novelxo Chapter 66
Chapter 66
It was Tuesday.
With nothing to do before the measuring appointment, Lily kept herself busy organizing the files Nadia had assigned her.
That evening, she clocked out on time. As soon as she drove up to the entrance of the Bayview Gardens complex, a figure suddenly darted out in front of her car.
Still affected by the trauma from her recent accident, she slammed on the brakes in fright.
The difference was that when she woke up after the car accident, she repeatedly thought about how no one should suddenly appear on that stretch of road.
So she concluded that she must have been too exhausted those days, and it was just a hallucination. But this time, someone was truly standing in front of her car. She steadied her nerves and looked up. Bobby pounded on the hood with a bang while glaring at her.
"Lily, get out of the car!"
She was still driving one of the Joyner family's backup cars, so it wasn't surprising he could track her down here.
For days, she had ignored Hazel's calls and messages. Bobby must have come to confront her out of desperation for Hayden's situation.
She undid her seatbelt and stepped out of the car.
In an instant, he lunged forward and gripped her wrist tightly.
"What did you do to make Xavier angry? He's out to ruin the Joyner family's livelihood!"
Her wrist throbbed with pain, and she frowned. "What's he done?"
"He's cut off every single one of our business deals!" Bobby, who was never one for introspection, didn't pause to consider his actions.
He knew that saying those words would make Xavier angry. Perhaps Xavier would throw Lily out in a rage. But as long as Lily used every manipulative tactic to stay, what could Xavier do if she refused to leave the Fulton family?
The only explanation was that she had failed in her role and had not followed his plan to work with him from within to control Xavier.
"Whether he does business with our family isn't something I can control."
Lily hadn't expected Xavier to act so swiftly. Cutting off the Joyner family's business ties couldn't be done overnight. Yet yesterday, he'd still deceived her into coming back to sleep with him. She bit her lip, struggling to free her arm from Bobby's iron grip. But he only tightened his hold. "I raised you all these years for nothing! You couldn't save Hayden, and now you're dragging the whole family down. You're going back to the Fulton residence right now.
"I don't care what it takes-beg, plead, whatever you need to do to get Xavier to forgive you and reinstate our business!"
The pain drained the color from her lips.
"I'm not going back!" she retorted stubbornly.
It was rush hour, and a small crowd had gathered at the entrance to watch the scene unfold.
Not wanting to enter the complex under everyone's scrutiny, she tried to shake off his grip and walk in the opposite direction.
Through the crowd, she suddenly noticed a Maybach parked by the street.
Her heart stopped, and her blood felt frozen.
The car window was rolled down just enough to reveal Xavier's penetrating gaze.
He was watching this scene unfold without blinking.
"Lily, do you have any sense at all? Being married to Xavier is the luckiest thing ever happening to you!" Bobby scolded. He was oblivious to her sudden stillness.
"What pride do you think you have in front of him? If you get divorced, you'll be nothing but damaged goods. Who do you think would marry you then?
"You're going back. I don't care whether you cry, beg, or kneel. You have to make him forgive you. Stop pretending you're something you're not. Even if he kicks you out, you cannot leave!" With each reprimand, he seemed blind to the fact that she had stopped moving. Her face was a ghostly pale. She felt as if she had been stripped bare in front of Xavier. She felt humiliated.
The mocking look gradually filling his eyes left her wanting to disappear entirely.
him.
His gaze seemed to say it all. In Bobby's eyes, she was worthless and nothing more than a tool for pleasing him. How could she even expect him to see her as anything else? She was beneath