Unmasking the Heiress

Truth be told, Julia's family antics were all on Walter's radar. He knew exactly what they were up to, good or bad. He had been biting his tongue for years, turning a blind eye, all out of respect for the old days. At last, he reached his breaking point.

"So what if it is?" Julia's face, once filled with sorrow, shapped back to a cool composure, her tears vanishing as if they had never been.

She had been head over heels for Walter, bending over backward to win him over, aiming for his heart. What had she gotten for it? A one-way ticket to being kidnapped by Walter himself?

"Walter, cut the act! Aren't you just as miserable as I am? Evangeline married you, so why give her the cold shoulder? Is it because you heard Alex is coming back? Now Evangeline is about to become a total stranger to you after the divorce cooling- off period ends in a month!"

He had to hand it to Julia; she was sharp. Her words had been like daggers, stabbing right at walter's

heart.

Walter shook with rage, struggling to keep his cool as he shot back.

He could not pinpoint when it had started, but Evangeline had become a trigger for him, setting off his emotions like a ticking bomb.

"What about it?"

Julia burst into a mocking laugh, "My dear Walt, are you still clueless? You, Walter, will always be Evangeline's plan B, nothing but her backup guy...'

Walter's face turned stormier with each word Julia spat out. Her tirade, however, was cut short.This content is © NôvelDrama.Org.

A strong hand had suddenly gripped her throat with a vice-like intensity.

She was drowning in an invisible sea, her lungs screaming for air, her body seized by a bone-chilling terror. "Young Master!"

The bodyguard's shout snapped Walter back to reality.

He stared at Julia, her face a ghostly pale, her body limp, and he recoiled as if jolted by a shock.

What had he been thinking?

Had he almost killed Julia?

To think, for such a poisonous woman, he would stoop so low as to dirty his hands!

He snatched the white handkerchief from the bodyguard, wiped his hands, and tossed it aside with a look of disgust. Pointing at Julia, he commanded, "Take her to Northern Montavia. As for the Rearden family. Let them be history." The handkerchief lay abandoned on the floor, trampled by gleaming shoes that did not miss a beat.

Julia, barely recovered, was petrified by his words.

Northern Montavia, that nightmare of a place....

She could not believe Walter would be so cruel!

"Walt, please, I'm begging you, let me stay! I love you so much, I'll be your maid, anything! Just let me serve you!" she cried out, her voice a desperate wail.

Then, a hand landed on her shoulder.

She looked up to see a face devoid of emotion.

The words that followed, however, were the final blow,

"He has left..."

7

As Walter walked away from the eerie, deserted factory, the sky had slipped into darkness. He was in a foul mood, but could not quite figure out why. Maybe it was something Julia had said, or maybe it was the thought of his older brother, who was about to leave the countr All he wanted was to drive back to the old family home and hole up in the room he and Evangeline used to share, craving a slice of silence where no one could bother him.