After Ava Moreno left, there was a brief silence in the room.
The air around them seemed to freeze, and Astrid Green felt breathless with excitement.
Suddenly, a hand reached out and forcefully grabbed her chin.
Her face was forced to lift up, and her gaze met a pair of dark, brooding eyes. Astrid Green 's heart trembled - this man was even more terrifying than he was last night. It seemed like he could tear her apart at any moment.
"No one has ever dared to plot against me, Astrid Green, but you're the first!"
Ethan Thompson never expected that he would be outwitted by a second-year college student, and used as a pawn.
The pressure on her jaw increased, and Astrid felt like her bones were about to be crushed. The pain made her tears flow uncontrollably.
"It hurts..." she whispered.
Seeing that the man remained indifferent, with a cold and aloof expression, she knew that it was useless to cry out in pain.
"I'm sorry, I won't dare to do it again next time. I beg you, please forgive me this time, sir."
She was brave, but also cowardly.
However, the coldness in Ethan's eyes did not dissipate. "Now you're scared, but where did the courage to seduce me last night go?"
Astrid Green blinked, and a teardrop rolled down her reddened eyes, revealing a pitiful expression.
"What do you want to do to me now? You can hit me or scold me, it's up to you!"
She put on a look of submission.
"Don't worry, I will definitely take revenge on you."
Ethan Thompson's voice was icy as he whispered into Astrid Green's ear.
Her face turned slightly pale.
"Before I take revenge, I want to know why you did this. What benefit do you get from ruining your mother's wedding?" Ethan wanted to know the reason.
He didn't want to be deceived without knowing why.
When he asked for the reason, there was a flash of hatred in Astrid's eyes. She pursed her lips into a straight line and remained silent, obviously not wanting to speak.
Just as Ethan was about to force her to answer, a cry of surprise came from downstairs, "Dad, what's wrong with you, Dad!"
Grandpa had an accident?
Ethan's expression changed. He let go of Astrid Green and quickly put on his clothes before running downstairs with his grandpa in his arms.
Astrid also hurriedly put on her clothes and picked up the clothes on the ground.
She felt uneasy and guilty, hoping that Grandpa Thompson was okay, otherwise she would really become a criminal.
She hurried downstairs and saw Ethan Thompson carrying his grandpa out.
Ava Moreno wanted to follow, but was shouted back by Godfrey Thompson, telling her not to follow, or she would make Grandpa angry if he woke up and saw her.
Astrid stopped when she heard this. The Thompson family wouldn't let her go to the hospital.
In the spacious living room, only Ava Moreno and Astrid Green, the mother and daughter, were left.
Ava Moreno saw Astrid Green standing on the steps and her face, which was usually as smooth as water, suddenly twisted with a fierce and distorted expression.
She rushed over and grabbed Astrid's hair, dragging her down from the steps.
"Why are you so cheap? Which man wouldn't be tempted? You want to seduce Ethan Thompson who will be your brother in a few days.
Don't you know that?" The woman who was usually gentle in front of the Thompson family was now hitting her daughter fiercely and mercilessly.
Astrid Green wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and chuckled, "Of course I knew. Otherwise, I wouldn't have seduced him.
Mom, your dream of being a wealthy wife is about to be shattered. It's such a pity, just a little bit more."
This was undoubtedly another stab in Ava Moreno's heart. She went crazy again, hitting and kicking Astrid Green while screaming, "Why? Why would you do this?"
Astrid's forehead was cut open, and a trickle of blood flowed into her eyes, turning everything red. She blinked slowly, and her eyes suddenly became sad.
Tears mixed with blood flowed down her cheeks.
"Because you don't deserve happiness, and I want you to taste the bitterness of losing it."
"Slap!
The slap came again, leaving five clear finger marks on Astrid Green's melon shaped face.
"You wicked girl! If I had known back then in the hospital, I would never have..."
Ava Moreno's voice trailed off, and she swallowed the words that were about to reveal a long-buried secret.
She switched to more vicious words, cursing Astrid Green to die like her dead father and leave her alone.
At the mention of the word "father," Astrid Green's eyes turned bloodshot in an instant, and she suddenly exploded.
She pushed Ava Moreno away and shouted hoarsely, "Don't mention my father! You have no right to mention him! If it weren't for your vanity, you wouldn't have forced him to give you money to buy luxury goods after he went bankrupt.
If he refused, you would curse him, call him a coward, and say he was useless.
He wouldn't have gotten drunk and climbed to the roof. I was trying to persuade him to come down, but you kept telling him to jump, saying he was a coward if he didn't..."
At this point, Astrid was already sobbing uncontrollably. She glared at Ava Moreno with a seething hatred in her eyes.
"In the end, you got what you wanted. He jumped off the building, and you didn't shed a single tear. You quickly hooked up with Godfrey Thompson and became a wealthy woman, enjoying all the luxuries and glory."
"Why? Why are you able to marry happily, while my dad can only lie in the cold ground?"
"I hate you. I want to make you suffer and take everything away from you!"
That was the reason why she wanted to avenge her father!
Ava Moreno never expected that Astrid would want to retaliate against her for a dead man.
She angrily raised her hand to hit Astrid again, but this time, her wrist was caught and forcefully shaken off.
Ava Moreno's face turned pale, and she gritted her teeth as she said sharply, "What's wrong with me buying luxury goods? He's a man, and he should support me.
Besides, it's all because of your useless father. If he hadn't mismanaged the company and caused it to go bankrupt, I wouldn't have to suffer the humiliation of being looked down upon by salespeople.
And don't blame me for his suicide. I only said a few words. It was his own weak will that made him want to jump off the building."
Ava Moreno felt no guilt or self-blame for driving her husband, Alexander Green, to death. She even thought that he should have chosen to die in a car accident so that she could claim compensation from the driver.
Ava's coldness and heartlessness chilled Astrid's heart.
She thought that this woman would at least feel some remorse, but there was none.
All she saw on Ava's face was disgust and contempt.
This woman only loved herself, and she had always been that way. She was selfish to the extreme.
When she was very young, every time her father went on a business trip, she would be left alone in the cold room, no matter how she shouted or called for her mother, there was no response. She had to drink water desperately when she was hungry or thirsty.
One time, when her father was away on a business trip again, her mother locked her in the room and went out play cards.
They played for two days and two nights, and she was hungry for two days and two nights. If her father hadn't come back early, she might have starved to death at home.
That day, she remembered that her father, who was always obedient to her mother, slapped her mother heavily.
After that, her father sent her to her grandmother's house, and she didn't come back until she went to a prestigious high school in the city.
During those years with her grandmother, her mother rarely came to see her, as if she had forgotten about her daughter.
Sometimes she wondered if she was adopted, not Ava's biological daughter, but her father and grandmother loved her so much.
The past was vivid in her mind, causing her heart to ache. She longed for maternal love, but never received it, but fortunately, she had a loving father, who was now gone.
How could she not hate!