In Love With My Evil Stepbrother
Chapter 79

Chapter 79

Chapter 79: Wicked Old Crone

“Why was she removed from our store again?” the other saleslady asks on time. The same question Iam wondering.

“She ordered several pieces of fancy jewelries but can’t make the final payment. The manger offers toresell those jewelries on her behalf, yet she didn’t like that option either. She kept telling us to show hersome respect because her family is very respected in town.”

“Is it?”

“Well, yes, a few years ago. But the Booth family is going downhill and is facing financial crisis rightnow. Oh her poor fiancé. If he marries her, he’ll face so many troubles, like money wise.”

“Her fiancé is so hot. I think he can do so much better…”

And then they leave the lady’s room together.

I stand still in my little stall, taking a time to process what I just heard.

So Katherine is only marrying Eason for his money? Does he know about this? Does Mr. Ramirez andMs. Griswold know??

bet Eason doesn’t know. He didn’t even bother to get to know Katherine, let along her family. But onething for sure is that his mother must know. She must have gone through a thorough background checkbefore choosing Katherine as Eason’s marriage partner.

I suddenly feel a wave of rage surging up inside of me.

How could she!

Even though she divorced Mr. Ramirez years ago, she is still

Eason’s mother! How could she ruin Eason’s happiness like this?!

And Eason…that dumb ass! He should at least get to know Katherine a little better and then he’ll knowwhat kind of a mess he is going to marry.

Eason may have a nasty personality, but I’ve got to admit that he is smart, hardworking, and verytalented in business. Such a brilliant person doesn’t deserve to spend the rest of his life paying for hiswife’s family debt.

I storm out of the restroom and go back to our VIP lounge. When I step inside the room, Katherine isjust admiring her ring under the light.

The huge diamond on that ring almost blind my eyes.

I stride over and grab her hand roughly.

She jerks up a bit, “Nat! What’s the matter?”

“How much is this ring?” I stare her straight in the eyes.

She slightly frowns, a hint of uneasiness on her face. The saleslady beside her answers, “Miss, it’s a 10carat, cushion cut diamond ring. The most exquisite quality, very classic style-”

“How much!” I cut her off and snap.

The saleslady quivers and answers quickly, “A-about 1200,000 dollars.”

More than a million dollar.

And just for a fucking diamond ring?!!

Anger clouds my head almost immediately. I glare at Katherine and ask sternly, “This is very expensive.Can you afford it?”

Katherine blinks a few times and I catch a fleeting panic passes her face. But she quickly composesherself and smiles, “It’s expensive, yes, but it’s worth the price. Diamond like this has collection value,common knowledge. I’m sorry that you didn’t get the chance to learn these things.”

Oh now she is laughing at my background.

That bitch. I can’t believe I treated her as my friend.

“Why are you mad, Nat?” Katherine asks while acting innocent. ” Don’t you want your future sister-in-law to have the best in the world? If you truly love your brother-”

She emphasizes the word “brother” purposely.

“-then you shouldn’t act this way.”

I can see mockery flickering in her eyes.

Just then, Eason, who has been sitting by the corner silently the whole time, finally rises from his seatand walks to us. He places his arm around Katherine’s shoulder and turns back at me, his green eyesslightly narrowing.

“What’s the matter?” he asks.

“Oh, nothing.” Katherine leans her head against Eason’s chest and smiles, “Nat was only concernedthat the diamond I chose is too big and too expensive. Can you tell her it’s the standard size and valuefor family like us?”

Family like us?

Now every word she said becomes a stab at my heart.

Eason keeps his eyes on me, his face unreadable. I move anxiously on my spot under his intensegaze. Is he mad that I’m meddling his business?

But then I remember what I heard in the lady’s room and suddenly replace some steel.

I’m doing this for a reason.

“Eason, can I talk to you for a minute?” I ask.

Katherine straightens her back a little, looking nervous. She tries to say something, but Eason lets goof her almost immediately.

“Let’s talk outside,” he says.

We replace an empty room down the hallway and close the door. I’m still planning on how I should tell him,but he turns around facing me and shoots first, “Why are you messing with my fiancé?”

I’m immediately infuriated.

“Messing with her?” I raise my voice in disbelief and roar. “I’m saving you, you dumb idiot! Do you knowthat her family is

carrying huge debts and is probably counting on you to save their ass? You are nothing but a moneybag to her! Don’t get fooled!”

He frowns, “What debt?”

Just as I expected, he doesn’t know.

I take in a deep breath and continue, “Ask you mom, or Mr. Ramirez. Or at least do some investigationon her yourself. I’m sure there’s something hidden-”

He suddenly takes a step toward me before I finish, closing the gap between us. I jerk up and moveback. But he doesn’t stop till he traps me between the wall and his chest.

“OK there’s a money problem,” he stares at me closely, his voice strained. “But why do you care?”

“What are you talking about? Back away!”

I try to push him away, but he stands still.

“Even if there’s a money problem, it’s between me and Katherine. Why do you care?” he questions mesternly.

“Because! I don’t want you to get fooled and sacrifice your marriage and your lifetime of happiness!Isn’t it obvious?”

“Exactly.” He pushes me, breathing heavily. “Why do you care about my marriage and my happiness? Ifooled you, I played you and I lied to you. Now seeing someone else doing the exact same thing to meshould give you some sort of a satisfaction. Why are you acting so mad?”

I glare at him, my jaw dropping.

This conversation is not going where I want it.

“You are missing the point,” I try to bring his focus back. “I’m talking about Katherine and her family. Doyou hear me?”

