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“That's none of your concern,” Stanley replied, his tone icy cold. “You just need to answer my question. Where are
they?”
Shane smiled sardonically. “I'm sorry, but I can't tell you that. Joyce and her family are important people to my wife.
Naturally, I must protect them. Besides, their departure is a good thing for you, isn't it?”
“Good thing?” Stanley gave a grim chuckle. “How is that a good thing?”
“Isn't it so?” Shane placed his coffee down and met his gaze calmly. “You hate Joyce and her family because you
think they caused the deaths of your parents. That is why you refuse to accept Joyce and the child in her belly even
if the child is yours.”
“Enough,” Stanley growled, his features contorted with rage. “Get to the point.”
Shane leaned back. “I just want to show you how it's a good thing that they have disappeared from your life, given
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtthe contempt you hold for them. You don't have to look at them anymore, and they won't ever show themselves
before you. You can even pretend the child growing in Joyce's belly isn't yours. That way, you can assume that the
Rivers are all dead and won't be reminded of your parents' deaths whenever you set eyes on them. Isn't that
ideal?”
“What are you talking about? It's nothing like what you said!” Stanley suddenly became very agitated.
Shane remained as cool as ever. “Isn't it? Please enlighten me, then. Joyce and her family are gone and will never
appear before you again. You can think of them as dead and can finally put that grudge of yours to rest as you
won't see them anymore. Why are you getting so worked up?”
Stanley's gaze quivered.
He's right. Why am I getting so worked up? Indeed, the disappearance of Joyce and her family should bring me joy
as they will never appear before me again. I could pretend that this family no longer exists. So why am I filled with
rage instead of joy? Rage at Joyce, perhaps, for not saying goodbye and for leaving.
Shane suppressed a chuckle at Stanley's scowl. “What's the matter? Struck a chord, have I? To tell you the truth,
Stanley, you have no right to hate the Rivers.”
“What are you talking about?” Stanley turned surlier. “Why shouldn't I hate the Rivers? They were the ones who
forced my parents to their deaths and you're telling me I have no right to hate them? What gives you the right to
say that?”
“The fact that I have investigated the incident in the past.” Shane interlocked his fingers and placed his hands on his
stomach as he spoke. “I'd found out a dozen or so years ago how the Rivers had exerted themselves to hide your
family and buy the three of you some more time. Without the help of the Rivers, the Quinns would have been
annihilated long ago, and you wouldn't have survived. The Rivers are innocent of the crime you accuse them for. In
fact, they are your saviors.”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm
“Saviors?” Stanley leered as though he heard the biggest joke in the world. “That's what you think they are? My
saviors?”
“Of course. As I've said before, without the Rivers' help, the Quinns would have died out, and you wouldn't have
survived. And lest you forget, Stanley, the Quinns were the ones on the run, not the Rivers. The Quinns, too, were
the ones to ask for help from the Rivers. The Rivers only acted out of kindness, though they had every right not to.
In the end, the Rivers did whatever they could to help at the great expense of implicating themselves. So what right
do you have to hate them?”
Shane gazed at Stanley as he spoke, wondering what was going through the latter's head at that moment.
The impression he tried to make was that the Rivers were not at fault for the incident. The only thing they did
wrong was being too loyal to their friends.
If the Rivers had not lent a hand back then, they would not have been the object of Stanley's hatred for the past
dozen of years.
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