Chapter 215: Self-inflicted Retribution

Scarlett's POV:

Charles's lips brushed my fingers in a soft kiss, before pulling away slowly.Then, he stood up to look
affectionately at me, his eyes filled with love and warmth.

"I've taken off my ring once, and you've also taken off yours once.Now, we're even." I felt helpless, but I
couldn't say anything to retort.

Left with no choice, I pushed him to the door disgruntledly.

"Go to your company now.You have work to do, Mr.Moore!"

Charles let go of my hand obediently.

He gave me another kiss to bid me farewell, and soon left.

I watched his receding figure, my sight gradually blurring after a while.

"I really… can't escape from you."

I turned my sights to the ring on my finger.

Without realizing it, tear drops fell from my eyes and on the ring.

After lunch, Charles's grandmother and mother came back, their hands laden with a lot of bags.

Obviously, they had gone on a terrific shopping spree.

Janet and Tracy also returned with James.

It was obvious who had sent all of them away at the same time.



Later that afternoon, Janet drove me to the TV station.

"Scarlett?"

I looked up to see the person who had called for me, and discovered it was none other than Linda.

She had a high position, and her words held sway over the entire TV station.

We barely had any interactions with each other, especially in recent times.

I found it a little strange for her to come to me so suddenly "Hey, Linda.What's up?"

Linda sighed sadly and looked at me, guilt written all over her face.

"I heard that Lucia did something terrible and offended you yesterday.I'd like to apologize on her
behalf.I'll ask her to apologize to you in person when I see her later."

That left me confused.

As soon as Linda left, Nina's voice rang next to me.

"Why did Linda come here all of a sudden? Is she making trouble for you?"

"Say, Nina.Does Linda have anything to do with Lucia?"

"What, you don't know? Lucia's her niece."

Nina furrowed her brows with righteous indignation.

"Was she here to back Lucia up? How dare she!"

"No, no.Actually, she was here to apologize for Lucia,"



I replied, trying to calm down the agitated Nina.

However, my words puzzled Nina, whose indignant expression morphed into a look of suspicion.

"Apologize? No way.I don't believe it."

A thought occurred to me.

If Lucia really was Linda's niece, why would Lucia go and ask for Charles's help? That led to only one
possibility.

Lucia's aim was not sponsorship, but something else.

"Forget it.Just ignore her! By the way, more than one hundred audience and guests have been invited
to the studio for the program this afternoon.You have to personally keep watch there." I nodded.

"No problem."

The program later that afternoon was successfully recorded, with all of the guests having performed
well.

So much, the audience was unwilling to leave.

After that, I informed the director to do the tail-in work.

I intended to leave first, but was stopped at the sight of Lucia walking towards me.

Lucia looked me in the eye, her gaze rather sinister, and threw me a challenging smile.

Then, she picked up a microphone on the stage and turned it on.

"Lucia? What are you doing?"



I stared at her, dumbfounded.

Lucia brought the microphone to her lips and said, her voice magnified in volume, "Don't be anxious,
Scarlett! I'm here to apologize to you, aren't I? I'm really sorry.I drank too much yesterday."

I frowned, annoyance stabbing into me like tiny pinpricks.

This was no apology.

Lucia's malicious voice resounded through the microphone in the whole studio, just as she had
planned.

"Oh, dear! I accidentally interrupted your date with your interviewee! Please convey my sincerest
apologies to William, Scarlett.I really didn't mean to disturb your intimate moment with him!"

As soon as her words trailed away, the remaining audience and staff who hadn't left the studio all
turned to me with curious stares.

I shot a cold look at Lucia.

"Linda's your aunt, right? She came to apologize to me at noon, and wanted me to spare you."

"Apologize?"

Lucia let out a grim cackle before glaring icily at me, haughtiness exuding out of her every pore.

"I didn't do anything wrong! Why should I apologize to you? Is it because I drank with Charles? I just
went to see him for business, but Charles liked me.He wanted to hug me and drink with me, so of
course I couldn't refuse him!"

