I Reincarnated to Another World as a Woman-Chapter 148: The Price of Contempt

Arthur stops.

He reaches for his cold drink at the table and takes a few sips.

His audience are sitting in silence, watching him, waiting for him to continue.

When he doesn’t, Julian gets impatient.

"Well, go on! You can’t stop there! Art, what are you doing? You think you’re in a story telling competition? Go on!"

Arthur laughs openly.

Leila calms Julian down, "Julian, please. You’re not five years old anymore. Let him enjoy his drink."

Theo laughs.

"I’m sorry," he says in between his laughter, "but it really does feel like Arthur is competing in some kind of storytelling competition."

The others laugh with him.

Arthur exhales. "The rest of the story is actually very anticlimactic. Jessica managed to find the tracker. It was hidden inside her bra. She took it out and handed it to me. I scanned her again afterward, and she was clean."

He continues, "In the middle of all that chaos, Sam had already called a friend of his in the police force. While the three of us were still in the bathroom, the police arrived and took those four men away. Apparently, they were already on Arvion’s wanted list."

Arthur pauses, then adds, "Once everything was clear, I gave the tracker to Sam. I told him to put it somewhere that would confuse whoever planted it in the first place."

A grin spreads across his face. "And Sam did not disappoint. He tied it to a pigeon."

Arthur laughs.

A beat passes, and then everyone else bursts out laughing with him.

"A pigeon?" Julian repeats, still laughing. "Sam really is a brilliant man!"

Arthur nods. "Yes, he is. I’m lucky to have him as my assistant."

He exhales softly. "Alright, let me continue. While the police were arresting those four men, I managed to get Jessica to my car. Once inside, she finally felt safe enough to tell me what had happened to her."

"As it turned out, she’d been Ryan’s sleeping partner for the last four months or so."

Arthur pauses and looks at his family.

He sees the shock on their faces.

Arthur nods once, confirming it. "Yes. I was shocked too. But she swore she didn’t receive any benefits from it, because she refused multiple times to use the Blackwood name or their connections. And according to her, he wasn’t even her type."

"She said she agreed to sleep with him because she thought it would be good for her if she could become the future Blackwood Matriarch."

Leila facepalms. "Poor girl. I thought she was a smart woman. But apparently, she’s a naïve one."

"Naïve doesn’t make her stupid, Leila," Maurice says calmly.

"No, that’s not what I meant," Leila replies. "I meant naïveté made her blind."

"Yeah, Jessica is not stupid. Ryan is the stupid one," Arthur says, narrowing his eyes.

"He told her everything she wanted to know. That’s why Jessica was so sure she could get the evidence she needed. It was also how she knew about Stille and the Baroness. All of that came from Ryan. He was gossiping about them to her."

"Not only that," Arthur continues, "he even showed off to her. He bragged that all the shady dealings between the Blackwoods and Stille were recorded. He told her he kept them as his bulletproof vest."

"So when she told you she could get the evidence," Julian says slowly, "she already knew where it was?"

"Yes," Arthur nods. "Ryan showed her everything. Where he stored the files, how to access the storage, and how to open it."

Julian bursts out laughing. "That is incredibly stupid."

"And today, she went to get them?" Leila asks.

Arthur sighs. "She said she’s been trying for two days, but without success. The evidence is locked inside a hidden safe in Ryan’s personal office. Jessica wanted to retrieve it while Ryan wasn’t there. She said it would be far too risky to try while he was present."

"She’d been racking her brain ever since she left my office, trying to figure out how to get Ryan out of his office long enough for her to retrieve the evidence. Ryan is known for almost always being in his office, not because he’s a hard worker, but because he’s afraid of his uncle."

Arthur continues, "He installed all kinds of things in that office. So he can play, sleep, eat, shower. He practically lives there." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Suddenly, Arthur turns to Julian. "You know, Jules, when a man has a woman by his side, he must respect her. He must. Even if she’s just a fling, a sleeping partner, or merely an acquaintance, he must respect her."

Julian blinks. "Okay, Art. Thanks for the advice. Now who did Ryan disrespect? Jessica?"

Arthur shakes his head. "No. Ryan," he adds, "at least according to Jessica, is too afraid of her to play games like that. She has access to one of the biggest newspapers, and the one thing Ryan fears most is an exposed scandal."

Arthur exhales. "Not the law. Not consequences. His uncle."

"Wait a minute," Theo interjects.

All heads turn toward him.

"If Ryan was already afraid of Jessica exposing him, why would he tell her everything?" Theo asks. "The evidence, where it’s stored, and how to get it. That doesn’t make sense."

Maurice smiles. "You’re right, Thea. It doesn’t make sense... if you’re smart. Remember, Arthur already established that Ryan is stupid. And stupid people’s brains don’t work the same way as ours."

He pauses, watching his daughter.

Theo only needs a few seconds before it clicks.

He chuckles. "Ah, I see. Because he was afraid of Jessica, he wanted to show her that he trusted her completely. So much so that he shared his ultimate weapon with her."

"Bingo!" Arthur says.

"It’s his own insecurities combined with stupidity," Arthur adds. "That’s a lethal combination for disaster."

"The reason I brought up that respect thing to Julian earlier is because Ryan has a female assistant named Silvia. She isn’t qualified to be an assistant. Ryan hired her for other reasons."

Arthur takes a deep breath, his eyes turning cold. "And oh boy, did he play with her. One moment he’d toss her around like a ragdoll, the next he’d sleep with her, then he’d act sweet to her again. He treated her like an object, not a human being."

He stops, forcing himself to calm down before continuing.

"It was Silvia who helped Jessica. Ryan beat her a few days ago. Her face was still swollen, and one of her eyes was bruised. When Jessica saw her, she asked what had happened, and Silvia just... poured her heart out."

"Oh," Leila covers her mouth. "Oh, poor thing."

Silence falls around the table.

"Yeah," Arthur says quietly. "I’m angry just hearing it, and I don’t even know Silvia."

He shakes his head once. "Anyway."

He exhales. "Jessica asked her if she wanted revenge. Silvia hesitated for a moment... then nodded."

Julian lets out an awkward chuckle. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."