Chapter 1114: Chapter 1117

Perhaps Sophia had agreed to turn up at the hospital out of fear for Sandra, but Sandra knew it was more likely than not that they conceded out of fear of the Yard Family.

The situation now was not under Sophia’s or Cooper’s control; it wasn’t as if they could do anything about Anne’s infatuation with Cooper.

Cooper was left with no choice but to marry her!

Anne’s family longed to return to Bayside City and as Anne was about to become part of the Yards, they had hoped she would marry into the local upper-class social scene. The Yard Family had initially set their eyes upon the Fletchers, but were let down immensely by their inability to make things work. Now was the chance for the Mitchells to rise to the occasion.

Sandra had thought that perhaps one of the Mitchell boys could capture Anne’s heart; alas, the woman had become obsessed with Cooper instead.

Sandra had no intentions to make things easy for Cooper in the event Anne did marry him. While the Mitchells would become in-laws with the Yards, Sandra needed to make sure that Anne would always be on her side and never Sophia’s. To do that, she would have to ruin both Sophia and Cooper’s reputation in front of Anne’s family, namely the Yards and the Osbornes.

After that, she could easily use Anne as a stepping stone to get closer to Anna Yard and if Sandra could marry into the Yard Family, everything would fall into place.

If Cooper really were to marry Anne, the Yards would never allow her to move out of the family home, which meant Cooper would have to move into their place of residence instead. This could provide the Mitchells the perfect excuse to keep all of Cooper’s assets under the Mitchells’ family name.

For hundreds of years, it was never a concept for any son of the head of the Mitchell Family to move into their wife’s place of residence after marriage; the very idea of Cooper being forced to do so would completely uproot the dignity of the family!

With that, Sandra could kill three birds with one stone!

Hanging up the call, Sandra turned to look at Anne. “Don’t worry,” she consoled. “Sophia is coming over soon. I’ll make sure to put her in her place!”

Anne broke into a small smile upon hearing this. She lay in bed as she recuperated, looking pale after her suicidal endeavors which saw her slitting her own wrists and hanging herself.

“You know Cooper likes you—” Sandra started to say. “—but Sophia has been getting in his way of pursuing you. She’s worried that if you and Cooper have kids one day, she’d lose out on the family assets. Don’t worry though, because I’ll stop her from ruining everything.” Pausing, Sandra gazed down at Anne with a serious look on her face. “Remember, Anne—you’ve got the looks and you’re a Yard.

Nobility runs in your blood. You have suitors lining up for you all the way to France! If you ask me, Cooper should be honored that you’ve taken an interest in him at all. You’re obviously way out of his league!”

Anne’s heart fluttered at the thought of Cooper. She had known he was the one for her from the very moment she laid eyes on him, and she would do anything to marry him.

However, a surge of fury overcame her as she thought about how Sophia was trying to come between her and Cooper.

How dare Sophia try to disrupt what she and Cooper had? How dare she try to stop true love in its tracks?

Sandra leaned in and continued, “I’ll let you in on this little secret. Cooper has never been in love before but Sophia’s mother—who was a young, lowly servant—seduced Cooper and somehow made him fall for her. He was young and he had no idea what he was doing, but he got that b*tch pregnant. Then, she tried to use her pregnancy to force Cooper into marrying her.”

“It was a dirty move. She thought that she could use her pregnancy as leverage to marry Cooper and live her life as mistress of the family, but little did she know that the Mitchells saw right through her despicable act. In the end, they sent her packing and told her to get rid of the child!”

Anne’s eyes had widened to the size of saucers as she took all of this in. She had never heard of anything like it—how anyone could be so wicked was beyond her! She asked urgently, “What happened after that?”

“Well—” Sandra began with fervor. “—Sophia’s mother realized that there was no way she could marry into the Mitchells, so she found herself an honest man and passed off the child as his instead. The man was an Edwards, so she took on his shares and played mistress for a couple of years. When the family discovered the truth, they cast her out.”

“What? I can’t believe she did that! How shameless of her!” Anne gasped, affronted.

