The Silent Wife

There was a tinge of coldness coming from his fingers onto her cheeks that were held with force. However, the voice ringing next to Rachel's ear was even colder.

At this moment, she felt her head ringing as it went blank. Anxious, she quickly turned to look at Justin.

It was only then that he gradually let his grip off and took his seat on the sofa again. With his chin slightly tilted upward, he said with an arrogant, cold look, "I thought that you were lying. Now I see that you're willing to do anything to help with your grandma's illness."

After a few moments, she suddenly remembered that she had to breathe, so she took a deep breath in too quickly. Due to that, she choked hard and ended up holding her neck with her body leaning against the wall as she had a consecutive string of coughs.

She choked so badly that tears welled up in her eyes. Amidst her coughs, her hand that was holding a pen trembled. 'What do you mean?'

Seeing that, he calmly took a breath in before letting it out. As he tucked his crossed fingers between his knees, he looked up at her before saying, "I want to make a deal with you."

There was a brief pause before he continued his next sentence.

"I want the Hudson Family's prescription."

It's the prescription again! He's indeed coming for the Hudson's prescription!

When she heard that, her face turned pale as she shook her head several times. 'What prescription? I

don't know."

The Hudson Family's prescription was a trade secret that serves as the key livelihood of Hudson Pharmaceuticals. Even Amber didn't know much about it, much less Rachel, the neglected daughter who was born out of wedlock.

"We're not in a rush."

Of course, he was aware of the limitations of her capabilities.

"The Hudson Family owns many prescriptions, but I only want one-the one in Jefferey's private safe."

Upon hearing that, she shook her head helplessly. 'You're asking too much from me!

No matter which prescription he'd ask for, she wouldn't be able to obtain any of them.

"Too much?" As he looked at her neat handwriting on the notebook, his face turned dark. He then looked at her with a cold gaze before he blurted, "That's right! I'm asking a lot from you because it's what you Hudsons owe me!"

Years back, they were the ones who caused Katie's death in that fire. It was a blood debt that had to be paid back, so there was no way he'd be asking too much from them.

As his train of thoughts ran through his mind, his face turned even darker. In a cold tone, he continued, "Jefferey will be celebrating his birthday at the end of the month. If you manage to get it, I'll help you eliminate the evidence he has against you. You will no longer be restricted by them."

Hearing his deep voice echo in the room, she shuddered.

Justin wants to do something to Grandma...

No way!

"Have you considered it?"

'Give me some time'. She could only compromise.

Nevertheless, she knew that she was unable to do what he asked of her. Not to mention, she didn't even know where the safe he mentioned was. How could she get the prescription? "Are you trying to negotiate with me?"

Gritting her teeth, she held onto the pen tightly as she wrote, 'Grandma's operation is next Monday. I can only do that after her operation ends." Looking at her determined look, he knew that he'd gained nothing if he were to push her further. After giving it some thought, he briefly replied, "Okay." After waiting for so many years, he didn't mind waiting for a mere few days.

"Don't try to pull anything funny." Before he left, he gave her a warning. "Don't forget. No one is going to have your back if you screw up."

Right after that, the door was slammed shut with a bang, causing Rachel to tremble.

After a few seconds, she held onto the arms of the chair before she sat down as her legs felt weak.

It seemed that she could no longer reside in the Burton Family nor in Riverdale, so she must bring her grandma and leave as soon as possible.

The next day.

When Justin was about to head out in the morning, he bumped into Julian at the door.

"Morning."

"Waiting for someone?" Justin nodded in acknowledgment as he gazed past Julian and noticed that he was leaning against a car like he was waiting for someone. Without bothering to evade, he replied, "I'm going to work. On the way, I'll bring Rae to see her grandma at the hospital."

"Rae?" The nickname sounded extra unpleasant to Justin's ears as the look in his eyes turned cold.

At this moment, Rachel came out of the house carrying a minimalistic white tote bag. Seeing the two men looking at her, she was stumped.

What are the odds of such a coincidence?

She had even deliberately decided to leave a little later than usual just to avoid these two men.

"Morning, Rae!" Julian's voice traveled past Justin's figure and entered her ears.

Out of instinct, she looked up and offered the source of the voice a smile, but her smile quickly faltered when her eyes met Justin's. Hence, she tentatively gave a nod in response without budging. "Let's go. I'll take you to the hospital."

Julian's voice could be heard once again. It was as warm and gentle as the morning sunlight.

"There's no need for that. I'll drop her off on my way to work." At this moment, Justin's voice echoed in the front porch, somehow dimming the warmth of this morning's sunlight.

Hearing that made her face freeze.

"Rae..." Julian's gaze turned serious.

Inevitably, she didn't have the guts to look at Julian in his eyes as her clutch on the tote bag strap tightened. Under Justin's pressuring gaze, she slowly threaded toward him and got into his car. He didn't even have to say anything else.

Meanwhile, Julian seemed like a kicked puppy as he watched her sitting in Justin's car.

As Justin walked past Julian, he put his palm on Julian's shoulder firmly before saying in a cold tone, "You should call her Rachel; she is your in-law, not your friend."

Upon hearing that, Julian froze in his tracks.

As the MPV left the front porch, the atmosphere at the scene seemed too heavy for a day in summer.

The white figure standing at the front porch became smaller and smaller in the rear mirror, and Rachel couldn't help but sink into a state of guilt.

"What's wrong? Are you unwilling to be in my car?"Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

At this moment, a cold voice spoke up from beside her. At once, she snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head in denial.

"Then, are you disappointed because you didn't get to ride with Julian?"

Once again, she shook her head. 'I don't want to ride in his car. Even if I didn't get into yours, I wouldn't have gone with him."

"Oh? Really?"

'Madam Parham doesn't like it when I get too close with Julian, so I will keep my distance from him.

After being around Justin for some time, she learned that it was vital for her to get things straight so that unnecessary misunderstandings wouldn't happen.

Hearing that, he couldn't help but scoff. "Very sensible of you."

Sue had always taken Julian's marriage seriously. Usually, she wouldn't even approve of normal girls, much less Rachel.

After taking a glance at her, Justin turned his attention away to the view outside the window before he said monotonously, "Stay away from Julian. Don't get into trouble."

She nodded immediately to indicate that she had understood.

Seeing how obtuse she seemed, he no longer felt like talking to her. Hence, he shut his eyes and leaned back into the seat.

The view outside the window was moving backward at a high speed, and it was silent in the car. Hearing the steady and soft breaths coming from the man sitting next to her, Rachel no longer felt

anxious.

At this moment, she tentatively turned to look at him.

The scar on his face seemed to have faded a lot, and he didn't look as scary and tenacious in his sleep.

Just as she was observing his features, she suddenly saw from her hindsight that the driver was checking her out from the rearview mirror. At once, she was stumped. Not knowing what else to do, she quickly bowed down to reach for her tote bag that had fallen between the two seats in hopes that the awkwardness would dissipate.

The moment she picked up the tote bag, her wrist was grabbed by a big hand.

Inevitably, she was caught off guard. She initially thought that Justin must have woken up, but he seemed to be still having his eyes closed when she turned to check on him. Nonetheless, she also noticed that droplets of cold sweat trickled down his forehead where the scar was imprinted on his skin. He must be having a nightmare.

Would a person like him get nightmares too? Though she couldn't understand why, she felt a little bad for him.

After a few moments, she finally calmed herself back down and decided to carefully retract her hand back.

"Katie..."

After a string of murmurs, he suddenly opened his eyes. At this moment, his gaze was as cold as a sharp sword, puncturing into her eyes in a swift action. Stupefied, she couldn't help but shudder as she held her breath