Chapter 423 Gossip Has Consequences
Chapter 423 Gossip Has Consequences
“What do you mean we’re being sent there? There’s no mission for us in that place!”
Lewis couldn’t wrap his head around it.
And more importantly, he didn’t want to.
That place could kill people.
+5 Free Coins
Never mind the lack of showers–sure, he wasn’t as clean–obsessed as Eddie, but that didn’t mean he was ready to live like a caveman. The food alone would be a nightmare.
Silas said plainly, “Because your mouth is just as annoying as Eddie’s.”
Was that… supposed to be human language?
“Hey now, that’s a bit harsh. What’d I ever do to you?”
Silas replied, “Nothing to me–but you offended Victor.”
“What? When did I do that? This sounds serious, and I don’t remember a thing!” Lewis looked genuinely confused.
Silas stared at him like he was beyond help.
Lewis blinked. “Wait–you mean those little comments? Come on, that can’t be it.”
“He nearly drowned Eddie over those ‘little comments. You think he won’t come for you?”
Silas couldn’t forget the sight of Eddie swimming frantically for his life–ten kilometers out to sea–because of a prank. He barely made it.
These men held grudges like dragons hoarded treasure.
By the time Victor came downstairs, Lewis was shooting Silas resentful glances. Silas, clearly done, had turned his face away and was pretending not to notice.
Victor descended the stairs in a deep navy robe.
Long legs, open collar, and a glimpse of his chest–accentuated by the dark wolf tattoo stretching across his skin. The dim morning light made it seem alive.
Silas couldn’t help but think: That build… how does someone like Tessa even survive beside a man like that?
Victor sat on the couch, voice cold. “Everything handled?”
Silas nodded. “Yes. All taken care of. We left one alive for you.”
Standard protocol.
Victor nodded.
Then his eyes shifted toward Lewis.
That look alone sent a chill down Lewis’s spine. He shuddered–and without thinking, dropped to the floor.
“Victor! I’m sorry! I really am! Please don’t send me to Mambia Desert. I swear I’ll change!”
Victor’s expression darkened.
Lewis babbled faster. “I swear! I swear on my life–I’ll never gossip about you again!”
Wait–what?
The entire room fell into a stunned silence.
1/2
+5 Free C
Chapter 423 Gossip Has Consequences.
Did he really just say that?
Victor’s face twitched.
Ahahe said, amused now. “So you’ve been gossiping about me?”
He emphasized gossip with a dangerous edge.
Lewis blinked, confused at first–then nodded, flustered. He didn’t know how else to respond.
And just like that, the atmosphere froze.
Sitasslowly turned his head away, as if trying to pretend he wasn’t associated with any of this..
This idiot…he thought. Please, please don’t drag me into this.
Hiddalways tried to shut Lewis up when he started talking nonsense.
Tins wasntude discussion–it was one–way rumor–spreading, entirely on Lewis’s end.
Unfortunately, lewis didn’t notice Silas frantically giving him warning glances.
He turnedio Wittorand, in a moment of sheer panic, nodded again. “Yes.”
Victormaisellamayyebrow. And what exactly were you gossiping about? Tell me.”
His voice wass calim.even laced with a smile–but everyone could hear the storm brewing behind it.
Lewis panickeril
Victor was kinditohissiterairdle, sure–but when it came to discipline, he was merciless.
Under pressure, Lewisbroke completely and spilled everything in one breathless rant…
When he finished, he luteallike auman awaiting execution. “Victor, I didn’t mean anything by it, I was just… curious.”
Curious.
Silas mentally facepalined. Thuttssitt Fiessweud.
He was just grateful Lewis hadn’t dragged him into it—if he had. Silas would’ve turned on him then and there.
But even from a safe distance, licating that word–curious–was enough to make him wince.
So this is what people meant by disasierantes from the mouth.”
Victor chuckled lowly. “Curious?”
That word, from his lips, sounded actions andtimes more dangerous than it should.
1:24 PM
Chapter 424 Sentencing and Misunderstandings
+5 Free Coins
Lewis nearly nodded on instinct–but something in Victor’s tone stopped him cold. He shook his head frantically. “Nope, I’m not curious. Not even a little. Absolutely not.”
