Chapter 322: The Masked Person

“Dad, I’ve been serving you for years! How could you treat me this way?”

“Serve? Ha! Do you know how much my son has spent on you? With that kind of money, I could have hired hundreds of servants without a second thought. Everything you’ve done has been for that marriage certificate, hasn’t it?”

Jeffrey’s expression was icy as he steadied himself with his cane. “A woman as scheming as you finally has the chance to touch the Boltons.”

I have to admit, Jeffrey was remarkably sharp. He’d seen through Sheila’s true colors from the start and had opposed their marriage for years. Looking back now, he was absolutely right. Without his intervention, the Boltons might have ended up just like the Sanders.

“You’ve been in our family for so long. Out of respect for our past, I’m giving you one last chance. Speak now, and I might show you mercy. But once the pain starts, it’ll be too late for regrets.”

Sheila responded, “I have nothing to say.”

“Very well. Bring the pliers. Let’s begin with your front teeth, one by one. If you stay silent, we’ll move to your fingernails, then your hair, and finally your skin. I have all the time in the world to make this as slow as it needs to be.”

It was no surprise Carter inherited his cruelty. Seeing this, it was clear where his merciless nature came from.

“Sheila, why are you doing this? Adam has treated you well all these years. His own son died under suspicious circumstances, and you don’t seem to care. Do you feel nothing for him? Or did you never love Adam at all?”

I must give credit to Anna for teaching me the strategy of subtle manipulation—stirring the pot truly works wonders. Using cunning to outwit cunning is incredibly satisfying.

Sheila glared at me with hatred burning in her eyes. “Zoey, it’s all your fault I’m in this mess! You hope…”

Before she could finish saying “die,” Damian’s hand struck her cheek with a sharp slap. Damian doesn’t hold back! If he wants that promotion, he’s certainly proving he’s up for it! Some excel in speech, but Damian’s talent lies in his hands. For Carter, when he strikes, he pays no mind to who’s in front of him, man or woman. Swift, precise, and merciless, he’s someone we could all learn from.

In my presence, Carter is nothing but soft and pliable, like clay waiting to take shape under my touch. Yet, beyond my gaze, his reputation is far-reaching.

When he turned his cold stare toward Sheila, it was as though ice would touch my warmth or mercy.

“Sheila, just because I speak politely to you doesn’t mean you have the right to be in my shoes,” he said, his tone cold. His gaze briefly flicked to Damian. “Damian, do what needs to be done.”

“Understood, Mr. Carter.”

Damian moved with precision, using pliers to grip Sheila’s teeth. Before he could even swiftly yank out a tooth, sending blood splattering in all directions…

“Ah! My tooth!”

Carter gently covered my eyes. “Don’t look, it’s disgusting.”

How charming; his hypocrisy is truly endearing.

Damian showed no mercy, swiftly pulling out three of Sheila’s teeth in just a few seconds. Sheila pressed her hand to her mouth, blood streaming down her fingers.

Carter’s voice was sharp and unforgiving. “Are you going to speak, or not?”

Sheila turned to Adam, her voice trembling. “Honey, are you really going to stand by and let them do this to me?”

I’m not sure if my words had any effect, but Adam simply gazed at her without stepping forward to intervene.

“Sheila, Zoey is right,” he said, his tone calm but firm. “I’ve shown you nothing but kindness, yet now my son is dead, and you remain silent. Do you truly care about me?”

Adam’s eyes fixed on Sheila as he spoke, his words soft but carrying a weight that could not be ignored.

“I can’t protect you in this situation, nor do I plan to. My son didn’t even get to live a peaceful life, and his death was so dishonorable. Even if he didn’t call me father, I would still seek justice for him. If you know anything, speak up now.”

With that, he placed Sheila under immense pressure. She stopped her outbursts, tears silently streaming down her face.

“Things have gone too far, so I’ll talk,” she finally said.

“Don’t even think about playing games. If you utter a single lie, we won’t show you any mercy,” Jeffrey warned, his voice stern.

Sheila lowered her head, her gaze fixed on her newly manicured nails as tears fell silently. Perhaps it was Adam’s words that reached her. After all these years together, everything he had done for her wasn’t in vain.

“Back then, I left carrying your child. I gave birth to him on my own, but in the end, I couldn’t protect him. Those years were full of hardship. Then one day, a girl of the same age as my child appeared in front of me. She is Anna.”

“At first, I treated her like my own daughter. But soon, I realized something was off. Her background was uncertain, and she often vanished. One day, I followed her and discovered her with some strangers.”

“What kind of people were they?” Adam asked, his voice steady.

Sheila replied, “They belong to a mysterious organization. When I went there, I heard screams, and blood was pouring out from beneath the door. By the time I realized they were involved in something criminal, it was already too late to escape, and I fainted from fear.”

“What happened next?”

“I woke up to find Anna and a masked person by my bedside. They asked me if I wanted to make a deal.”

“I was confused at the time, but I knew that if I didn’t agree, I wouldn’t leave that room; there wasn’t even a window.”

I quickly inquired, “Was it a man or a woman? What kind of deal did they ask you to make?”

She explained, “The deal was simple. I had to raise Anna and marry into the Boltons. At that time, I found it odd. After all the work I did to win Jeffrey’s acceptance, how could they have a way to make it happen? I was terrified then, and in order to survive, I agreed to everything. But less than six months later, I heard that Adam’s wife had passed away in a car crash. With her gone, most of the barriers between Adam and me were gone. Following their plan, I purposely crossed paths with Adam after he lost his wife, and our old feelings were rekindled. You all know what came after that.”

“What else did they want from you after you married into the Boltons?”

Sheila replied, “They wanted me to marry Adam, but it took me many years. No matter what I did, Jeffrey never accepted me. Adam, feeling guilty toward his ex-wife and pressured by Dad, never married me either.”

“Was there anything else?” I asked.

“They wanted me to get involved in the Boltons’ business, but I’m not that smart. Even though they tried to teach me, I couldn’t make sense of all those complicated reports, and I never even got a marriage certificate.”

I was at a loss for words. It seemed her foolishness wasn’t just an act. The organization wanted to use her, but she simply wasn’t clever enough.

“There must be more to it, right? What about Silas’s identity and how Luke and Silas switched places? You haven’t identified the person wearing a mask.”

Even though Sheila never got close to the organization’s main secret, having spent so many years with Anna, she must have learned something. There had to be something she was keeping hidden.

“Every time we meet, that person wears a disguise…”