Granted, Tiffany knew she was in the wrong. “Urgh! I knew telling you would only complicate things… Look at me, hey! I’m fine, aren’t it? Isn’t that good enough? Besides, Melanie suffered enough already, don’cha think? I get that her brother’s the perp and that means she’s somewhat connected to this whole thing, but she’s innocent, you know? So can we please, please-please-please, just drop this?”
Jackson’s eyes reddened in furious frenzy. “Even if she deserves pity, so what? Does that mean our daughter doesn’t?! Our little angel can’t even leave her incubator!” he bristled. “You chill the eff out, Tiffie. I know who wronged us. I know Melanie isn’t one of those bastards and I’m not the type to drag an innocent person into my revenge. But those real culprits—those mother**kers are gonna pay for what they f**king did! I have no qualms leaving Melanie out of this since her brother was the one who pushed you, but that’s all. The rest of the Larks have got hell to pay, and come hell or highwater, I will make them!”
Jackson almost never erupted in fury in front of her, so when he did, Tiffany was so earnestly terrified that she pressed her lips shut. In her mind, however, trepidations roared. This was bad—really, really bad. Thanks to her, Melanie and Alejandro were about to be divorced, and now she broke the promise she made to Melanie!
A tinge of guilt colored her mind blue. Oh, this was all Jackson’s fault! Why did he have to lure her into telling the truth?
She waited until Jackson’s fury petered out a little before finally piping up very gingerly, “Uh, ya know, we should probably discuss this before we act…? Like, mebbe you can just get someone to pay back unto Nikolai Lark only? That’s good enough, right? I just think, uh, we shouldn’t blow this whole thing out of proportions. Such as, well, taking it out on the entire Lark family. ‘Cause that’s Melanie’s people, Jackson, and I don’t know how to face her the next time we meet if you‘ve done something terrible to her flock…”
Jackson side-eyed Tiffany peevishly. “For Christ’s sake, her family sees her as nothing but their fallguy, okay? Trust me, she’s probably barred from returning home after she’s divorced, too. This entire thing must be the Larks’ idea! You can’t possibly believe Nikolai alone wanted to harm you, can you? …F**k. Just leave your nose out of this, Tiffie. I’ll handle it while you lie down here like a good girl!”
A moment later, he called Summer and asked his mother to come over before hurriedly leaving Tiffany’s ward. After the big reveal of who was behind this, Jackson would not waste a second in taking up actions.
Tiffany, meanwhile, seized the chance to duck inside the bathroom before calling Melanie to give her the heads-up. She eschewed the details; instead, Tiffany simply told Melanie that she failed to contain the secret, and now Jackson knew all about it.
She had expected Melanie to chastise her. Yet, unthinkably, Melanie sounded unperturbed. “I expected that to happen. None of us are fools—it won’t stay a secret for long. Besides, I know I’ve done everything expected of me as a daughter. No matter what happens to them from this point onward is no fault of mine,” she said, before adding, “Tiffany… Thank you. I’m sorry, too, that my brother hurt you.”
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