Liam assumed Josephine was only so arrogant because she had Clara backing her. Let’s see who would dare to protect her once the Sinclair family was out of the picture. After all, how much power could a declining Noble House of Aethelgard really have? Once he bankrupted the Sinclair family’s company, he would make absolutely sure Clara regretted ever befriending Josephine.
"Stop yelling," Josephine said. "You’re too ugly. Clara wouldn’t want to dirty her eyes by looking at you.
"Sterling, do you have any idea how hideous you look right now?
"Weren’t you always calling me ugly? From where I’m standing, you don’t look so good yourself."
Josephine saw that he had been beaten enough, so she stepped forward with the breakup letter. "You weren’t around when the breakup letter was signed last time. Since you delivered yourself right to my doorstep, you’re going to add your name to it no matter what."
She glanced at Liam, who was battered and gasping for air. "Though it looks like you can’t even hold a pen steadily anymore. A thumbprint will have to do."
She grabbed his hand and used his own blood to stamp a thumbprint onto the breakup letter.
"Now we’re just missing Brian’s, and it’ll be complete!"
She glanced at the breakup letter, then back at Liam, smiling in satisfaction.
"Throw him out," she ordered. "Call the police while you’re at it. Tell them someone trespassed on private property and attempted to assault me. When you chased him out, he accidentally took a nasty fall."
Sean Pierce chuckled. "Don’t worry, Ms. Josephine. We definitely won’t let this cause you any trouble."
Fabricating a chain of evidence was their specialty—not to mention the fact that this guy smashing the door first was the undeniable truth.
Josephine knew Liam couldn’t afford to lose face like this. He might be screaming about calling the cops, but he would never actually report her. Not only that, but he would also vehemently deny the whole incident, insisting that he simply fell by accident. After all, dirty laundry shouldn’t be aired in public!
It was worth noting that Liam had never taken her seriously, and he had beaten her more times than Howard ever did. On top of that, he had a volatile temper and would throw punches at the slightest disagreement. Last time at the White family’s home, she had caused Stella to lose face spectacularly. Given Stella’s personality, she was bound to instigate Liam into coming here to cause trouble. She had spent two million hiring bodyguards precisely for a moment like this. The facts proved that the money was well spent. The feeling of seeing Liam get beaten up was absolutely exhilarating!
However, this was only the beginning. What the Sterling family owed her couldn’t be repaid with just a single beating.
She recalled her past life when his company ran into trouble. She had spent three months pulling all-nighters in the lab before finally developing a new type of material that solved his material defects. But when she excitedly presented the research patent to him, he accused her of stealing Stella’s research results, insisting on changing the patent owner’s name to Stella. She refused, and the two of them got into a massive fight. Later, Liam nearly beat her to death. By the time she was discharged from the hospital, the patent owner’s name had still been changed to Stella.
She could never figure it out. It was clearly her research, so why did everyone think it belonged to Stella? What exactly had Stella done before she handed the research patent over to Liam? Had she stolen the research results early on and approached Liam first? Josephine couldn’t think of any other possibility besides that. Yet in her previous life, she had checked her computer and found absolutely no records of downloads, forwards, or transfers. So how on earth did Stella steal her research data?
Josephine was deep in thought when she saw Clara clinging to the window, waving at her.
"Josie, hurry up and open the door!"
Clara hadn’t expected Josephine to have a habit of locking the door the moment she stepped out. Earlier, when she heard Liam yelling at Josephine, she had desperately wanted to rush out and curse him into oblivion, only to find the door locked. But it didn’t matter. Standing by the window, she had managed to record a video of Josie’s heroic display. For the sake of her best friend’s job, she had conveniently forwarded it to her brother! Her brother hated Liam so much that he would surely be thrilled to see Liam getting a beatdown. In his good mood, he might just give Josie a decent, respectable job. That way, she wouldn’t have to worry about her best friend’s livelihood anymore. After all, her best friend falling out with the Sterling family was at least partially her fault!
Josephine strode forward and opened the door. "Sorry about that. I was afraid that Sterling bastard would rush in and smash things, so I locked the door out of habit."
"You handpicked these bodyguards yourself! Don’t you know how capable they are? They could easily take on ten guys like Liam without breaking a sweat!" Clara pumped her fist in elation. She finally understood why Josie had wanted to hire bodyguards. The money spent on these bodyguards was absolutely worth it. What just happened was incredibly satisfying!
"Ha... Speaking of which, Liam grew up learning Taekwondo and free-style fighting, but I didn’t expect him to be such a weakling." Otherwise, she wouldn’t have specifically chosen the two bodyguards with the best combat skills.
"That bastard actually dared to threaten the Sinclair family. I’m going to have my oldest brother teach him a lesson later," Clara said, grinding her teeth in hatred. "And that Stella, using the White family to suppress our Sinclair family. Does she have no shame? I’d like to see if the White family actually dares to touch us!"
Thinking about her own relationship with the White family, Josephine felt somewhat uncomfortable. If the White family really targeted the Sinclair family because of her, it would be a massive sin on her part. It seemed she needed to hurry up with what she planned to do.
"Let’s not talk about them anymore. Let’s talk about your brother instead. What did he say when you called him earlier? Is he willing to meet me?"
Recalling her brother’s words, Clara couldn’t help but pat her chest with a laugh. "Of course it’s no problem! With me stepping in, how could my brother ever bear to refuse?"
"Right, right, right. Our Clara is so lovable, no one could bear to refuse her. Then let’s get going. We’re going to meet your brother." Josephine got up to change her clothes.
Clara shuddered slightly. "So soon?"
"We have to strike while the iron is hot! What if your brother changes his mind?" Josephine waved her phone, looking as though she couldn’t wait another second.
That made sense. No one in the Sterling family was any good; who knew how they would try to bully Josie next? If she didn’t hurry up and make some money, how was she going to afford her bodyguards?
Clara didn’t delay any further, taking Josephine straight to Ethan’s company.
Right as their car pulled out of the villa, Liam was being rushed to the hospital by Stella. He was heavily injured, but even though Sean had called the cops, Liam refused to press charges, so the police couldn’t open a case.
When the Sterlings heard that Liam had been beaten up while looking for Josephine, their eyes nearly popped out of their heads in shock. This was Josephine! She was always like a mouse seeing a cat whenever she saw Liam. How could she possibly dare to hit her older brother? Could there be some sort of misunderstanding? With this thought in mind, the entire family rushed to the hospital.
Seeing Liam with a face full of bruises, a bandaged arm, and a severe limp, the Sterlings felt as though the sky had fallen.
"What exactly happened? Who did this? Where is Josephine?" Caleb asked in utter disbelief. He had been waiting for his older brother to avenge him! And yet, this was the result?
Fortunately, due to a heavy workload of lab experiments that afternoon, he hadn’t been able to tag along after Stella left. Otherwise, he probably would have ended up beaten to a pulp just like this!
Stella was crying a river, the red swelling on her face clearly visible.
"It was Josephine. She ordered the Sinclair family’s bodyguards to do it," she sobbed.
"We were only trying to kindly persuade her to return to the Sterling family. After all, her last name is Sterling; it’s completely improper for her to keep staying with the Sinclairs.
"But who could have known? Not only was she ungrateful, she even hit me and had the bodyguards throw me out of the Sinclair’s villa!
"And then... then... SOB SOB..."
Caleb looked anxious. "Don’t cry! What happened next? Where was Liam when she hit you? What was he doing?"