Felicia held the dish of peeled grapes, feeling a bit awkward under Imogen’s gaze.
Then, she heard Imogen say leisurely, “Don’t mind me. If necessary, I can pretend to be blind.”
Her implication was clear, telling Felicia to unt her affection all she wanted. She could just pretend to be blind.
Felicia was caught off guard and coughed slightly, only to have a cup of warm water ced in front of her by Stephan. He never concealed his care and attention for her, no matter who was around. Even when Imogen was at <b>odds </b>with Felicia before, Stephan’s attitude <b>had </b>remained the same–open and unwavering.
“Imogen, what were you two talking about regarding Archie and Johanna? What truth did you uncover<b>?</b>”
Stephan asked.
The conversation between the two women had been vague, and he had only caught bits and pieces of information.
Imogen hesitated momentarily and <b>chose </b>not to reveal the full extent of the truth, especially the rtionship between Archie and Johanna. Instead, she said, “Half a year ago, when the ship ident happened, Archie faked his death. I found evidence of it on <b>his </b>phone.”
Imogen took out her phone and pulled up a <b>photo </b>from her album. It was a screenshot she had taken from Archie’s contacts.
“He saved this number under the name ‘Sir‘, and <b>the </b><b>call </b>logs are frequent. I suspect he’s working for this person or has made some sort of deal. Moreover…”
She paused, struggling to continue, before gritting her teeth and saying, “He’s been trying to trick information out of me. He made multiple attempts to get his hands on the Russell family’s seal!”
Stephan listened without much surprise.
Imogen was stunned. “You, You already knew?”
“Yeah”
“Since when?
“Two years <b>ago </b>–
Imogen was left speechless. Two <b>years </b>ago. That was when she had just started dating Archie. Back then, blinded by love, she had repeatedly urged Stephan to favor Archie.
She suddenly recalled Stephan’s wamings. He had told her that Archie was too patient, the type to endure humiliation and bide for time, which meant that his ambitions were far from small, But at the time, she had been too enamored to listen and had only focused on paving the way for Archie.
How foolish she was
<b>Imogen </b>berated herself internally before asking, “Stephan, what are you nning to do?*
Stephan said softly, “Of course, I want to eliminate the problem at <b>its </b>root. But I was worried you’d be reluctant.”
He had wanted to act countless times in the past, but because of Imogen, he had alwayspromised, <b>going </b>so far as to give Archie opportunities to strike at him. Imogen took a deep breath and said decisively, “Do whatever you need to. I only have one condition–leave those two to me
She wanted to personally make them pay–slowly and thoroughly.
Η
Stephan was genuinely surprised this time. Given Imogen’s personality<b>, </b>was she really willing to give up on Archie? It seemed that Archie must have done something truly unforgivable to her.
A trace of cold, murderous intent shed in Stephan’s eyes before he quickly
concealed it. He replied, “As long as <b>you’ve </b>seen the in “Believe it or not, Archie tried to polson me the very day he returned. He used a highly toxic substance. One shot of it could kill an elephant.”
the truth, that’s what matters.”
As he said <b>that</b>, he picked up theb report <b>from </b>the deskbeside him and passed it to Imogen. He teared <b>that </b>she might waver and believe Archle once again Imogen didn’t even nce at it. Instead<b>, </b>she <b>said </b>firmly<b>, </b>“I trust y defending those two scheming outsiders! That won’t <b>happen </b>again!
<b>you</b>. The past incident was my fault. I was so foolish that I didn’t trust my own brother and kept
Imogen’s eyes turned red. Remembering how she had once threatened her own life in the rainforest and <b>all </b>the hurtful things she had said, she felt <b>an </b>overwhelming sense of guilt
“I must have been out of my mind to say those things <b>back </b>then…”