Chapter 234

She glanced at the handcuffs that bound her wrists and struggled fiercely for a moment. The skin beneath the culls was no longer merely reddened; now it was streaked with blood, yet she seemed impervious to the pain.

Outside the door, the murmurs of the bodyguards continued, while Brielle’s sweat fell in heavy droplets to the floor. Suspended like this, her body was in extreme discomfort, her mind taut. with tension. If she screamed and shouted now, it would only play into their hands.

She bit her lip, keeping silent, while internally she counted the minutes.

Ten minutes later, someone pushed the door open–it was Sophia. A stark contrast to her earlier hysteria, Sophia had regained her composure, like a pot of boiling water pushed to its brink.

Brielle looked up, met her gaze, and cracked a smile. “I knew you’d come back.”

Sophia crossed her arms over her chest, the resentment in her eyes as evident as ever, but she knew her emotions couldn’t touch Brielle in the slightest.

Brielle was a formidable woman. That was Sophia’s current conclusion.

“Brielle, what did you think about what I said earlier?”

Brielle blinked away the sting in her eyes, ignoring the other aches in her body. “I didn’t think much of it, but I know that if you could bite your tongue with Tessa for so long, you’re not a pushover. You value your life, so now that you know I’ll go after you once I’m out, you wouldn’t just sit by and watch. Either you leave me here forever, or you help me, right?”

Sophia realized she had underestimated Brielle. With such a sharp mind, no wonder she topped the exams and excelled at Beaconsfield College.

Sophia was a pragmatic person. Just as she realized she couldn’t compete with Tessa, she became Tessa’s little henchman, running errands for her. Now that she found herself unable to contend with Brielle, she naturally wouldn’t go looking for trouble.

“Sophia, I know you’d love to see me dead, but William will come after you because you’re weak. Tessa bosses you around for the same reason. Your weakness led to your tragedy, not my existence. Unlike you, if those guards left me with just a breath left in me, I’d use that last breath to get back at those who wronged me, not hypnotize myself into shifting the blame.”

Sophia sneered, “You’re nothing without Max.”

Brielle lowered her head and after a long pause, her smile slowly returned. “You asked me what I think I am to Max. I know I’m nothing, but given his nature, he wouldn’t let me be humiliated by the Rowland family. He’ll come for me; it’s just a matter of sooner or later.”

H Sophia frowned, then nodded in understanding. “You said you’d help me. How?”

“The Rowland family will never value a side branch like you. Even if Tessa falls, they won’t care.

about you. Your best bet is to strike out on your own. I’ve come across a company with great potential and I’d like to invite you to be a partner. Interested?”

Money was never an issue for Beaconsfield’s rich kids. It was everything else that was at luxury. Brielle was smart. She quickly realized that if she couldn’t invest in Mason’s company under the name of Dorsey International, why not join as a partner?

Book could write a business legend in a short time; Mason’s company could be the next unicorn she’d personally endorsed.

Sophia stood still, as if a revelation had struck her. But she had her doubts. “What if Max abandons you one day? What then?”

Sophia was different from the other women; she had never fallen for anyone. She looked down on those Beaconsfield heirs. She was full of ambition and adept at masquerades.

Brielle chose her, not for anything else but because Sophia had survived the cunning William. Even if she played the part of a naive heiress, she knew the score.

“I don’t care if he abandons me. Max protects me now, and later, I’ll protect myself. I’ve never imagined a future with him.”

Her lucidity dispelled the last of Sophia’s hesitations. She didn’t stop loathing Brielle. She hated. her still, but she realized that since she couldn’t change the sordid past, she might as well fight for a hopeful future.

“I just told the guards at the door that Tessa has new instructions and to wait. But I can’t be sure Tessa won’t come to torment you herself. You better pray Max gets here before that happens.”