Oh god, had he said something wrong again?
Why did Victor’s voice sound even more dangerous than before?
Forget it. He was swearing off talking altogether. This mouth of his was going to get him killed.
“I swear I wasn’t curious about you, Victor. I was curious if I was any good.”
He needed to leave. Immediately.
“I just remembered–I didn’t get all the answers from that guy last night. I should go question him again.”
And without waiting for a reply, Silas bolted.
He vowed: from now on, if Lewis was in the same room as the boss, he was staying far away. This was a high–risk zone. One
wrong
word and boom–collateral damage.
Victor turned his eyes on Lewis.
Lewis blinked. “Want me to help Silas? I could go interrogate too?”
He was desperate to escape.
The air pressure alone was enough to make his heart flutter like a dying bird.
Victor calmly lit a cigarette. “What’s your relationship with Eddie?”
“Uh… no relationship at all?” Lewis blinked. “We’re not close.”
What kind of question was this? He and Eddie had practically nothing in common.
Victor said coolly, “I think you two should become brothers.”
“…We’re not brothers.”
“You could be.”
Lewis’s brain short–circuited.
Could be?What did that even mean?
Brothers either were or weren’t–what was this middle–ground ambiguity?
Victor explained, “Eddie’s going to the Mambia Desert in a few days. You’ll go with him. Keep him company. You two will get along great.”
And just like that, Lewis’s world collapsed.
He’d just been complaining to Silas about how brutal that desert was–and now? Now Victor was sending him?
Silas had predicted this. And he hadn’t said a word!
“B–Brothers, sure–but I don’t want to go to Mambia Desert,” Lewis blurted, without thinking.
He didn’t even register the double meaning in his words.
He thought Victor was just suggesting a bond–not a punishment.
Victor’s stare sharpened.
Silence fell.
1/3
+5 Free Coins
1:24 PM
Chapter 424 Sentencing and Misunderstandings
Lewis chuckled nervously. “Victor?”
Victor exhaled a plume of smoke. “Why did I even keep you around again?”
Why had he let this idiot stay by his side?
Lewis blinked. “Uh… firing squad?”
Victor nodded. “Right. That’s it.”
Yeah–there had to have been some redeeming quality. Otherwise, there was no way he’d have tolerated such a fool.
Upstairs, Tessa stirred and rolled over–right off the bed.
Thud! She hit the floor hard, the impact rattling her brain.
She was always a wild sleeper.
At home, the house staff had a daily task: clean and reconstruct her bed.
Because no matter how pristine it was when she lay down, by morning the sheets would be in a crumpled heap on the floor.
Bleary–eyed, she looked around.
A strange room?
Where…?
Oh. Right. She remembered now.
“Eh?”
Where was the patient?
He had a raging fever last night–where’d he disappear to?
She panicked.
Grabbing her phone, she checked the time. Past 9 a.m. already.
“Ahh, so late?”
Victor had mentioned porridge last night… and she was supposed to cook. But at this hour, did breakfast even count anymore?
Still yawning, Tessa padded downstairs.
Victor was in the living room, smoking.
He glanced over at her just as she tried to tame her already disastrous hair–only to make it look even more like a bird’s nest.
“You’re up?”
She looked toward him at the sound of his voice.
But the moment her eyes landed on Victor, memories of the night before flooded back.
Her gaze… instinctively drifted downward.
Stella’s words echoed in her head–and maybe they were right.
She’d wiped down his body for ages last night, and not one hint of a reaction.
Victor noticed her stare.
2/3
1:24 PM
Chapter 424 Sentencing and Misunderstandings
His expression darkened.
“What are you looking at?”
The question snapped her back to reality.
She jolted upright, frantically shaking her head. “Nothing! Not looking at anything!”
Her lips said no, but her mind…
What a waste. That body. That face. And yet… nothing works.
+5 Free Coins
3/3
Chapter 425: Unspoken Thoughts and Uninvited Feelings
Victor said nothing.
Tessa cleared her throat awkwardly. “Um… just so you know, you shouldn’t be smoking right now.”
She offered the reminder quietly. Victor raised a brow.
