Chapter 11:
James’s eyes widened as he abruptly released Lucy, grabbing the phone.
Lucy realized she’d forgotten to lock the screen in her anger.
Her chat with Emma was right there for James to see.
“James…”
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Lucy panicked, knowing she shouldn’t have taunted Emma, and started explaining. frantically.
“James, I didn’t mean to, please don’t be angry…”
Lucy had never seen such fury on James’s face. His complexion was terrible, his fingers white–knuckled around the phone.
James glared at Lucy, silencing her.
He immediately tried video calling Emma.
Emma was cleaning dishes when she saw the video call from Lucy’s account. Frowning, she declined without hesitation.
James persisted, calling again.
Emma declined again.
After several attempts, even Emma’s patience wore thin.
She messaged: “Text if you need something. Call again and I’ll block you.”
James saw this and shakily typed: “Where are you?”
Emma replied puzzled: “How is that your business?”
James sent a voice message: “Where are you? There’s a limit to throwing tantrums.
blocking and disappearing isn’t solving anything.”
Hearing James’s voice, Emma didn’t reply and blocked Lucy too.
Seeing the familiar red exclamation mark, James felt rage building.
He smashed the phone down, yelling at Lucy: “Are you crazy? Why did you have to provoke her?”
Lucy was terrified into silence, only able to cry.
James stormed out, ignoring Lucy’s pleading.
He was truly panicked.
He’d always told himself Emma wasn’t smart enough to notice his affairs.
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But he hadn’t expected Lucy to be stupid enough to provoke Emma.
Now he feared Emma would tell his parents about his infidelity. The Fosters were
strict – he’d be in serious trouble.
James couldn’t just wait around.
He got a new phone number and created fake social media accounts.
Checking Emma’s profile, he saw her location showed as England.
He knew Emma’s best friend lived in England – Emma must be hiding there. The three had been high school classmates, but Sarah had cut contact with James. after he started dating Emma to avoid complications. Getting Sarah to help was
impossible.
James suddenly thought of his bedridden grandmother. An idea formed, and early the next morning he went to the Foster family home.
His parents were on vacation, leaving only servants to care for his sick. grandmother.
He took a photo of his grandmother in bed and texted it to Emma.
Emma was about to sleep when she got the message from an unknown number. Seeing the photo, she was instantly alert.
The woman in the hospital bed was James’s grandmother, a harsh and bitter old
woman.
She’d never liked Emma, opposing their marriage and often targeting Emma
behind the scenes.
Back then, James had always stood by Emma’s side. When his grandmother fell ill shortly after, Emma let the past grievances go.
But now, she was happy to revisit old wounds.
James’s message read: I know you’re in England. Run away if you want to throw a tantrum, but Grandmother’s dying. As her daughter–in–law, shouldn’t you come
back?
Classic emotional manipulation.