“No, this is the point,” he replies stubbornly. “The point is, why do you still care about me?”

His bright green eyes raid across my face as if he’s trying to search for an answer. Yet, honestly, I don’tknow the answer to his question myself.

I don’t know if I still care about him.

Maybe a little bit.

Well, a lot, actually.

Maybe it has exceeded the appropriate amount of caring I should have for my brother, which makes mepanic.

I suddenly shove him aside and shout angrily at him, “Fine! Marry her! See if I care!”

Then, without waiting for his reaction, I lunge at the doorknob and run outside.

Rage is burning inside of me.

Does that vicious little bitch think she can play me like a fool and marry into this family that easily? No,ain’t going to happen.

I’m done being the push-over. I won’t have one more person walk all over me like that.

The first thing I get home is to cancel my ticket back to New York. I need a few more days to completemy plan. Liam said he was going to visit me after Christmas. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to meet himthere.

After I tell him about my plan, he sighs deeply.

“You said you have something to do in Boston,” he slowly asks me. “Does like little something involvesEason?”

I lapse into silence, not knowing what to say.

“Natalia, you’ve probably heard this a million times but I’m telling you this again anyway: Eason doesn’tdeserve you. Walk away from him.”

“I know, but…”

I bite my bottom lip in frustration. I don’t know why, but suddenly today I have an urge to defend him.

“…but Eason has changed a lot. He started a company on his own, even sold his sports car for that. Hehas done nothing bad to me since we met. He isn’t that mean rich brat anymore.”

Liam laughs bitterly on the other end. I can imagine that he is probably shaking his head in disapprovalright now.

“We’ll forever hold different opinions on this Natalia,” he said. ” And let me guess, you still love him.”

I hold my breath involuntarily, my heartrate quickening. It’s a lot more frightening hearing this fromsomeone else.

But yes, he is right.

I do still love Eason.

I keep telling myself that I’ve moved on from Eason, but the truth is that my heart is still trapped whereit was three years ago. It’s too hard for me to set eyes on another person after Eason. That handsome,brilliant and proud bad boy is almost impossible to forget.

“I will take your silence as a yes,” Liam says lowly on the other end. “This is probably too late. But let’sjust say if you hadn’t run into him this time, do I stand a chance with you?”

“Liam…” I’m a little stunned.

I know he probably has a thing for me, but we both choose not to break it. I once thought that he wouldnever say anything about it, until just yet.

After a long pause, I finally speak up slowly, “Liam…there isn’t an if.”

If there is a “if,” I’d choose not to go back to Boston three years ago.

But there isn’t.

Liam sighs again, “You are right. I just kept thinking if I made a move on you a little sooner, maybe wewould be together already. But I didn’t want to force you into anything, like what Eason did.”

“Because you are a better person than he is.”

“Yeah I think I am.”

We both laugh out together. The atmosphere lightens up immediately.

Before hanging up, Liam says to me, “Go fight for that asshole, Natalia. He doesn’t deserve you, butyou deserve to get whatever you want in your life.”

I smile briefly at his pep talk. Liam is a good brother. I own him so much.

After the call, I go back to my plan immediately. I have to replace a way to prove that there’s somethingwrong with their marriage. I don’t know any of Katherine’s family. So my only possible breakthrough isMs. Griswold, who is behind this marriage the entire time.

To be honest, that woman terrifies me. She despises me, like I’m a piece of trash. But today I feel moreempowered than ever. It’s about time for me to stand up to those powerful bullies in my life.

I grab something from my bag and hurry to the front door again. On the way, I bump into my mom.

“Where are you going!” she shouts after me. “Today is Christmas Eve! Promise me you’ll be back ontime for dinner!”

“I will! Don’t worry!” I should back.

If my plan goes successfully as I expect.

Eason mentioned to me that Ms. Griswold is staying at a fancy hotel downtown, and she’ll be coming tothe Christmas party at our house tomorrow. I call for a cab and tell the driver my destination.

30 minutes later, I stand inside of the hotel lobby, thinking about a way to bribe Ms. Griswold’s roomnumber out of the receptionist’s mouth. Before I can come up with a plan, a couple walks inside just ontime.

What are the odds.

It’s her, holding hands with her male companion.

I quickly dodge to the side and keeps my eyes on them. I see Ms. Griswold handing the hall boy ashopping bag and asking him to drop this off at their room, 2709.

Fantastic.

I watch them closely as they talk. Odd, her companion seems very familiar to me. Have I seen this manbefore?

Eventually they kiss goodbye and Ms. Griswold heads to the elevator alone. I wait for her to leave, thenwalk over to the reception desk.

“Hey,” I pull out the sincerest smile and say to the receptionist. “I have a special delivery for Ms.Griswold, 2709.”

The receptionist checks her computer and frowns, “You sure you have the right room number? 2709 isunder the name Mr. Booth.”

Booth?! That’s Katherine’s last name!

I stare dumbfounded at the receptionist for a few seconds and suddenly realize everything.

Mr. Booth, her male companion who seems very familiar to me…

I’ve never seen that man before. But I’ve met his daughter, who looks exactly like him.

The man Ms. Griswold is dating is Katherine’s father.

No wonder…no wonder she wants Eason to marry Katherine.

Fuck! That wicked old crone!

The receptionist stares at me and frowns warily, “I’ll have to make a call to the room before letting youup.”

“No problem.” I slowly reveal a cold smile. “Tell her. The delivery is from Natalia Moore.”