"When you read this letter, I will be on a mission elsewhere. Do you miss me when I am not by your side? If you don’t, I’ll have to sleep you into submission when I return! I don’t know what day I’ll be back, so I wrote dozens of letters and gave them to Aaron, instructing him to deliver one to you each day. I’m afraid you’re heartless and will have forgotten me by the time I return."

Vera Xavier’s face flushed as she read his letter. She knew it; she shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up for his love letters. The man was nothing but a giant horndog disguised as a stoic.

He had somehow managed to turn what should have been a tender, sentimental love letter into a mix of lewdness and menace. Her conclusion about him? ’He’s an absolute beast!’

But even so, she felt happy inside.

She was just a little puzzled. When had he written so many letters? Having Aaron Cheney deliver one to her every day... his methods were just... so domineering!

The sullen mood she’d been in had now mostly dissipated.

She found herself starting to look forward to tomorrow’s letter. An idea even popped into her head. ’Should I find Aaron Cheney and get all of his letters at once?’

Rona Langdon was in an extremely foul mood after leaving the compound. Things hadn’t gone the way she’d expected, and she hadn’t gotten what she wanted. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Moreover, what happened today had been a bit of a slap in the face. She had always loved it when people looked at her with awe and fear, but today, they had looked at her like she was... trash.

’Pah! I’m not trash! The people who look down on me are the real trash—their whole families are trash!’

Thinking this made her feel much better. She pulled a red passbook from her pocket and mentally praised herself for being so clever. When Grandma had told her to go back to the room to get the family passbook, she had taken the opportunity to grab her own as well. Otherwise, getting kicked out like this would have been a huge loss!

She looked at the numbers in the passbook, feeling quite smug. ’With this kind of money,’ she thought, ’even without Zachary Preston’s house, I can just buy my own place. The rest of my life will be ridiculously comfortable!’

She spat in the direction of the compound. "Who’d want to live there anyway!"

Full of herself, she was about to head to her parents’ house when, before she could put away the passbook, she heard Cara Preston’s voice. "Auntie, what are you doing standing here?"

Rona Langdon glanced at Cara Preston. The bruises on Cara’s face from the beating she’d taken from those delinquents had mostly faded. She wore a floral dress today and looked sweet and lovely.

Although Rona Langdon was cold and unfeeling by nature, she treated Cara Preston quite well, as she considered Cara her future daughter-in-law.

Now that it was certain Cara Preston could never marry Nathaniel Nathan, Rona had to get her to set her heart straight and marry Maxwell Preston as soon as he left the army.

She looked at Cara and asked, "If your uncle and I were to separate, who would you side with?"

Cara looked over at her, a little surprised. In truth, with her intelligence and understanding of Rona Langdon, she had vaguely suspected this might happen, but Rona’s direct question still caught her off guard.

"I asked you a question!" Rona snapped.

Cara snapped out of it and hurriedly said, "Uncle only has eyes for Vera Xavier. You’re the one who treats me best in the whole world, Auntie. Of course I’ll go with you."

Rona Langdon was very pleased with her answer. "Good," she said. "Then come back to the Langdon family home with me now!"