Sandra did not stop with the lies—she was practically a playwright at this point. “Cooper was in an accident over a decade ago and he went into hiding after that, but when he returned a couple of years ago, Sophia somehow found out that he was her biological father. She tracked him down and won him over completely. I don’t know how she did it but Cooper will do anything for her, even if it means going against the Mitchells.”

“You have to watch out for Sophia. She’s no ordinary, simpering wench; she has Taylor Murray wrapped around her little finger and she made Cooper betray his own family. You can’t underestimate her.”

“Also, that brother of hers is not to be overlooked. I don’t know how he ended up as the adopted son of the Michel family. He was close to becoming the heir to the family and the conglomerate, but thank goodness he was kicked out of the family before that happened! These siblings are as scheming as they come and they’re all leeches. Linus is nothing but a gigolo who spends his days hoping to marry a woman like you just so he can climb up the social hierarchy. You have to watch out for them both.

They’re a family of crooks!”

Anne felt chills run down her spine after Sandra was done with her storytelling. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for Cooper.

He was completely swindled by Sophia and her family!

If she didn’t get rid of Sophia and Linus, Cooper would suffer in their schemes forever!

Anne was determined to rescue Cooper from this horrible fate. She had to let him see how evil Sophia and her brother were!

Satisfied with how angry Anne looked, Sandra went on to add fuel to fire. “Why don’t you show them who’s really in charge here? You’re Anne Yard. They are meant to show you respect and you should make them.”

Anne nodded fiercely at that and Sandra mirrored her.

Everything was going according to Sandra’s plan. Now, even if Anne did end up marrying Cooper, she would never think of Sophia and her brother as anything but a pair of wicked twins.

On the other hand, Sandra could soon find herself in the Yards’ good graces, seeing as she and Anne were becoming such good friends.

It would be even better if she could end up marrying either Callum or Cade.

Eventually, Sophia turned up as expected.

She had flown over in a chopper, not wanting to waste any time. She could hardly wait to give Anne two slaps across the face.

Sophia was fuming, unable to comprehend how shameless Anne was.

“Miss Anne,” the bodyguard greeted in a low voice after rushing through the door. “Miss Sophia has arrived.”

Anne was well on her way to becoming a young lady of the Yard family and certainly that would have warranted her a royal title if they were in ancient times. She felt important as she indulged in the privilege of being escorted by the Yards’ security team.

She had made sure that the security team would give Sophia a hard time when she arrived later!

“Right. Let her in,” Anne ordered in an imperative tone. She didn’t like speaking this way but she was a young lady of the Yard family now and she had to act like one in front of others.

The bodyguard hurried out of the room and brought Sophia in. She had arrived with several bodyguards in her wake, all of them wearing the insignia of the Mitchell family, which was crafted during Cooper’s leadership.

“I hear somebody has tried to kill herself because of my father, so I decided to bring a little gift to cheer her up,” Sophia mused. Following this, something landed in a thump on the headboard behind Anne; one of the bodyguards had thrown a bottle of brain health supplements and as Anne turned to glance at it, she saw that the supplements were meant for geriatrics.

She glared at Sophia incredulously as she brought her hand down on the table and commanded, “Sophia, you b*tch! Stay away from your father! You have no right to come between us, not when we’re about to be married!”

Sophia had dressed for business today. She wore a white blouse, which was tucked into a pair of black and white checkered palazzo trousers. She had coupled her outfit with a pair of simple stilettos and her hair had been pulled back into a no-nonsense chignon. Her look was completed with a pair of oversize shades that covered half her face.

Lifting her shades, Sophia gazed at Anne with bemusement, clearly impervious to her threats. “Oh?” she sneered. “So, you intend to marry my father, but what do you have to offer? Your long list of suitors who have lined up all the way to France?”

Anne lifted her chin with the hope of intimidating Sophia, then retorted, “I am a young lady of the Yard Family! I have plenty to offer!”

“A young lady of the Yard Family?” Sophia sputtered before she burst into laughter. She wiped away her tears as a smirk fixed itself onto her face. “Tell me then, princess—how many shares do you own in the Ronney Group? Are you next in line to take over the conglomerate? Do you even matter to the rest of the Ronney Group?”