+5 Free Coins
No one had ever told him that before. Not during injury recovery, not ever. Did she really not know who she was talking to?
Tessa’s stomach growled.
With no cook around, even if Victor didn’t want to eat, she’d still have to make something for herself.
But judging from last night’s conversation–and the glimpse she’d caught of the kitchen–everything he liked seemed really complicated to prepare.
“So, um, should I make you something to eat?”
Victor: “Hmm?“/
Tessa hesitated. “Well, at this hour, whatever I make probably won’t be ready until noon. So maybe… maybe we skip soup?”
Soup took too long. And right now, she just wanted something fast and easy.
Victor raised a brow. “So what are you making?”
“Pasta. Okay?”
It was quick. And she’d made it for Stella before–Stella had even said it was good.
Victor wasn’t particularly fond of pasta, but he didn’t argue.
“Come here.”
Tessa stiffened. “W–Why?”
She really didn’t want to get any closer to this terrifying man.
Victor said nothing. Just stared at her quietly.
Tessa: “…”
Fine. When under someone’s roof, you listen.
She finally shuffled over.
Standing in front of him, she looked small–more like a little girl than anything else.
Victor reached out and touched her cheek.
His sudden movement made Tessa jerk back. “W–What are you doing?!”
Was he trying to be flirty? That wasn’t their kind of relationship!
Victor said calmly, “There’s blood on your
Tessa: “Huh?”
Blood?
face.”
Victor added, “Probably from that nosebleed you got… looking at me last night.”
Her breath caught.
Oh god. She still hadn’t cleaned that off?
1/3
Chapter 425: Unspoken Thoughts and Uninvited Feelings
She rubbed her cheek quickly–and sure enough, little crusty flakes came off.
It was dry blood.
Tessa wanted to dig a hole in the floor and crawl in.
Victor, amused by her flustered panic, said with a smile at the corner of his mouth, “Go wash your face first.”
“O–Okay.”
She spun around and ran off like a rabbit fleeing a wolf.
Victor watched her scamper off, lips tugging upward in quiet amusement.
Having this little thing around might not be such a bad idea.
For a moment, he completely forgot the chaos of how she ended up here.
J…
After washing up, Tessa went straight to the kitchen.
She pulled noodles and a few basic ingredients from the fridge and got to work like a spinning top.
+5 Free Coins
Victor, seated in the living room, had a direct view of the kitchen. He watched her little figure bustling about, flipping between pots and cupboards.
And somewhere in his chest, a strange feeling stirred.
He couldn’t quite name it—it was foreign, unfamiliar… but not unpleasant.
Meanwhile, in Rivermount-
Abraham stirred awake.
Stella was still in his arms, quiet and sweet.
She hadn’t moved much at all through the night–just lay peacefully nestled against him.
Stella finally woke–about thirty minutes after he’d left.
What she did see, however, was the butler on the phone, his voice firm and curt.
The Reed family?
Tessa really was a little gossip wizard. Everything she’d predicted was coming true–down to the exact people who’d show up.
Well, Tessa really had nailed it. She could practically open a booth and start telling fortunes. She even got the order of Reed family visitors right.
+5 Free Coins
He closed his eyes. Stella’s coldness now… it was ten times worse than how the Reed family treated her in the past.
He didn’t know why he asked. Maybe he was hoping for something–anything. Even if she cursed him out, it would mean she still had something left to say.
Stella hadn’t left him anything.
A butler.
She’s our blood… Jonathan thought.
How did it get this far?
So… that didn’t work either?
+5 Free Coins
She cared for everyone–except the very people tied to her by blood. The Reed family held no space in her heart, and never would again.
Wedding dresses.
1.24 PM d
Fine, fine.
Marie laughed. “So what do I call you now? Sis? Or sister–in–law?”
Wait, wasn’t Marie supposed to be flying to Frapucu? Why’s she asking when I’m heading back to Falvaria?
That jerk. How dare he go
back?
“Huh?”
“Your tow truck dragged my car right off the road with yours. It’s stuck too!”
Rianne’s voice was flat. “The whole thing’s gone under.”
Six feet?
Verify captcha to read the content
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Returned Heiress Who Never Fit In