CHAPTER 393

After noticing Ann was about to throw her handbag at Joel's face, Simon protected Joel while Fred rushed forward and kicked the bag away. When Madeline saw her son was protected by both Simon and Fred, she immediately went and grabbed Ann's arm before she twisted it, as the latter had lost the upper hand. As Ann let out a miserable cry of pain, she instinctively knelt on one knee in the direction of Caitlin, coincidentally.

Towering above Ann, Caitlin curled her lips and said, "You should just apologize. There's no need to make a big scene out of this."

The impact of Ann's knees falling to the ground was painful to the extent that she felt as though her kneecaps were shattered. As she screamed in pain, the only thing left in her mind was a person's name to which she yelled, "Grayson!"

With a frown, Grayson came forward to stop the situation from escalating further. "Madeline, what are you doing? Let go of her!"

"She reprimanded my son!" Not only did Madeline not let go of Ann's arm, but she also exerted even more strength on her hand that had twisted Ann's arm behind her. "Apologize to my son!"

Although Ann had recently fallen from grace, she had always regarded herself as the only lady of the Hart Family for the past twenty years, which was why her friends were always willing to back her and indulge her. Feeling that she was superior to the others, she thought of herself as the most honorable and beautiful socialite in Dusktown, so she had never suffered such humiliation. Stewed in anger, hatred, and shame, she sobbed as she said, "Grayson—"

Grayson tried to dissuade. "Madeline, we're a family here. We should talk it out instead of making such

an unsightly scene, especially with so many others around."

Indifferently, Madeline said, "How is she part of the family? As I recalled, your brother has already driven her out of the Hart Family and severed all ties with her."

"Madeline, he only said that in a fit of anger. " Grayson then continued with a frown, "No matter what, Ann is still Mrs. Emma's daughter and my brother's cousin. As we are a family, how can our familial ties be severed just like that?"

Before Madeline could retort, Sebastian's voice came from behind her. "I'm not against having my brother speaking on my behalf, but I'm slightly offended with how you're speaking with your head buried in the sand."

Grayson's body stiffened when he heard Sebastian's voice. As his closest brother, he knew just how much Sebastian disliked Ann.

Walking toward Madeline, Quincy, and Joel, Sebastian came to a stop when he was by their side. After Quinton greeted Sebastian, he then reported to him the situation concisely. After he was done, Sebastian nodded and turned his attention to Lucas who was following behind him. "Make arrangements for a room."

"Understood." Lucas quickly asked someone to arrange for an unoccupied room and herded the crowd into it.

"You head on in first. I have something to say to my friend," Madeline said quietly to Sebastian as her gaze landed on Caitlin.

"You and the children need to be present," Sebastian said. Then, he turned toward Lucas and said, "Since Madeline's friend was injured in your shop, your shop has the responsibility to care for her. Arrange for your men to tend to her injuries."

"I understand, Sebastian." Lucas then called the manager who seemed to have immediately come over due to his status. "Arrange a room for Madeline's friend and call for a doctor to tend to her injuries. Charge everything to my account."

"There's no need…" said Caitlin.

"Go ahead. Since it's already this late, it'll be inconvenient to go to the hospital now. You should have your injuries tended to here first, then I'll bring you to see Leigh when I'm done with my affairs," said Madeline.

Although the two of them haven't known each other for a long time, they were friends who were sincere with one another. Seeing that Madeline was persistent, Caitlin decided to take up on her offer. "Alright, I'll wait for you."

The manager of Club Tempest quickly arranged for a spacious and comfortable suite nearby for Caitlin's perusal and guided her into the suite.

Lucian planned to follow Caitlin into the suite as well, but she stopped him from doing so. "I've already clearly said all that can be said. I don't want to see you anymore. Manager…" She turned toward the manager and continued, "I don't want him coming into my room."

Without missing a beat, the manager said apologetically to Lucian, "I'm sorry, as this lady here is the

VIP of our establishment, I'll have to ask you to come back another day… as she does not wish to see you." He deliberately paused mid-sentence. Anyone smart enough would know that the manager was implying that he would call for the security to evict Lucian should he not comply.

Theodore tried convincing Lucian. "Lucian, since Katy isn't feeling well, we should let her tend to her injuries first. There is still ample time for us to catch up with her later."

However, Lucian was reluctant to do so. After all, he had spent a great deal of effort to meet Caitlin, so he was reluctant for his meeting with her to end this way.

Then, Gilbert came up to Lucian and whispered, "Don't be like this, Lucian. It's not like you won't be seeing her anymore. Now that she's in Dusktown, there will be other opportunities to meet her later. Since she's not feeling well now, we should let her have some rest first."

Taking a glance at the injury on Caitlin's forehead, Lucian gritted his teeth and could only compromise in the end. "Fine! Katy, tell me a date and time so that we can have a chat. I have many things I want to tell you."

Caitlin only looked at him coldly without saying a word, as she had nothing left to say to the man.

Looking at Caitlin's ice-cold gaze, Lucian felt as though a million arrows had pierced through his heart. Ever since he had lost her, regretful thoughts would often come invading his mind. Sometimes, a question would abruptly float into his mind: Was I wrong?

Whenever such a question came to mind, he would jerk sharply and break out in a cold sweat. Then, he would convince himself by saying that he did nothing wrong, as he could not admit his mistake. This mistake was irreparable after all.

As there was no way to bring Caitlin's parents back to life, him admitting that it was a mistake would mean that he had done something irreparable for as long as he lived. Hence, he could not admit that he was wrong, so he could only grit his teeth and firmly believe that he was in the right. Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

Yet, as he looked at that icy gaze of hers, those regretful thoughts he buried deep in his mind came floating up again. Was I really in the right? To avenge my father, someone whom I have never met, I pushed the two people who had treated me as their own family and had loved me for more than twenty years to their deaths. Not only that, but I've turned against the person who was closest to me. The person who I loved. Was it all worth it?

"Forget it, Lucian. We have plenty of chances to talk in the future, so let's just leave her be." Theodore pulled Lucian behind him before he asked, "Katy, will you still leave Dusktown this time?"

Theodore, Gilbert, Jared, and Fergus were Caitlin's childhood friends. However, due to the difference in their gender, the four of them grew closer to Lucian instead. Not only that, but with the collaborations between their companies, their interests became closely related to one another to the extent of something akin to sworn brothers.

However, they had never gone after someone who was down. Rather, they had done their best in helping Caitlin. As Lucian's reason for taking over her father's company was to avenge his father's death, Caitlin's childhood friends weren't in the position to blame him and could only advise him to not take things too far.