“This bastard is clearly a traitor! How could you still plead for me to let him go, my silly sister?”
Quinton slammed the table furiously and shouted an order to his men outside, “Get in here! Drag this turncoat out and feed him
to the fish! I don’t ever want to see him again!”
“Calm down, Quinton! Why are you screaming for blood all of a sudden?”
Renee sighed helplessly. She was completely unaccustomed to the cruel and vicious side of her brother, having only known him
as a gentle and polite man. But then she thought of the arduous life he must have had to suffer through since he was a child, and
the violent outburst failed to anger her. Instead, she just felt sorry for him.
In this situation, the only thing she could do as his sister was to tolerate and try to understand him. Later, at a more suitable time,
she would be his “tranquilizer” and try to keep him under control.
“Actually,” she said, “I think the fact that Chase is unwilling to lure out the impostor proves the strength of his character. It shows
that he isn’t just an emotionless and unthinking robot who can only follow orders. This is the type of person that we must
treasure, Quinton.”
As she spoke, she walked up to Chase and assured him, “Don’t worry, Chase. I can promise you that even if we do manage to
catch the impostor, we won’t take his life. All we really want from him is an explanation...”
“An explanation?” asked Chase as he stared at Renee with a puzzled expression.
“Exactly. That man not only owes Carmine Pawnshop an explanation, but he also owes me one. I have to know who he really is
and why he played with my feelings by disappearing without a trace on the day that we were supposed to get married.”
This mystery had been plaguing Renee’s mind ever since it happened. She was convinced that it would haunt her for the rest of
her life if she never got to the bottom of the matter.
“Ms. Everheart,” said Chase in an earnest voice, “I can’t promise you anything else, but I can confidently promise you that the
impostor’s feelings for you were genuine. He was a proud man who hated everything tedious and troublesome, but he worked
very hard to learn how to cook just to leave a good impression. From a man who’s never stepped into the kitchen before, he
transformed into the perfect househusband just because of you. He couldn’t have possibly done it if he didn’t love you ardently!”
Chase had had the most contact with the impostor Mr. Q in the past four years. The man’s whereabouts had always been
mysterious and uncertain most of the time, and he would only pass his orders down to Chase via the phone. At times, Chase
only saw him once a year. Yet ever since Renee barged into Carmine Pawnshop, he would show up every few days, almost
turning the establishment into his own home.
If such a drastic change was not proof of true love, then what else would?
“Shut up, you traitor!”
Chase’s words greatly upset Quinton. He flung a teacup towards Chase and yelled, “Any man who dared to deceive my sister
deserves no forgiveness! I don’t care if it was true love—the only thing that man deserves is to be fed to the fish—no, he
deserves to be chopped up into pieces before being fed to the fish!”
Quinton was extremely protective of his sister. Anyone who dared to touch even a single strand of hair had to pay with their
head! Initially, he merely wanted the impostor to die, but now that he learned that the bastard played with his sister’s heart, he
decided that the man had to suffer a fate worse than death!
“Quinton,” Renee began, massaging her temple and visibly exhausted. “Please stay out of this and let me handle it, okay?”
“How are you going to handle it? Are you sure you won’t just give in to him and let him go?”
“Listen to me,” Quinton added earnestly. “You have to be harsh and firm when dealing with men; otherwise you’ll just be setting
off a time bomb that will one day explode, and you’ll end up crushed and burned by him.”
“It’s my choice to handle it however I want,” argued Renee. “I’m almost thirty now. I can deal with the consequences of my own
choice...”
Renee clasped her hands and pleaded with her brother, “I’m begging you, Quinton. Let the impostor be a gift for me on the
occasion that we finally reunited again, and let me handle it, please?”
Quinton was eventually persuaded, and he gave in. He turned his head and sighed. “You stubborn girl! Fine, do whatever you
want!”
Hearing his words, both Renee and Chase finally sighed in relief.