Chapter 1685 The Bad Penny
Upset, Audrey cried even harder at his words.
You’re the one acting all rude! As much as I wanted to snap at Lucas, my priority was my daughter. I immediately went over to comfort her. “Shh… It’s all right,” I said gently, pulling the sobbing girl into my arms. “Mommy and Daddy will give you all of our good luck, okay? Everything will be fine.”
Meanwhile, Lucas had already taken a seat at the table, appearing completely at ease in someone else’s house. The nerve of that man was astounding.
Ashton’s expression was one of frosty anger and contempt. “It’s a family dinner, not a party,” he bit out. “Outsiders are not invited. Get out.”
Before Lucas could reply, another voice came from the doorway. “Come on, Fuller. Don’t be such a wet blanket. It’s the holiday season! The more, the merrier.”
It was none other than Quince, who had a woman hanging on his arm. She was in heavy makeup and dressed in a little red gown that showed off all of her curves.
The pair came closer, and bile rose in my throat when I finally got a good view of the woman’s face. Rebecca Larson.
There was no mistaking it. She seemed to have gone through another round of plastic surgery since we last met, but I could recognize that pair of eyes anywhere. No matter how much her facial features had changed, those eyes still burned with the same hatred toward me.
Many people had come and left in my life, but this woman? She simply stuck around like a persistent piece of gum on the bottom of my shoe. I scoffed internally. A bad penny always turns up.
“Long time no see,” Rebecca said with a cordial smile, all harmless and ladylike. It was enough to fool an oblivious person into believing we were on good terms.
Not nearly long enough. I stopped myself from retorting and rolling my eyes at the pretense she was putting up.
Just as I was about to ask all of them to leave, however, one of the maids hurried over with an uncertain expression. “Mr. Fuller, Madam, we have more guests coming.”
This was immediately followed by the sound of footsteps and the appearance of Nathaniel and Nora.
Ashton and I shared a look of aggravation. Both of us were probably thinking of the same thing: Way to ruin our family dinner.
“Festive occasions are meant for family and friends, am I right?” Nathaniel said, smiling brazenly before turning to the maid. “Could you get us a drink, please?”
The maid looked at me and my husband for a cue. When we offered no objection, she mumbled a quick assent and headed toward the kitchen.
Nathaniel and Nora took their seats opposite me, heedless of the strong “get out” vibes coming from Ashton.
My husband’s expression grew progressively darker with each passing second.
After several moments of terse, awkward silence, Quince, who seemed to have noticed the tension between Ashton and Nathaniel, was the first to speak up. “Hey there,” he introduced himself to the latter, “I’m Quince, a friend of Fuller. Nice to meet you, man.”
I knew what he was thinking—the enemy of my enemy is my friend. If those two were to form an alliance against Ashton and me, they could stir up some real trouble.
Unfortunately, there was nothing much we could do since we did not exactly have anything on Nathaniel to flush him out of our lives, nor were we able to take down the Skull gang at the moment.
To my surprise, however, Nathaniel completely ignored Quince. The former continued to sip from the champagne flute that the maid brought over, seemingly in a world of his own.
