Chapter 110
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Irvin’s eyes harrowed. “ Why is Mr. Walker here with you , Lianne? Are you two close? ”
Travis broke into a cold sweat at Irvin’s questioning. His body began trembling against his will.
But Julianne—being who she was quickly regained her composure.
“Irvin… ” she cried as she rushed toward him.
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She had called him in this manner numerous times since they were young. Perhaps it was due to recent events, but before the video came to light, it had never bothered him. However , now, it did.
Hearing it made him uncomfortable, let alone holding Julianne, who had thrown herself at him. Still, he didn’t avoid her completely because he knew how frail she was. Instead, he sidestepped her and gripped her arm.
The look in her eyes changed when she saw him avoiding her.
Before she could say anything, Irvin asked again, “Why are you here, Mr. Walker? Are you two close?”
Julianne and Travis usually didn’t act familiar with each other. Yet, he was in her home. She had even lost her composure in front of him. It was clear they weren’t merely acquaintances. They were closer than they let on. Yet, why were they pretending to be strangers when they were in front of Irvin?
Travis‘ heart felt as though it might stop when he saw how fixated Irvin was on this matter. He couldn’t help glancing at Julianne. Despite the tense situation, she was calm and collected as always.
Irvin clearly didn’t want to have any physical contact with her when he avoided her embrace. Yet, she didn’t create any distance between them. Instead, she wrapped herself around his arm.
“We weren’t in the past, but we’ve become closer recently,” she answered. “I found out he was one of the students I sponsored from the rural village.”
She then looked up at Irvin. “Why do you ask?”
Irvin met her seemingly innocent gaze. He contemplated for a moment but didn’t say anything else.
Soon after, Travis left without a word.
Irvin looked sternly at Julianne. “Is the reason you’re closer to Mr. Walker now because of what happened to Emi at the detention center? Did you take advantage of the fact that she is in there and get him to hire someone to bully her?”
His questions made Julianne’s heart stop. She didn’t expect he would bring those up. Even so, she would never admit to it.
“No way!” she replied. “I’m the reason Millie has been détained. Why would I wish her even more harm?”
“Stop lying,” Irvin said sharply. “I heard from the guards there that one of her cellmates tried to push her without provocation. Emi doesn’t know any of them. So why would they try to bully her?”
Irvin may have been angry with me for what I had done, but he still couldn’t let me go. He worried for my well- being while I was in the detention center. Hence, he arranged for someone to look out for me. He hoped that by doing so, things would be a little easier for me there.
When he heard someone had tried to bully me, he immediately rushed over. He thought something had happened
to me.
It was useless for Julianne to deny it.
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Irvin thought she had only hired someone to bully me. He didn’t know she wanted to hire someone to take me out .
Upon realizing this , she had no choice but to admit it.
“ Yes , ” Julianne said bitterly. “I did ask Mr. Walker to get someone to bully Emilia. Should I not have? When I was adopted by the Quills, I tried hard to get on her good side. Ireated her so well from the beginning, but look what she did to me!
“Emilia knew how much I liked you. My biggest dream in life was to marry you! Yet, she drugged me.
She’s the reason I was… that your father…”
She trailed off before continuing, “It’s her fault I can’t ever be with you! She ruined my life! Do you have any idea how much I hate her!”
There were times I couldn’t help being impressed by Julianne. She was able to tell lies so effortlessly. Not only that, she did it so convincingly. How deplorable!
Irvin already felt deeply guilty toward Julianne. Her words left him at a loss for what to say.
She was only 19 years old. Her life should have just begun. Yet, it was ruined before it even had the chance to sprout.
He knew how full of hate she was. He could understand how she felt.
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