Her usually delicate and pitiful voice was distorted by the equipment, sounding like sparks falling on
cotton.



Just like that, my anger was ignited.

All of a sudden, there was a commotion at the door.

Curious, I looked at the direction of the noise and saw the door of the studio swing open.

Charles strode in, dressed sharply in a handsome suit.

His eyes bore into mine meaningfully the instant he entered the studio.

I spun around to glance at Lucia.

With Charles here, her face grew as pale as a sheet.

I made my way to Charles and greeted him with a warm smile, "Honey, you're here."

Charles walked toward me and took my hand.

"Call me honey again."

My response to this was to roll my eyes to the high heavens.

Just then, a loud noise crash resounded.

Startled, I shrank in fear and hid in Charles' arms.

Charles wrapped his arm around my waist protectively and said, "Don't be afraid."

When I looked aside, I saw that Lucia was sitting on the stage, looking incredibly embarrassed.

She was holding her ankle with one hand, seemingly in pain.



It seemed the loud noise was a result of her falling, and she had sprained her ankle in the process,
Lucia reached out to Charles, sporting an anguished look that attracted pity.

"I… I didn't mean to say that just now! It was Scarlett who forced me…"

Charles took a step back, still shielding me in his arms with ferocious protectiveness.

"Filth."

This one single word from him turned Lucia's face deathly pale.

Her whole body shook.

I was quick to expose her clumsy lie and snarled coldly, "I asked you to say that my husband liked you
and wanted to hug you in front of so many people? You may be insane, but I'm not."

"I… I…"

Lucia hemmed and hawed, fumbling in panic.

Flustered, she was unable to utter even a complete sentence.

Her eyes turned red and she burst into tears.

Charles' POV:

I held Scarlett tighter, pulling her into my protective arms.

For a long time, I had been waiting for her to call me honey.It was just an ordinary word, yet to me, it
carried a magical energy that made me fall in love with her all over again.



"I was just joking, Charles! You've helped me a lot.How could I ever make things difficult for you? You
know me…"

Lucia's voice buzzed in my ears like a cumbersome fly I longed to swat.

I tilted my head to the side to look at Scarlett.

She was leaning against my chest, busy fiddling with a cufflink on my suit.She looked quite bored.

"Let's go home, okay?" I suggested warmly.

Scarlett tore her eyes away from the cufflink and stared at me, anger flashing in her gaze.

"Didn't you hear that? Lucia said you knew her.So, what is it that you know about her?"

"That's not true.I'm not familiar with her at all."

"Why did you sponsor her program if you're not familiar with her?"

Scarlett glared at me, but I couldn't help smiling at that.She was obviously jealous.

I held back the urge to kiss her as we were in public.

Pressing the corners of my mouth, I explained seriously, "I sponsored the program for the sake of
business and mutual interests."

Scarlett's face softened when she heard my reply.

"Lucia has always said that you sponsored the program for her sake.I guess I've misunderstood you."

"For her sake? No, she's wrong.She doesn't deserve my money."

"Did you hear that?"



Scarlett cast a brief glance at Lucia.Lucia collapsed weakly on the stage once more.

"Let's go home.I'm a little tired."

Scarlett did look quite exhausted.

I was about to leave with her in my arms, until I saw Nina waving at her from a distance to grab her
attention.

"I need to go there for a bit."

"I'll wait for you here."

I watched Scarlett leave, and then took out my phone to dial a number.

As I was dialing, Lucia's voice came from behind me.

"Charles…? I'm sorry I made Scarlett angry.Please don't blame me, okay?".

I turned around and looked at her expressionlessly.

My eyes were devoid of any emotion.

Immediately, tears sprang into Lucia's eyes.

She stared at me with her teary eyes, willing me to take pity on her, but I only looked back coldly.

Oddly enough, she then flashed me a bashful expression and tried to grab my clothes.

"Charles… You know, I'm still a virgin…"

I took two steps back, avoiding her hands, and said on the phone, "Did you hear that, sir?"






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