CHAPTER 454

Lucas, who was initially sitting down, immediately jerked to his feet to stop Cynthia, but Leigh was faster. She grabbed Cynthia's wrist and twisted it harshly.

Cynthia wailed in pain as Leigh twisted her arm behind her back, forcing her to fall to one knee.

Leigh twisted her arm with one hand and patted her face patronizingly with the other. "Miss Griffin, let me teach you another lesson. When you're weaker than your opponent, don't ever slap her, or you're only giving them another reason to beat you up!"

When that was said and done, she kicked Cynthia in the back of her knee, forcing her into kneeling. Then, she turned to Lucas and beamed. "I'm just doing this out of self-defense. Young Master Lucas, please don't think of me as vicious."

"You're insane! Let go of me!" Cynthia struggled against her. "How dare you slap me! I'm calling the police to arrest you!"

"Wonderful. Let's call the police then!" Leigh giggled as she mused, "When you call the police, I'll make a call to Mario. I'll tell him I was having a nice dinner with Young Master Lucas when you ridiculed us out of the blue. I'll ask him how he could fail so terribly as a father that you ended up being such a rude woman! Don't forget that you started the fight. So, he's in the wrong for raising such an impolite little b*tch, no? I'll ensure that he understands that you need a firmer hand to guide you in the future. Aren't you going to thank me?"

Cynthia's face turned red with rage, and she flapped her lips but couldn't say a word in response. She didn't want Mario to know that she mocked Lucas, but she despised that she was being humiliated by this nobody!

Mario didn't like her and her sisters; Lucas was his favorite. If he discovered that she had started a fight by insulting Lucas, he would definitely punish her.

Her grandfather was even worse. He adored Lucas even more so than Mario. He had a serious preference for a male heir. In his opinion, he did not even consider the five sisters a part of the Griffin Family. To him, it didn't matter how Lucas was conceived, and he was a shoo-in as an heir to the Griffin Family.

If her grandfather knew that she deliberately provoked Lucas, he would punish her far more severely than Mario. Her grandfather held a superior status in the family. Suffice to say, her grandfather succeeded in putting the fear of God within her just by mere presence alone, and she did not dare to test his boundaries.

In the past, Lucas never once complained to her grandfather and Mario about his treatment at home, which was why she dared to taunt him when she bumped into him today. Moreover, he would only dismiss them whenever they bullied him and walked away. He had never retaliated.

Yet today, some lunatic decided to be Lucas' knight in shining armor by helping him.

She had tormented Lucas so many times, but this was the first time that she had a taste of her own medicine. The more she thought about it, the more resentful she became. Finally, she snarled and spat viciously, "This is between Lucas and me. It's none of your business. Release me this instant!"

She dared not mention anything close to calling the police or security. Even if the police arrived, Leigh would only be fined or given a warning, but if Mario and her grandfather found out what she had done

to Lucas… She couldn't imagine what gnarly fate would await her.

"Lucas is my friend, so his business is my business." Leigh snorted, "Do you want me to let you go? Sure, but you have to swear that you will leave Lucas alone and walk the other way when you see him, or—you'll become an ugly witch, and no one will ever love you."

Cynthia was so furious that she butted against Legh's hold. "Are you insane?! Why do you want to be friends with a b*stard?! Don't you know that he's a b*stard? In Dusktown, a b*stard is the symbol of shame. There are so many good men in the world. So why do you have to be friends with an illegitimate child?!"

"Watch your tongue, young lady!" Leigh exerted some force. Cynthia immediately felt a sharp pain, and she cried in agony. "Yes, he is an illegitimate son, but that's because that trashy dad of yours scammed his mom! His mom thought she was officially married to your worthless father, but he was so malicious that he cheated her with a fake marriage certificate. In his mom's heart, he is a legitimate son! But, on the other hand, your dad tricked a woman with a fake marriage certificate! He is despicable, shameless, and unworthy of the title 'Father'!" Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

At this point, Leigh pressed closer to Cynthia and grinned. "This is your family's secret, isn't it? Your family is prestigious in the city, so I bet everyone in your family doesn't want this secret to leak out. It's just a shame you bullied Lucas in public and forced my hand. Why don't you tell me what would happen to you if your grandpa and dad found out that I exposed your family's dirty laundry because you mocked Lucas? How would they punish you?"

As Cynthia listened to Leigh's remarks, her face, which was initially red with rage, gradually turned stark white.

She was right. Her family had been trying to sweep this matter under the rug, and no one would reveal anything to the public. They were currently in a public place.

Although there were screens between seats in this high-end restaurant, the nearby diners could undoubtedly hear her as she spilled the beans with her strong voice. Some might spread her words, and Cynthia did not dare to think about how her grandfather would punish her if he discovered that she was to blame for this entire farce.

She genuinely regretted her actions, perhaps not for the right reasons, but she was sorry she even taunted Lucas. She shouldn't have swanned to his table just to mock him. It was just that she blew a fuse the minute she saw him and wanted him to die right there and then.

Although the five Griffin sisters were the legitimate children of the Griffin Family, and Lucas was an illegitimate son, her grandfather, and father completely ignored tradition and insisted on wanting Lucas to be a part of their family. It was like they were hypnotized!

They wanted to announce to the public that he was the legitimate son of the family. It was just that before his mother passed away, she entrusted him to the Hart Family, and they brought him back when he became an adult so that he could take over the family. It was utterly unprecedented in Dusktown, where an illegitimate child could inherit the family fortune.

She knew that it was because Lucas became the adopted son of the Harts. Therefore, her father and grandfather thought that he was different from other illegitimate children, which was why they insisted on bringing Lucas back home and even allowing him to take over the family's inheritance.

Cynthia, her sisters, and her mother would not let this happen! Her mother was Mario's officially wedded wife, and the five sisters were the legitimate daughter of the Griffins. Everything in the Griffins

should be theirs. Lucas was just an illegitimate son and did not deserve to take a dime from them!

Whenever she saw Lucas, she thought of her father and grandfather, who wanted to accept Lucas and replace the sisters as the family's heirs. Whenever she thought of her father and grandfather's outrageous actions, she couldn't help but torment Lucas to vent her frustrations at the unfairness of it all.

She had never failed to browbeat him in the past, but today, Lucas was with a woman she had never seen before, and she tasted failure for the first time.

Lucas never fought back whenever he was treated terribly. On the contrary, he hated having any involvement with the Griffins and would not mention a word about the family. Nonetheless, today, the woman accompanying him exposed the family secret without batting an eye.

If the people here spread the news, and her grandfather and father discovered that she was the source of this incident, her life would be ruined! There would be no hope for her to even inherit a single cent! The longer she contemplated her actions, the more she regretted them. She couldn't even describe how terrified she was of the fallout.

Cynthia desperately wanted to flee from this establishment and this crazy woman. Hence, she could only force herself to admit defeat with a lowered head as she stammered, "O-Okay! I-I swear that from now on, I will leave Lucas alone. If I bully him again, I'll turn so ugly that no one will ever love me!"