Chapter 42

At that moment, the woman beside Edward sneered. "Are you that clueless, Edward? Do you honestly think this woman can endure loneliness? She's probably the type who pretends to be chaste but has slept with many men. These women are masters of deception. They're hypocrites!"

Severin clenched his fist. "To hell with you. I don't care if you demean me, but don't you dare insult my woman!" "Edward, look! This loser wants to hit me!" The woman immediately hid behind Edward, her expression ironically warning him against touching her. Diane, however, forcefully pulled Severin back, giving him a look that signaled him to remain calm.

Stepping forward, she said, "Do you think I'm that kind of woman, Edward? Besides, you have a wife, yet you're shopping with another woman and telling me you love me. It seems you brought her here to spite me!"

The woman retorted, "Edward's rich. Does it matter if a rich man has other women? Isn't that normal? You're the hypocrite. You're pretending to be pure while dating someone else and leading Edward on! Who are you fooling?"

To everyone's surprise, Edward slapped her. "You stupid bitch! If you can't speak respectfully, then don't speak at all. I know Diane. You're not even half as good as her."

The woman covered her face, shocked and aggrieved, but silent.

"Get out!" Edward pointed to the door. "Don't ever show your face to me again!"

Furious, the woman glared at Diane before leaving. The terrified saleswomen stood a distance away, helpless. They knew Edward; he often brought women to the store, sometimes even spanking a saleswoman he fancied, but always spending thousands afterward. His antics were legendary, yet no one dared complain.

After the woman left, Edward spread his hands, unbuttoned his collar, and said to Diane, "Since you're not that kind of woman, tell me who this man is. I want a clear explanation, or I'll have my men deal with him. Care to test me?"

Severin smiled disdainfully. "You think those men can do anything? They're ants to me." (Those men were martial artists, but he considered them weak.)

One of the bodyguards threatened, "You're asking to be killed." They resented his remark; their positions as Edward's bodyguards demonstrated their skill, and they resented being insulted by a "loser."

Diane smiled, took Severin's hand, and said firmly, "You should give up, Edward. I'm his woman; he's Selene's father. He was released early, and I just want my family to live in peace. Don't bother me again."

Edward felt as if he'd been struck by lightning. "He—he's the bastard's father? That man?" He never imagined the man he hated most was standing before him.

Changes Made:

• Improved sentence structure and flow: Many sentences were restructured for better readability.
• Removed redundant phrases: Phrases like "that about my" were deleted.
• Consistent tense: The tense was made consistent throughout the passage.
• Replaced informal language: Words like "loser" were kept where appropriate to maintain character voice, but other overly informal language was refined.
• Corrected punctuation: Commas, periods, and quotation marks were corrected for accuracy.
• Removed unnecessary repetition: Repeated phrases were removed for conciseness.
• Clarified ambiguous wording: Some sentences were rephrased to remove ambiguity.
• Removed promotional text: The promotional sentence at the end was deleted.

The cleaned-up passage maintains the dramatic tension and character voices of the original while significantly improving its grammatical correctness and overall readability.