Chapter 12
Soon, J had been brought over to Henrick forcefully.
As soon as she saw Henrick, J started shouting in panic, “Mr. Southall, I‘m innocent! I
went out only because my useless son got into trouble again! I have nothing to do with the cobra
incident! Please, I‘ve always been loyal to the Southalls!”
J‘s pleas fell on deaf ears as Henrick ordered for her to be tied up.
Without any hesitation, the housekeepers did as instructed.
Still ignoring J‘s cries, Henrick walked around the hall and found a leather belt left
behind by a guest.
“Whip her!” he ordered as he handed the belt to the housekeeper.
Despite his initial hesitation, the housekeeper eventually carried out Henrick‘s orders.
Snap! With just one whip, J‘s skin instantly split open. The pain was so unbearable she
started screaming and writhing on the floor.
Arielle watched silently by the side, her gaze cold and unfeeling. It looks like the person who had snuck
onto my balcony to release the snake is this old hag. Arielle was furious and felt no pity toward J.
It‘s only fair that she pays the price for
this.
After tenshings, J was drenched in a cold sweat, unable to make a sound anymore.
Despite the pain she was in, she still refused to tell the truth. She’d be charged with murder if she did,
and she couldn‘t let that happen.
The housekeeper who had been whipping J couldn‘t tolerate any more and spoke up. “Mr.
Southall, we can‘t hit her anymore. At her age, if we keep this up, she‘s not going to be able to take it.”
Henrick understood the concern, and likewise, he didn‘t want any mishaps before he got to
the bottom of the matter.
Before he could give the order to stop hitting J, another housekeeper returned from his
investigation.
“Mr. Southall, I’ve asked around the markets in the southern district. One of the sellers said
he sold someone a venomous snake at midnight.”
J froze when she heard that, and the subtle change in her demeanor didn’t go unnoticed by the
eagle–eyed Arielle. “Was it J who bought the snake?” Arielle asked.
The housekeeper shook his head. “I didn‘t ask, but I did bring the seller here. He‘d also be
able to confirm if the snake dide from him.”
“Very good,” Henrick replied, “Bring the man in!”
Soon, the snake seller walked in cautiously and greeted Henrick.
After getting someone to bring the severed snake over, Henrick asked, “Is this the snake you
sold?”
It only took one nce before the seller nodded. “Yes, sir, this is the one. Some of the scales on its tail
hade off during the transaction. That‘s why I recognized it immediately.”
Henrick scoffed and walked over to J, who hadn‘t dared to look up since the mention of
the snake seller. He brought her to the seller and once again asked, “Did this olddy buy the
snake from you?”
The snake seller had no idea what was going on, only that he shouldn’t lie to a man like
Henrick. He took one good look at J and nodded, “Yes, that‘s her. She said she wanted to try
making some exotic snake wine, so I rmended her the most venomous snake I have.”
Têxt ? N?velDrama.Org.
With a witness and evidence, the truth was finally out. Henrick pushed J away angrily and asked
coldly, “So? What do you have to say for
yourself now?”
J sat on the floor shaking like a leaf. And yet, she remained silent.
“J, look what this hase to,” Arielle chimed in. “It‘s time toe clean about everything. Before
the police get here, tell us why you want to harm Shandie! You watched her grow up, and yet you want
to see her dead? Don‘t you think that’s too cruel of you?”
“No, I didn‘t. Why would I want to harm Ms. Shandie? She‘s like a daughter to me!” “Then who exactly
did you want to harm? Is it my father?” Arielle continued. “Did someone
else put you up to this to frame me? Or are you going to say I was the one who got you to buy
the snake?”
J was taken aback by thatst sentence.
She had wanted to insist that Arielle was the mastermind behind all this. However, now
that Arielle had brought it up herself, it‘d be foolish to use her.
Just as J was hesitating about telling the truth, Arielle turned to her father and said,
“Dad, call the police. Someone as vicious as her deserves to spend the rest of her life behind
bars!”
J immediately looked up at Arielle and pleaded, “No! Please don‘t! Both my sons still
need me.”
“Then tell us the truth. If you do, Dad might still let you off on ount of your long service.”
J had given uppletely. She knew what she had to do. If she told the truth, there was still a
possibility that she could get away with it. If she didn‘t,
she‘d be serving jail time for Shandie.
No matter what Cindy and Shandie had done for her, J wasn‘t going to sacrifice that
much for them.
“T‘ll tell you everything...” J cried out. “It was Ms. Shandie who instructed me to do it!
She ordered me to buy the snake and release it into Ms. Arielle‘s room. But I don‘t know how the
snake ended up being in Ms. Shandie‘s room...”
Arielle immediately piped up, “My room is very near Shannie‘s, so the snake could have
crawled over from the balcony. I just never expected Shannie to hate me this much. I thought
she had always treated me well...”
Arielle‘s voice trailed off as she stared into the distance in shock and disbelief.
“You old scumbag! And that little b*tch! You reap what you sow!” Henrick hollered. He let out a deep
sigh and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. “Bring Cindy
down. Let her see for herself how her good daughter had turned out!”
Henrick had spent so much money and effort on Shandie, only to have her turn out to be so cold and
vicious. What have I done to deserve this?
“Dad, don‘t get too mad,” Arielleforted. “I showed up so suddenly that Shandie probably couldn‘t
ept it. But I believe she will ept me in time...”
“You‘re still speaking up for her even after all this? Your kindness is going to be your
downfall! If things had gone her way, you‘d have been the one bitten by the snake!”
Arielle shook her head sadly. “Everyone makes mistakes. Shandie is still young. There‘s
much for her to learn...”
Before Arielle could go on, Cindy had been brought down from her room,
After J recounted the entire incident again, Cindy‘s face instantly paled. How could I have given
birth to such a foolish daughter?
Cindy had reminded Shandie over and over again how the time wasn‘t right to strike at Arielle. Not only
did her words fall on deaf ears, but Shandie had even gone to extremes behind her back.
“I‘m sorry, dear. I‘ve failed to teach our daughter. When shees back, I‘ll give her a good lecture!
Arielle, I‘m so sorry. I‘ve let you down and even used you. But, please, forgive your sister. I’ll get her
to be a good sister to you.”
Seeing how Cindy had taken the initiative to apologize to Arielle, Henrick calmed down a
little.
“Fine. I don‘t want to air our dirtyundry in public, so this matter ends here,” Henrick said
before looking at J. “As for this old hag, she has to go. Get someone to send her to the farm,
and make sure she doesn‘te into contact with anyone!”
With that, J was taken away, never to step into the Southall residence again.
Before long, Henrick received a call from the hospital. “Mr. Southall, Ms. Shandie has woken up, but
she doesn‘t want to stay in the hospital. She
wants toe home as soon as possible.”
“She can do whatever she wants!” Henrick replied harshly.
I still can‘t believe Shandie can be so vicious. If she has the gall to harm Arielle now, she might do the
same to me in the future! How did my daughter turn out to be such a monster?
Shandie had signed the discharge papers at the hospital and couldn‘t wait to return to the
Southalls.
Even though her initial n had gone awry, she was going to use it to her advantage by telling Henrick
the snake had been ced in her room by Arielle.
She was going to tell everyone that Arielle wanted her dead!