Resent Reject Regret by Aqua Summers novel Chapter 167

Chapter 167 Sacrificial Lamb

She directed her attack back at Deirdre with a voice tight with tears. “What the hell did I do to you, Miss McKinnon?! Why are you doing this to me?! If it’s because you love Bren-if it’s because you want to snatch him away from me, then at least fight me fair and square instead of employing all these disgusting schemes to persecute me!”

In the past, this used to be the sort of trigger that would kick Brendan’s rage straight to the boiling point. He would have immediately booted Deirdre out of the door right there and then. And yet, today, the man simply stood a step away from her, leveling his eyes at hers without a word.

There were signs of conflict in his eyes. There was doubt.

Charlene grimaced. The gnawing panic inside her mind had grown to a chomp. “W-What’s wrong, Bren?” He handed the document to her. “See for yourself.”

She almost snatched it out of his hand in her franticness. As she read, all the color was drained out of her face. Brendan’s voice, cold and commanding, came from above her like thunder. “Explain to me why that homeless man received money from your subordinate’s bank account, Lena.”

Charlene had not predicted this at all. She had never imagined that Deirdre would unearth this small but incriminating detail. “I… I don’t know, Bren! I don’t know what’s going on!” she argued frantically. “I didn’t know any of this! You know the kind of person I am, right? How could I possibly have it in me to do something so wicked and heartless? I am not that kind of person! You need to give me a chance to clear my name-I’ll call Greenlee right away!”

Brendan’s mien had been stormy and grave while she defended herself, but that last bit made him release a breath of relief. It was hard to tell if he was just happy to hear that Charlene had nothing to do with this or if he just could not bear the thought that he might have believed the wrong person all along.

“Okay. I trust you.”

Deirdre had been standing behind the coffee table. His answer sent a chill through her heart. When she had begged Brendan to trust her instead of that deluge of baseless accusations, all that plea had resulted in was a sneer of disdain. Meanwhile, even though concrete evidence of Charlene’s wrongdoing was now staring him right in the face, the same hard-nosed skeptic had decided to just trust Charlene because he wanted to.

The disparity made her chest hurt. She was suddenly unsure if bringing this issue to light was the right thing to do.

“You have to believe me, Bren. This has nothing to do with me, I swear to God! I knew nothing about this! I’m gonna call Greenlee right away!” Charlene added indignantly as though the document had

assassinated her character. She used the phone in the living room and, biting her lips, ordered Greenlee to come to the mansion right away.

The distance between Deirdre’s place and Charlene’s was very short. A few minutes later, Greenlee was at the door. As soon as she stepped inside, though, Charlene chucked the folder at the confused young woman and shouted in rage, “What the hell did you do?! I want this explained now!”

Greenlee picked the papers up and read their content. Her face paled. “M-Miss McKinney, listen! It wasn’t

“The evidence is right there, Greenlee, so spare me your excuses!” Charlene snapped, cutting off the other person’s defense almost a little too hastily. “How could you do this to Miss McKinnon’s pet? How black- hearted did you have to be to hire that homeless man to kill a puppy? Didn’t you know that this sh*t would

make it seem as though I was the one behind it?”

Greenlee finally understood the subtext. Her bank account had been Charlene’s last line of defense. She was the sacrificial lamb, the designated fall guy

She was all too familiar with the lengths Charlene would go to and knew better than to defy her Falling down by her feet, Greenlee could only confess. I’m sorry, Miss McKinney! I shouldn’t have done this, I know! I just… I just couldn’t bear to see Miss McKinnon acting like she had won! I couldn’t stomach that gloating face!

“Ever since her arrival, you had been sobbing at home, weeping about how much you were losing day by day. That wasn’t all, though Miss McKinnon kept coming up with disgusting schemes and baseless attacks against you until you couldn’t take it anymore and tried to kill yourself! That was the last straw-1 couldn’t just stand and watch you go through that horror anymore. How could something so cruel happen to someone as kind and angelic as you?! Why do good people have to suffer at the hands of evil individuals?!”