Stella cried her heart out, looking at Liam with a face full of heartache and guilt.
"After that, Liam was beaten up by two bodyguards from the Sinclair family. They locked the door, and I couldn’t get in, so I could only wait outside in anxious helplessness.
"It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t said I wanted to go find Josephine, Liam wouldn’t have been beaten. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have gone looking for her.
"But she’s the eldest daughter of the Sterling family, my sister! I just wanted her to come back. It’s one thing for her to hate me, but how could she hate Liam too?"
"That beast! That little beast! How dare she?" Howard Sterling never expected that Josephine, having left the Sterling family, would go to the Sinclair family.
He wondered if she had planned this all along, and if that was why she dared to be so unyielding in cutting ties with them. Did she think that with the Sinclair family’s protection, they couldn’t do anything to her and would have to beg her to return to the Sterling family? After all, as the newly risen prominent family in Aethelgard, the Sterling family couldn’t afford to lose such face. That little bitch was really calculating. If she thought this was how she’d return to the Sterling family, she had another thing coming!
"I’ll call Sinclair right now. I refuse to believe that a prestigious family like the Sinclairs would take in an unloyal, unfilial wretch.
"Once she’s kicked out by the Sinclair family, let’s see where she can go. I don’t believe she won’t come crawling back to the Sterling family."
Without a job and nowhere to go, Howard wanted to see how arrogant Josephine could be then.
"And that Clara is absolutely despicable. How dare she interfere in the Sterling family’s affairs and have her bodyguards injure my son! Honey, you can’t just let her off the hook," Grace Hayes said viciously.
"Don’t worry. I will definitely settle this score with the Sinclair family. My son didn’t take this beating for nothing. That little bitch Clara will pay the price for being a busybody."
Howard intended to use this incident to extort some benefits from the Sinclair family.
"I really didn’t expect Clara to treat Josephine so well. If this keeps up, could it be that she really won’t come back to the Sterling family?" Caleb was somewhat surprised. He had thought Josephine would live a miserable life after leaving the Sterling family, making it a piece of cake for him to get his revenge. He had underestimated her!
"Actually, this isn’t that troublesome. The Sinclair family has long been in decline, now relying solely on Sinclair’s company to stay afloat." Stella wiped the corners of her eyes and turned to look at Liam. "Liam, I know you and Sinclair are competitors. You two have long been locked in a life-and-death struggle in the business world. Why not take this opportunity to acquire Sinclair’s company?"
"That’s easier said than done." Caleb shook his head. "Unless we have capital support from the White family, maybe it would work."
Stella cursed Caleb inwardly for being an idiot. Over the years, she had used plenty of the White family’s resources to help the Sterling family, and she had secretly helped Liam poach many of the White family’s projects. The White family was already starting to suspect her. How could she dare to touch their resources now?
She couldn’t be bothered to entertain Caleb and simply looked at Liam. "Liam, I heard that Sinclair has been snatching projects from you lately. He interferes in every bid you participate in. Don’t you want to put him in his place?"
Caleb wanted to speak again but was silenced by a single look from Liam.
"Caleb, step out for a moment. I need to talk to Stella alone."
Caleb scoffed inwardly. Talk alone, yeah right. Liam just wanted to be alone with Stella and thought Caleb was a third wheel. But Stella hadn’t even accepted his advances yet. In the end, it was still uncertain which of the brothers she would choose!
In the past, Caleb had felt that his eldest brother was his biggest competitor in wooing Stella. But seeing his brother beaten black and blue today, he suddenly felt that Liam wasn’t that intimidating after all! Even a coward like Josephine had dared to lay a hand on him; he was nothing but a paper tiger.
"Alright, I’ll go out." Caleb shot Liam a sidelong glance. "Liam, you better take it easy with those injuries. Josephine has always been terrified of you; I wonder how she suddenly dared to strike you.
"It really boggles the mind. Could it be because you used to beat her all the time, and she wanted revenge?"
"Caleb!!" That damn third brother actually dared to mock him. He was just asking for a beating.
However, the one who truly deserved his wrath was Josephine. He would definitely pay her back doubly for today’s humiliation. In this lifetime, he would make Josephine wish she were dead!
Caleb didn’t dare to truly offend his brother and quickly left with a smile.
"I’m joking, I’m joking! Don’t be mad, Liam!
"Stella, I’ll be heading back now. You should head back to the lab early too; I’ll be waiting for you to analyze the data together!"
Stella cursed him inwardly. That idiot! He really had a knack for bringing up the worst possible topics. Josephine hadn’t returned yet; what data was there for her to analyze? Was she just supposed to sit around waiting for Howard to look down on her?
As soon as Caleb left, Stella grabbed Liam’s hand.
"Liam, with Josephine absent from the lab recently, I really don’t have the heart for experiments. Let me come help you. I can help you produce the construction materials.
"That way, you can deal with Sinclair. Once you acquire his company and the Sinclair family goes bankrupt, things like what happened today will never happen again.
"By then, Josephine will naturally come home with you obediently."
"You’re right." Liam’s eyes filled with malice. "She knows perfectly well that I hate the Sinclair family, yet she chose to stay with them just to anger me. Now, she’s even relying on their influence to humiliate me. In that case, I will destroy her source of power.
"When the time comes, I’ll make her kneel before me and apologize.
"Don’t worry, Stella. I definitely won’t let you down. I promised to get her back into the lab, and I will definitely make her return willingly."
Liam mused that Josephine had always wanted their approval and had always competed with Stella for their affection. It was nothing more than her realizing she couldn’t win, so she had changed her tactics to catch their attention. Did she really think that by doing this, they would beg her to come back, pamper her, and apologize? She was completely delusional! If it weren’t for Stella’s kind heart, not wanting the eldest daughter of the Sterling family to wander the streets, he wouldn’t even bother with her.
Hearing Liam’s words, Stella breathed a sigh of relief.
She firmly decided that she wouldn’t set foot in the lab again until Josephine returned to the Sterling family. Once Liam bankrupted the Sinclair family and left Josephine with no one to rely on, she would see if that bitch could still be as arrogant as she was now.
That bitch had actually dared to slap her face. It was infuriating. When the time came, she was definitely going to carve up Josephine’s face. Didn’t Liam always despise Josephine for being ugly? She would have him carve it up with his own hands!
Just thinking about that scene made Stella unable to contain her glee. Before disfiguring her, she would also have to give Josephine a good beating; otherwise, it would be hard to quell the hatred in her heart.
After making a call to the Sinclair family, Howard and Grace returned to the hospital room.
"We plan to pay a visit to the Sinclair family and discuss today’s events face to face. Don’t worry, Liam. We definitely won’t let you suffer this beating for nothing," Howard said.
Grace stepped forward and adjusted her son’s collar.
"With me here, I’ll definitely make sure that little bitch Clara gets punished. I won’t let her protect Josephine anymore. When Josephine comes back, you can vent your anger on her however you please."
To think that he, the esteemed President Sterling, who brought bodyguards and assistants wherever he went, had actually been beaten like this. On top of that, he had some martial arts skills himself and had never taken anyone seriously. Yet, he had been slapped in the face by Josephine, the person he looked down on the most, who had even patted his cheek to humiliate him. No matter what, Liam couldn’t swallow this anger.
"Don’t bring up the fact that I got beaten. I can’t afford to lose that kind of face," Liam said through gritted teeth. "Just bring Josephine back from the Sinclair family. As for the rest, I’ll handle it myself!"
The Sinclair family and Josephine—he wouldn’t let a single one of them off! He wanted the Sinclair family utterly ruined, and he wanted Josephine dead. He would do exactly as he said!