As expected, he soon said in a low voice, “Ashton must be progressing well in A City.”
His abrupt topic made me sat transfixed for a moment. Then, I frowned. “You can be straightforward with me, Mr. Murphy.”
He snorted, “You know what I want. Scarlett, honestly, I like you a lot. My mother asked me about you a while back, talking about how your stomach will be bigger soon. She even asked me when I’ll be preparing for the wedding and when I’ll marry you. To be frank with you, if you’re meeker and more obedient, I’ll be more than willing to let you keep the baby. However, you’re too cheeky; you registered that girl, and you even adopted her. What you’ve done upsets me. Once I’m upset, I’m prone to do bad things. So, I’m sorry, I could not stop myself from getting rid of that baby in you. You won’t hate me for this, will you?”
For a moment, his nonchalant tone made a murderous urge sprout in my mind. At that second, I wanted to strangle him to death; in seconds, I had already murdered him in a hundred ways in my mind.
However, I did nothing but look at him, waiting for him to utter all those words I despised. However, he did not continue. “You don’t need to record what I’ve said. These things are useless to you. Scarlett, for me to be in my position, I can’t be a fool, so stop those pointless things you’re doing, okay?”
My heart skipped a beat as I tensed. In the next second, I schooled my features to look calm. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me. I’m not doing anything pointless for those disgusting acts of yours. I know karma will come for you soon.”
He raised a brow at my reply before rising to his feet. Walking to my side, he leaned his face closer to mine as he smiled menacingly.
When I saw his bony fingers reaching toward me, I could not help but hold my breath. Swiftly, he removed my earpiece and mocked, “Don’t worry. I won’t do anything to you. There isn’t any need for you to wear these unnecessary things. It’ll only affect our conversation.”
With that said, he threw it out of the window. My mouth was set in a hard line, feeling rage boiling in my gut, but still, I looked at him calmly.
He soon returned to his chair. “I know you hate me, but that’s fine. If I can’t get you to love me, it’ll be equally thrilling to have you hate me. You shouldn’t blame me for what happened to the kid; you should be blaming yourself. If you didn’t appear, no one will do anything to you. But, Scarlett, you were too stupid to save someone who’s completely unrelated to you. That’s why your kid’s dead. This is the ending you’ve brought upon yourself, and the only thing you can blame this on is how you’ve stuck your nose into someone else’s business.”
“Shut up!” I roared. “Armond, have you never thought about how you’ll end up? I used to think that you’re a gentleman, but boy was I horribly wrong. You’re a scum that has no morals nor principles. No one will ever love you. You want that box, don’t you? I’m going to tell you now that I’ll never give it to you. I’d rather burn the box myself than hand it to you, so stop thinking of getting it. I want to see you destroy the Murphy family and yourself.”
Unfortunately, it seemed like he was not as angry with my words as I was with his. His gaze on me remained tranquil, but it took him a while before he said, “Scarlett, you know I don’t want to do anything bad to you. I hope you’ll be good and give me the things I want. That way, I won’t hurt you or those that you’re concerned about. If not, I can’t guarantee your and their safety. You must be curious about what this villa is for. Have you heard of a snake’s nest? I’ve loved them since young, but my grandfather did not like them. So, I could only secretly keep them. The third floor is where they reside. If I press on the switch, those upstairs will be together with my pets. As for whether they’ll live or die, I won’t know. After all, I’m not quite sure whether those pets I have are venomous or not.”
My eyes were wide as I stared at him in disbelief. “Armond, you shameless man!”
He nodded in agreement. “I, too, think of myself as shameless. But Nora’s with me. Say, why do you think she loves me that much? At the start of our relationship, we didn’t like each other that much, and I never have any romantic feelings toward her. Why is she enamoured with me?”
My hands clenched into fists as I scavenged through my brain for what I should do. I knew nothing about how many snakes Armond had kept. Since young, I was deadly afraid of these soft creatures. I was not sure whether we could escape the place in time if those creatures were released. If the worse did happen, he could easily dismiss his responsibility in the matter by claiming that it had only been an accident. All he needed to do was pay for the medical fees and remove the snakes. He would lose nothing in this.
