Chapter 17 Her Brothers
+8 Pearls
The entire Rivers family was busy preparing for Samantha’s birthday party. The second and third son of the Rivers family, Boone Rivers and Conrad Rivers, had also returned from overseas that very day.
“Boone! Conrad!” Samantha saw the two men walking in through the door and ran toward them with excitement.
Boone opened his arms and caught Samantha with a spoiled smile on his face. “Sammy, we’re back. Did you miss me?” he said, pinching her cheek playfully.
Samantha leaned into his arms like a spoiled child. “Of course I did.”
Conrad reached out and patted her head, then glanced sideways at Sloane, his tone meaningful. “Don’t worry, Sammy. Now that I’m back, I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”
Sloane raised an eyebrow at that. She hadn’t forgotten–when she first came back to the Rivers family, Samantha had a nightmare because she was scared of being sent away. And just because of that, Conrad had thrown her into a pool even though she couldn’t swim. He even had the maids stand by with bamboo poles to beat her if she tried to climb out.
She had almost died in that pool.
“Well, some people really don’t know their place. A lunatic trying to climb the social ladder? How could she even dream of marrying into the Hawthorne family?” Boone sneered, his gaze toward Sloane filled with pure hatred.
Sloane’s eyes darkened. It was Boone who had come up with the plan to send her to the asylum. Just thinking of those lightless days locked inside made her fists clenched tight, her nails digging into her palms. The pain only reminded her more clearly of how cruel these people really
“What? Do you think staying quiet will save you?” Boone crossed his arms and looked down on her arrogantly. “If you know
what’s good for you, you’ll go cancel the engagement with the Hawthorne family and return it to Sammy.”
Sloane let out a cold laugh. “I don’t steal or lie. I’m not like certain people who can’t produce their own research and steal other people’s work instead.”
Conrad’s face instantly turned pale. A flash of panic crossed his eyes before he shouted in rage, “You… You’re talking
nonsense!”
Does she know something? No, that’s impossible. Sloane is just a hick from the countryside. She has to be bluffing. Yes, that must be it.
“Don’t bother with her, Conrad. She’s just a madwoman biting whoever she sees.” Boone sneered, glancing at Sloane with
contempt.
“You’ve got your own house on fire, and you still have time to worry about others?” Sloane’s voice turned icy as she looked at Boone. “I wonder what your fans would think if they knew what you’ve been hiding. How would you survive that as a famous celebrity?”
Boone broke into a cold sweat. “What… What do you
know?”
He had gone abroad precisely to escape the fallout of a certain scandal. His agent said everything had been handled.
So how does Sloane know? And how much does she know?
Seeing Boone and Conrad cornered, Samantha quickly jumped in. “Boone, Conrad, don’t listen to her. She’s only been back a few days. There’s no way she knows anything. She probably overheard some maid talking nonsense and ran with it.” Boone and Conrad snapped out of it. Right, Sloane is just some clueless country bumpkin. There’s no way she knows anything. Can’t believe we actually let her get in our heads. She’s just a girl we can twist and crush any way we want. Nothing to worry about.
“So what if she’s engaged to Lucas? Now she thinks she can throw her weight around in this house?” Boone’s arrogance returned as he scoffed, “Pathetic.”
“Hah, wait till she gets dumped and becomes an unwanted stray–she’ll be crying her eyes out.” Conrad still felt humiliated for being rattled earlier. “If Lucas wakes up and finds out he’s engaged to some country hick, he’ll break it off faster than you can blink”
Just then, the butler walked in. “Mr. Boone, Mr. Conrad–Mr. Hawthorne’s assistant, Mr. Andrew, is here.”
6:54 PM P P ·
