Resent, Reject, Regret by Aqua Summers

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.”

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

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

“Okay. I trust you.”

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

if bringing this issue to light was the right thing to

has nothing to do with me, I swear to God! I knew nothing about

used the phone in the living room and, biting her lips,

soon as she stepped inside, though, Charlene chucked the folder at the confused young woman and shouted in

their content.