The entire Rivers family was busy preparing for Samantha’s birthday party. The second and third son of the Rivers family, Boone Rivers and Conrad Rivers, had also returned from overseas that very day.

“Boone! Conrad!” Samantha saw the two men walking in through the door and ran toward them with excitement.

Boone opened his arms and caught Samantha with a spoiled smile on his face. “Sammy, we’re back. Did you miss me?” he said, pinching her cheek yfully.

Samantha leaned into his arms like a spoiled child. “Of course I did.”

Conrad reached out and patted her head, then nced sideways at Sloane, his tone meaningful. “Don’t worry, Sammy. Now that I’m back, I won’t let anyone hurt you again.”

Sloane raised an eyebrow at that. She hadn’t forgotten–when she first came back to the Rivers family, Samantha had a nightmare because she was scared of being sent away. And just because of that, Conrad had thrown her into a pool even though she couldn’t swim. He even had the maids stand by with bamboo poles to beat her if she tried to climb out.

She had almost died in that pool.

“Well, some people really don’t know their ce. A lunatic trying to climb the socialdder? How could she even dream of marrying into the Hawthorne family?” Boone sneered, his gaze toward Sloane filled with pure hatred.

Sloane’s eyes darkened. It was Boone who hade up with the n to send her to the asylum. Just thinking of those lightless days locked inside made her fists clenched tight, her nails digging into her palms. The pain only reminded her more clearly of how cruel these people really were.

“What? Do you think staying quiet will save you?” Boone crossed his arms and looked down on her arrogantly. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go cancel the engagement with the Hawthorne family and return it to Sammy.”

Sloane let out a coldugh. “I don’t steal or lie. I’m not like certain people who can’t produce their own research and steal other people’s work instead.”

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15:06 Mon, 1 Sept

Chapter 17 Her Brothers

+10 Free Coins

Conrad’s face instantly turned pale. A sh of panic crossed his eyes before he shouted in rage, “You… You’re talking nonsense!”

Does she know somethingi? /iiNo/i, that’s impossible. iSloane /iiis /iijust /ia hick ifrom /iithe /iicountryside/i. She has to be bluffing. Yes, that must be it.

“Don’t bother with her, Conrad. She’s just a madwoman biting whoever she sees.” Boone sneered, ncing at Sloane with contempt.

“You’ve got your own house on fire, and you still have time to worry about others?” Sloane’s voice turned icy as she looked at Boone. “I wonder what your fans would think if they knew what you’ve been hiding. How would you survive that as a famous celebrity?”

Boone broke into a cold sweat. “What… What do you know?”

He had gone abroad precisely to escape the fallout of a certain scandal. His agent said everything had been handled.

iSo /ihow idoes /iiSloane /iknow? iAnd /iihow /imuch idoes /iishe /iiknow/ii? /i

Seeing Boone and Conrad cornered, Samantha quickly jumped in. “Boone, Conrad, don’t listen to her. She’s only been back a few days. There’s no way she knows anything. She probably overheard some maid talking nonsense and ran with it.”

Boone and Conrad snapped out of it. iRight/i, iSloane /iiis /iijust /isome iclueless /icountry ibumpkin/ii. /iiThere’s /ino iway /iishe /iiknows /iianything/i. iCan’t /iibelieve /iwe actually let her get in our heads. She’s just ia /iigirl /iiwe /iican /iitwist /iiand /iicrush /iiany /iway we want. iNothing /iito /iworry about.

“So what if she’s engaged to Lucas? Now she thinks she can throw her weight around in this house?” Boone’s arrogance returned as he scoffed, “Pathetic.”

“Hah, wait till she gets dumped and bes an unwanted stray–she’ll be crying her eyes out,” Conrad still felt humiliated for being rattled earlier. “If Lucas wakes up and finds out he’s engaged to some country hick, he’ll break it off faster than you can blink.” D

Just then, the butler walked in. “Mr. Boone, Mr. Conrad–Mr. Hawthorne’s assistant, Mr. Andrew, is here.”

15:06 Mon, 1 SeptA

Chapter 18 She Tilted His Chin Up