Chapter 361: He Brought This Upon Himself
It had been years, but Myra still hadn't remarried.
Edward couldn't quite grasp it. They had been in a business marriage.
He had faked his death and disappeared, so surely Myra would have wanted to move on, to find someone else to share her life with.
Yet here she was, still holding onto the past.
That thought hit him with an unexpected wave of emotion.
He had forgotten what Myra looked like after all these years, but suddenly, the image of her waiting for him at home, sitting under the soft glow of the lamp, rushed back to him.
She would always make him a bowl of soup to help him sober up after a long night of drinking and then scold him for drinking so much.
The truth was, Myra had always been good to him.
And it was he who had sought her out first and invited her into his life, and now...
Britney, noticing that Edward had gone silent, suddenly realized something. Her face twisted with jealousy and suspicion.
"Edward," she snapped, her voice high-pitched with accusation, "What do you mean by this? Now that you know she's been waiting for you all this time, are you starting to feel sorry for her? Are you moved by her?"
"I'm not," Edward quickly said, his voice defensive. "I just feel guilty..."
"Guilty?" Britney spat, her anger rising. She grabbed his shirt, shaking him slightly as she demanded, "I've been with you for over ten years. I've followed you, suffered with you, and I even bore you a daughter. Now you want to go back to her? Is that what you're saying?"
"No, I'm not," Edward said, his frustration boiling over. He pushed her away, his hands shaking with the intensity of the moment.
Britney wasn't prepared for the force of his push.
She stumbled and fell to the floor with a thud.
"Mom!" Alondra cried, her small face flooded with fear as she rushed to Britney's side.
Edward, equally startled by the sudden violence of the situation, hurried over to help Britney up.
But Britney, seething with rage, pushed him away and stood on her own, her eyes burning with contempt. "I know what this is about," she said through clenched teeth.
"You're sick of me and Alondra. Now your son runs the Thomson family, and you think if you go back, you'll be living the high life. You think we're just a burden, don't you?"
Alondra, unable to understand why her parents were fighting, stood nearby and wiped tears from her eyes.
Edward's heart ached as he pulled Alondra into his arms. "Please, don't cry, sweetheart. Don't worry," he whispered. "If I were really that kind of person, would I have faked my death and run away with you all those years ago? We've been through more than a decade together. Do you really still doubt me?"
Britney's anger was still fierce, but she knew deep down he was right.
But none of it helped the burning pain she felt inside.
She had lived in this place for over ten years. It was her home, and now, she was being forced to leave it. Yet, she couldn't even leave. had no control, and the helplessness was suffocating. The only way she knew how to cope was to lash out, to scream her frustrations.
Looking down at Alondra, who was still sobbing in her father's arms, Britney's voice trembled with emotion. "No matter what happens, we can't survive without you. So, you'd better figure it out."
Edward hugged his daughter tightly, his face strained with weariness. "Right now, we can only take it one step at a time."
In that heavy silence, Alondra's voice suddenly cut through the tension. "Daddy, Mommy, are we going to go back to Daddy's house? Why have we never gone there before? And why does Daddy have another wife? Isn't Mommy your wife?"
The simplicity of her questions left both parents speechless.
And then, Alondra asked another
question, one that cut deeper than the last.
"Can a man have two wives?"
Edward froze. His face went pale, his heart racing.
He stared at his daughter, her small face filled with confusion and curiosity, and he couldn't find the words to answer her.
The painful truth crashed down on him. How could a man have two wives? It was his fault.
Everything that had led them here, to this point of betrayal and to this mess of a life, was his doing. He had only himself to blame for this nightmare.
Meanwhile, after Pedro left the Mendoza family, he couldn't shake the feeling of unease.
He thought about it for a while and then decided to check into a hotel. He sent out a message to someone.
After taking a long shower, wearing nothing but a bathrobe, he poured himself a glass of red wine and waited on the couch.
It wasn't long before there was a knock on the door.
Pedro opened it to find Camilla standing there, looking nervous and unsure of herself.
"I'm here, Mr. Livingston." she said in a faltering voice.
"Come in," Pedro said with a wave.
Camilla stepped inside, her heart racing.
She was nervous-this was the first time she was doing something like this.
The night before, it had been her knocking on Pedro's car window.
For the past few days, she'd been hanging around the Mendoza family's neighborhood, keeping an eye on things, listening in when she could.
She had learned that Pedro had been trying to get closer to Adeline, but Adeline had already had a boyfriend.
Pedro was frustrated, still unwilling to give up.
Then, just by chance, she had seen Pedro's car parked nearby, with a group of men talking to him.
Pedro had gotten angry and ordered them away, and Camilla, in a moment of rashness, had approached him.
She had told him that she, too, was once the child of the Mendoza family.
Now, since he couldn't get the real Mendoza girl, she was offering to keep him company to ease his loneliness.
It was a gamble. If she could win Pedro over, maybe she could find a way to survive in this cruel world.
Pedro had been dismissive the night before. "I'm not lacking in women. I don't need your help to stave off loneliness. You were once a Mendoza, but that was years ago."
Still, Camilla didn't give up. She left him her contact details, hoping he would reach out.
And he did.
After receiving her message, Camilla wasted no time to come to him.
Now, as she stood in the hotel room, unsure of what to do with her hands and feeling awkward, Pedro's voice broke the silence.
"Why are you just standing there?" he asked, his tone irritated. "Go take a shower."
Pedro was restless. He was bored, upset, and with no other outlet for his emotions, so he'd called Camilla, thinking it would be something easy to pass the time.
He hadn't expected her to look so out of place.
"Okay," she murmured, trying to calm herself.
In the bathroom, as she forced herself to breathe and steady her nerves, Camilla knew she had no choice but to follow through.
For her own survival, she had to make this work.
If she could win Pedro over, maybe she could even use him to take down the Mendoza family.
After a quick shower, she wrapped herself in a towel and walked back into the room.
Pedro was already impatient. He grabbed her arm and roughly threw her onto the bed.
"Ah! Mr. Livingston, please, be gentler..." she gasped, surprised by the sudden force.
Pedro didn't care. He wasn't thinking about her feelings at all. All he cared about was releasing his frustration, and she was just an outlet.
Camilla gritted her teeth, enduring the pain as anger and resentment toward the Mendoza family bubbled up inside her. If it hadn't been for them, she wouldn't have had to stoop to this.
She had to do whatever it took to get her revenge on the Mendoza family.
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