Chapter 194 - 193: Severing Ties
Joanna Kennedy hurried over, just in time to hear the cold, mocking words.
Four people stood in the cramped living room. Joanna recognized the middle-aged woman from last time, which meant the other middle-aged man had to be Simon Lockwood’s uncle. The young man’s voice she’d just heard belonged to Kyle Aldrich.
Simon Lockwood stood quietly in the middle of them, his face expressionless, as if he weren’t the one who had just been told he was all alone in the world.
’Heh. So they’ve ganged up on him.’
Joanna’s temper flared. Without a second thought, she strode forward and stood protectively in front of Simon Lockwood. "Quite a party. The whole family ganging up on one person?"
Simon Lockwood stared at the girl standing resolutely before him, freezing for a second. When he snapped out of it, his expression hardened. He grabbed Joanna Kennedy’s wrist and pulled her to his side, his voice taut. "Who told you to come here? Go wait in the car."
As he spoke, he tried to usher Joanna Kennedy out the door. His movement finally snapped the other three out of their stupor. Jared Aldrich immediately blocked the doorway. "No one’s leaving until we get this straightened out!"
He had the attitude of a complete scoundrel.
Shauna Lockwood was startled to see Joanna Kennedy. Her eyes fell on their tightly clasped hands, and it all clicked into place. She pointed a finger at Joanna. "It was you! You were the one who told the security guard to stop me from coming in that day, weren’t you?!"
"You’re such a scheming little thing! And to think I saw you as a nice person, I even wanted to set you up with someone!" Shauna Lockwood’s lips trembled with rage as she glared fiercely at Joanna Kennedy.
’So this little girl is Simon Lockwood’s girlfriend. She was just putting on an act in front of me, trying to make me look like a fool!’ The memory of her own boasts made Shauna Lockwood’s expression turn foul.
"What’s all this about?" Jared Aldrich asked, growing impatient. "What’s the point of talking about any of that? Let’s just focus on solving the problem with the house. That’s what’s important."
He stood brazenly in the doorway. Simon Lockwood’s face instantly went cold. "Step aside."
Jared Aldrich flinched under his icy gaze and almost shrank back. In the end, however, greed won out. He stopped pretending and jutted his chin out defiantly. "What, you going to hit me? I’m your elder! You think you can strike me and not face the consequences?"
Kyle Aldrich had been frozen in place ever since the girl walked in. His father, Jared Aldrich, shouted at him angrily, "Kyle Aldrich, what are you gawking at? Your old man’s about to get beaten up, get over here!"
Those words reignited the dying embers of Kyle Aldrich’s anger. Staring at the cousin who was so outstanding, so far beyond anything he could ever hope to become, he clenched his fists and ground out through his teeth, "Why?"
"You clearly don’t need the money, so why do you have to be so heartless?!" he demanded resentfully.
Simon Lockwood’s expression grew even colder, but before he could speak, Joanna Kennedy couldn’t take it anymore. She flung his hand off, stepped in front of him again, and glared at Kyle Aldrich. "Whether he needs the money or not is none of your business!"
"It’s our money. We can do whatever we want with it. Whether we throw it away for fun or set it all on fire, it’s our business. Who are you to make decisions for us? What right do you have?"
When it came to a war of words, Joanna Kennedy had never lost. And this time, she was genuinely furious.
She couldn’t stand to see Simon Lockwood get bullied. He was quiet and reserved, not one to argue, and would often suffer in silence. She was different. She had to fight back.
Kyle Aldrich was struck speechless, his face flushing an even deeper red with anger. "Joanna Kennedy, you don’t know anything about this. I’m not talking to you."
"This is our family’s business. Where did a little girl like you come from, sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong? You’re not even married into the family yet, and you’re already trying to call the shots..." Enraged by Joanna Kennedy’s words, Jared Aldrich began to curse as he lunged forward to grab her.
Simon Lockwood, who had remained courteous until this point, now had a dangerous glint in his eyes. He caught Jared Aldrich’s arm and flung it away with force. His voice was bone-chilling. "Get away."
"Simon Lockwood, you dare touch him!" Kyle Aldrich’s eyes flashed with anger as he rushed forward and threw a punch.
Shielding Joanna Kennedy and afraid she might get hurt, Simon Lockwood took the punch squarely. A dark bruise quickly blossomed at the corner of his mouth.
"Simon Lockwood!" Joanna Kennedy cried out, her eyes red with anguish.
Kyle Aldrich hadn’t expected Simon Lockwood to just stand there and take it. He froze, a strange mix of guilt and fear rising in him as he stood there with his fist still clenched.
’He even wondered if Simon did it on purpose, but no one was that crazy. No one liked getting hit.’
Shauna Lockwood and Jared Aldrich were also stunned by this sudden turn of events.
’We didn’t mean for things to get physical... we didn’t...’
’Simon Lockwood wasn’t some pushover they could afford to strike anymore. What would they do if he decided to retaliate?’
At that thought, panic seized Shauna Lockwood. She smacked her son on the arm and hissed, "Hurry up and apologize to your cousin!"
"Why should I apologize? He’s the one who didn’t move..." Even though Kyle Aldrich knew he was in the wrong, he stubbornly held his ground. After all, the punch had already been thrown.
"Oh, Simon, your aunt is so sorry." Shauna Lockwood shot Kyle a glare before turning back to Simon Lockwood with a fawning expression. "Kyle is just being immature. We’re all family, don’t hold it against him..."
"Not hold it against him? So we should hold it against you, then?" Joanna Kennedy was livid, her eyes blazing red. She looked ready to lunge forward.
The man’s fingers gave hers a reassuring squeeze, and she calmed down slightly. Still, her eyes were red as she stood fiercely in front of Simon Lockwood.
The air was unnervingly still. After a long moment, Simon Lockwood finally spoke. "I’m not going to do anything to Kyle Aldrich."
Before Shauna Lockwood could feel relieved, Simon Lockwood added indifferently, "Consider this punch repayment for the year I lived at the Aldrich family’s home when I was a child."
"How can you say that! Simon, you—"
"Ms. Lockwood," Simon Lockwood cut her off coldly, "I don’t want to make this any uglier than it already is."
"..."
That icy "Ms. Lockwood" made Shauna Lockwood freeze where she stood. Whatever shallow kinship they’d shared was now officially over.
Perhaps it had ended long ago, back when she’d seized the compensation money from the accident that killed Simon Lockwood’s parents and tacitly allowed her husband to throw Simon out in the dead of winter.
Back then, she and her husband had only taken Simon Lockwood in to get their hands on his parents’ compensation money. It was that money that had allowed them to buy a small house in town...
Once everyone was gone and the door was closed, Joanna Kennedy couldn’t hold back anymore. She scrubbed at her eyes, sobbing, "Why didn’t you fight back? You just stood there and let them yell at you, let them hit you, is that it?!"
Simon Lockwood gently wiped away her tears with the pad of his thumb. "There were too many of them," he said.
"You still could have taken them," Joanna said, not believing him for a second.
Simon Lockwood sighed, sounding helpless. "What if you got hurt in the fight?"
"...I’m not afraid of getting hurt." This made Joanna even more upset. She felt it was her fault Simon Lockwood had taken that punch. Gazing at the dark bruise on his lip, she felt a ferocious urge to tear that family to pieces. Her tears started streaming down her face again.
The tears flowed as if they would never stop. Heart aching with a helpless fondness, Simon Lockwood pulled her into his arms. The image of her standing protectively in front of him flashed through his mind.
Then he recalled the resentful look on Kyle Aldrich’s face as he was leaving, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes.