Chapter 4

Sophie suddenly slammed the table. The loud bang made Jason and Geraldine jump.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" Jason immediately leaned in, concerned about Sophie. His tone was diffident, though.

"What were you and Ms. Slater talking about?" she asked.

"Just work."

"Since Ms. Slater is also from Dalea, why can't you guys speak Dalean? I can't understand you when you keep speaking in Faerian." Sophie forced a few tears and put on an aggrieved look. "It makes me think that you're saying things you don't want me to know about."

"Don't be silly. Ms. Slater grew up in Prisa, so she's more fluent in Faerian." Jason soothed Sophie while saying to Geraldine in Faerian, "We need to watch ourselves and stop talking so much in front of her."

"Why should we?" Geraldine was indignant. "She'll find out about us sooner or later! You can't be thinking of keeping this from her forever?"

Jason didn't say anything. He'd never thought about divorcing Sophie.

Geraldine was displeased by his silence. She wanted to continue questioning him when they suddenly plummeted into darkness. She asked, "Why has the power been cut?"

"It might be a trip. I'll go look." Jason got up, and the sound of his footsteps faded into the distance.

The whole villa was shrouded in darkness. No one could see anything. This would be a huge inconvenience for ordinary people, but Sophie had long gotten used to it after spending two years like this.

"Don't be scared, Ms. Slater. The power will come back on soon." Sophie put down her cutlery and pulled on some gloves as she spoke.

"Hah." Geraldine didn't notice Sophie's actions and leaned back in her chair. She said mockingly in Faerian, "To think Jason really would stop you from undergoing surgery to restore your sight because I casually threw out that I didn't want that to happen. Looks like you'll spend the rest of your life blind. How sad."

Despite her words, her tone was smug. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, a crisp smack rang out in the darkness as Sophie slapped Geraldine hard across the face.

Sophie had put all her strength into it, so both her palm and Geraldine's cheek went numb from the pain. Sophie had told Fiona to cut the power, and this slap was something she'd wanted to do for ages!

She'd bottled up her anger for the past few days and desperately needed to vent it now.

Geraldine was stunned for a few seconds. When she returned to her senses, she let out a bloodcurdling scream and lost her mind. She shrieked in Dalean, "How dare you slap me!"

She flailed wildly, wanting to catch Sophie. However, she wasn't even half as agile as Sophie in the darkness and failed to grab hold of anything.

Geraldine had bullied Sophie since they were children and had stolen the latter's corneas later on. She'd also hooked up with Jason and wanted to keep her blind forever!

Sophie burned with hatred for Geraldine and Jason. One slap wasn't nearly enough for her to vent all her anger!

She grabbed Geraldine's flailing arms and slapped her hard a few more times before the power returned. She only released Geraldine when her time was almost up and deliberately collapsed onto the floor.

Before that, she stuffed her gloves into the inner pocket of her clothes and made a glass of water fall from the table.

It shattered, and the shards flew everywhere. At the same time, the lights came back on.

"Sophie Walker! I'll kill you!" As soon as there was light, Geraldine lunged forward hysterically, wanting to hit Sophie.

Sophie feigned terror and backed away, crying, "What happened, Ms. Slater! Please don't be like this!"

That was the scene that greeted Jason when he ran back in. He immediately darted forward to grab Geraldine by the wrist. "What are you doing?"

"It was Sophie! She—"

"Jason, it hurts." Sophie interrupted Geraldine and called out to him, sounding aggrieved. "I don't know what happened to Ms. Slater, but she suddenly pushed me off my chair and even threw something at me."

She started feeling around for Jason, almost touching the glass shards on the floor. "Jason, where are you? I'm scared."

He quickly helped her up.

"She's lying! She slapped me!" Geraldine widened her eyes in anger.

Jason looked at the handprints on her face, then at Sophie, who still had bandages around her eyes. For a moment, he didn't know who to believe.

Sophie could tell he was hesitating when she didn't hear him say anything. She seized the moment to push harder and said, "Ms. Slater, someone framed me just like this when I was younger. I fell for it once, but I won't fall for it again!

"You're welcome to call the police or get your injuries checked. See whether you can lift my fingerprints off your wounds!"

When Sophie was 15, Geraldine had tried to frame her by deliberately rolling down the stairs and claiming that Sophie had pushed her.

Geraldine had been bedridden for a month. The incident had blown up, and Sophie would likely have ended up in a juvenile detention center if Jason had not found out the truth later on.

Even so, Geraldine had never apologized to Sophie.

Now that Sophie had brought up the past, both Jason and Geraldine's expressions shifted.

Geraldine had never stopped picking on Sophie over the years, and she had a record. Jason found it hard to believe her words.

Meanwhile, in Geraldine's case, she was too proud to want to have her injuries checked with her face in such a state. Even if she did go ahead with it, they wouldn't find anything because Sophie had worn gloves.

Sophie had counted on both of these things when planning this move.

"I swear it's not like that this time!" Geraldine finally realized something was amiss and panicked. She reached out to grab Jason's arm, but he'd already pulled Sophie close to him.

His heart softened when he saw her pale face and felt her trembling in his arms. He held her tighter. He turned back to give Geraldine an unfathomable look, but he didn't say anything. All he did was carry Sophie upstairs.

Geraldine was about to explode with anger after being left downstairs. She screamed in rage and smashed everything on the table.

On the way back to the bedroom, Sophie thought about how Geraldine had to take the blame for this after being slapped hard several times. The anger and frustration that had weighed her heart down finally lifted slightly.

Still, she had no intention of letting Jason off the hook.

"Jason." She gripped his collar tightly. Her voice trembled as she asked, "Why do I feel like Ms. Slater's voice is so similar to Geraldine's? Is her surname really Slater?"

Even though Jason had taken Sophie away, his mind was still on Geraldine. Hearing Sophie suddenly say that frightened him, and his heart sank.

"Of course." He forced himself to calm down. "Even people who aren't related by blood can look identical to each other, let alone sound similar. It's perfectly normal. You know that Geraldine and I barely know each other. How could she possibly show up here?"

"Yeah, that's true. And you know how much I hate her. There's no way you'd bring her into our home." Sophie couldn't stop herself from tightening her hold on Jason's collar as she spoke.

The Samson and Gray families were close, and Sophie and Jason were the same age. They'd spent almost every day of their lives together since they were born, and they'd been in the same class up until their junior year of high school.

Jason had always been gentle and patient with Sophie. Even after Geraldine was brought back to the Samson family and Sophie had left, his attitude had never changed.

In fact, he'd grown to despise Geraldine because she kept targeting Sophie. He'd ignored all her advances and had even distanced himself from the Samsons.

Yet, the Jason who had constantly prepared surprises for Sophie and promised to always side with her had changed at some point.

Sophie knew the old Jason had genuinely loved her. That was why she could also sense his betrayal.

The young man who'd only had eyes for her had died. He'd died the moment Jason had chosen to be unfaithful to her!