Bride of Retribution: Aloof Billionaire's Dominant Game-Chapter 514 - 277 Unable to prevent everything that happens
Atlas Hallow received a call from Abigail Miller and rushed to the marriage registration office. He wondered if something serious might really be happening.
The worst part was that he happened to encounter a minor car accident on the road, causing the cars to jam and unable to move.
He simply got out of the car, called Daniel Parker to come and drive his car away, and then left the car on the road, quickly running towards the marriage registration office.
Since the office wasn’t far from there, going directly would be much faster than waiting for the accident to clear and then driving.
Charlotte Miller spoke somewhat unclearly on the phone, but she told him to hurry over, worrying that something might happen. Her anxious tone made his mood tense, leaving him feeling on edge.
Having been brothers for so many years, he understood Joseph Shaw. Normally, he seemed careless, like a playboy, but in recent years there hadn’t been any woman who really stayed by his side.
It’s precisely because of this, when Joseph Shaw feels dissatisfied and acts willfully, he certainly becomes terrifying.
So when he couldn’t find Annie Gray and intercepted her at the marriage registration office, he would definitely trouble her.
Whether Joseph Shaw would trouble Annie has little to do with him, but Annie is Charlotte’s good friend, and he doesn’t want Charlotte to feel upset. Thinking of this, his steps quickened; the office was just a street away.
But no matter how fast he ran, he couldn’t stop what had just happened.
When he arrived, he saw Charlotte half-leaning on the floor, anxiously clutching her handbag with one hand, holding Annie with the other. The two women sat on the floor crying, tears dropping steadily from Charlotte’s eyes, while Annie seemed beyond recognition from all the crying.
What exactly happened? He quickly approached and looked at Joseph Shaw’s face, as pale as paper, and asked in a low voice, "What’s going on?"
What’s wrong?
When Atlas Hallow’s voice echoed, Joseph Shaw’s gaze flickered, bringing him back from the shock.
His mind kept replaying the words Annie had said.
She seemed infinitely humble, saying she cost him five hundred thousand yuan, for the past eight years she was just like a prostitute, and he had slept with her over a thousand times; if she were the cheapest woman at five hundred a time, then it should be settled by now. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎
Especially when Annie said to consider her as just selling out, her gaze and tone made him feel as if the whole world was collapsing.
But why did she say such things?
When Annie said it, his heart was truly stabbed.
He never thought of Annie as a woman selling out, that five hundred thousand was trivial, he never cared about that sum.
Could it be, between them, there really was only that five hundred thousand connection?
Could it be Annie endured with him all these years, only to repay that five hundred thousand debt?
Thinking of this, Joseph Shaw felt as if a giant hand was choking his throat, struggling even to breathe.
Originally, he came here confidently, but upon hearing Annie’s words, he felt what humiliated him wasn’t Annie, but himself.
Since when, in a woman’s heart, had he fallen to such an unworthy state?
In Annie’s view, he became a man who paid five hundred per sleep, and after sleeping for eight years, still tangled shamelessly.
When she mentioned money, it left him deeply powerless. Over the years, he tried to gift her many things, nothing was Annie willing to accept.
Years ago when she wanted to buy a house, he wanted to gift it to her, as well as a car, expensive jewelry, among other things, but Annie stubbornly refused them all. What could he do?
Atlas Hallow sighed lightly observing this scene, then approached Charlotte, crouching down to say: "Charlotte, you should get up."
A strong hand supported Charlotte, while Hart Hodge came to aid Annie, helping the two women up from the floor.
Annie seemed as though her very soul had vanished, leaving only an empty shell; her vacant stare briefly met Hart’s, before tugging a stiff smile and quietly saying, "Can I please go home first?"
Someone hurt truly only wishes to retreat into their shell, licking their wounds alone. Staying around her would only make Annie’s situation awkward, so Bill nodded and gently said, "My car is parked across the street, I’ll take you home."
"No, let me walk alone." Annie choked back sobs, wearing the once joyfully donned crescent white dress now covered in dust and dirt.
Her beautiful eyes swollen like peaches, her usual elegance and confidence wearing high heels vanished, leaving her steps staggered and unstable as she slowly walked away.
Joseph Shaw almost chased after her, but Charlotte as fierce as a frantic she-leopard lunged to block him, eyes flaring with rage, raising her hand to deliver an angry slap across Joseph’s face, the sound echoing painfully in her hand.
She seemed rarely violent, almost never in a physical confrontation, right?
But today she couldn’t hold back; if she had a gun she’d gladly shoot this vile scoundrel.
"If you dare approach Annie again, I’ll kill you." Charlotte stated seriously, evidently without intending it as a mere threat.
She suddenly recalled Atlas Hallow often carried a gun, seeing it many times.
Charlotte reached to hug Atlas’s waist, retrieving a black pistol from his holster. Atlas’s face changed, grasping Charlotte’s hand, quietly saying, "Leave it to me to resolve things."
In such turbulent times, he hoped Charlotte wouldn’t act impulsively causing trouble for herself.
Charlotte glanced at Atlas, unable to stop tearfully, crying, "I know you can solve many things, but you can’t fix a lifetime of happiness for a woman. Just now Annie’s happiness got ruined by that man, utterly. How can he bully such a wonderful girl? How can he?"
After speaking, Charlotte turned to glare at Joseph Shaw, giving a stern warning: "If you don’t want her driven to death, stay away from Annie. If anything happens to Annie because of you, I promise I’ll seek justice for her, no matter who you are."
Charlotte’s mind repeatedly pictured Annie kneeling before Joseph Shaw, feeling so humble, timid, and helpless.
Yet when she heard Annie say just consider her as selling out, that five hundred a time for a thousand times was enough, that bitterness, the helpless heartache made Charlotte feel the world was so cruel, cruel beyond endurance.
If there were a time machine, if she could return to before, choosing only one action, she would’ve gone back eight years to help Annie solve all her mother’s medical expenses at the hospital.
Fifty thousand might not be too challenging for Charlotte now, but it seemed like a terrible mark forever nailing Annie to a pillar of shame.
The photos in her bag felt like fire coals, holding them seemed to scorch one’s hands to the bone.
Charlotte couldn’t trust letting Annie leave alone, after stating those words, she quietly followed Annie, maintaining about ten meters distance, keeping up with her.
Joseph Shaw stood there dumbfounded, unsure of what happened, still hearing the wrenching cries of a woman in his ears. But what had happened?
He only wanted to stop her from registering with another man, how did it become like this?
"Give me the keys." Atlas Hallow reached out, noting Joseph Shaw was so terrified he might be distracted while driving.
Silently, he fished out the car keys from his pocket, and along with them fell out a photo he had missed throwing away earlier, dropping to the floor.
"Even without seeing your face, just your back, I could recognize you, quite a figure..." Atlas spotted the photo on the floor showing a man hovering over a woman, revealing only her legs and a partial profile. He recognized it was Annie, now understanding what Joseph Shaw had done: "Joseph Shaw, you really have excelled."
Joseph Shaw hurriedly bent to pick up the photo, then stuffed it back in his pocket as if fearing others might glimpse it.
He himself hadn’t realized he personally threw out these photos for others to see.
