory gaze, then quickly escaped.
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