Private Marriage, Secret Love-Chapter 127: Aren’t You Disgusted?

The moment Ethan Lancaster spoke, everyone in the private room froze, including Cameron Fairchild.

His words were a boulder dropped into a still pond, stirring up not mere ripples but a tidal wave that crashed over Raina Reddington.

Ingrid Quinn came to her senses, the pain in her palm stinging like a thousand needles. ’He must have been talking to the wrong person,’ she thought. "Fourth Master?"

’Hadn’t his attention been entirely on her just a moment ago?’

Gwen Sharp instinctively shrank back, pulling her chin free from his grasp. Her wide, watery eyes fixed on Ethan Lancaster.

"I’m talking to you."

Cameron Fairchild shot Raina Reddington a subtle glance. She maintained a calm facade, but the humiliation in her eyes was impossible to conceal.

Annabelle Spencer felt vicariously ashamed. ’How could anyone be like that?’ Ethan Lancaster was in a league of his own, and she was terrified the woman would just agree.

"Don’t forget who just stood up for you."

Gwen Sharp wiped her mouth again, her hand coming away bloody. The pain was so intense she could barely open her mouth. It wasn’t until she saw the smear of crimson that she realized how severe the injury was.

Panicked, Ingrid Quinn scrambled to sit beside Ethan Lancaster, reaching out to take his arm.

The man’s thin lips parted as he coldly tossed out two words, "Get away."

"Fourth Master?"

Ethan Lancaster was still talking to Gwen Sharp. "Think carefully. If you stay here, you’re destined for daily beatings. But if you come with me, you’ll never have to worry about food or clothing again, and no one will dare to walk all over you."

To Raina Reddington’s ears, his words were more than just torment. He was slicing her heart apart, inch by inch, right before her very eyes.

Annabelle Spencer couldn’t hold back. Pointing at Raina, she snapped at Gwen Sharp, "This woman is the Fourth Master’s wife! She’s the one who saved you just now, right? Right?!"

"Anyway... I’ve said my piece. It’s up to you." Having said his part, Ethan Lancaster began fiddling with a diamond cufflink. ’He never forced anyone. He’d offered her an excellent way out; it was up to her whether she’d take it.’

"Ethan Lancaster, do you have to be this cruel?"

Ethan Lancaster’s thumb stroked his cuff. "Didn’t you start this? I’m just lending you a hand, seeing your good deed through to the end."

"So no matter what I do, it’s wrong in your eyes?" Raina shot a contemptuous look at Ingrid Quinn. "I saw someone getting hit and I couldn’t bear to watch, so I said something. That makes it my fault?"

"It’s pointless to argue with me about this."

"You’re right, it is pointless. Your absurdity is your own business. Just don’t you dare try and blame it all on me."

Ethan Lancaster’s patience wore thin. He shifted his leg, looking as if he was about to leave.

Still kneeling before the coffee table, Gwen Sharp spoke, her voice barely a whisper. "I agree."

Raina Reddington heard her perfectly. Annabelle Spencer was so furious she almost leaped up. "Bitch."

Cameron Fairchild sneered. "Watch your mouth. Seeing as the Fourth Master is taking her in, she’s going to be a very valuable commodity from now on."

Raina had never found anything so absurd, so utterly laughable. The feeling was worse than helping someone who’d fallen, only to have them turn around and sue you. It was nauseating.

Ethan Lancaster looked Gwen Sharp straight in the eye. "Smart girl."

Gwen lowered her eyes, a flicker of shame making her afraid to meet Raina’s gaze. Her own eyes darted about evasively. ’Ethan Lancaster was right. It’s better to find an escape route now than to endure this humiliation and risk losing everything.’

’Besides, what were the odds? She’d just stumbled into a stroke of incredible luck.’

Ingrid Quinn was the one who couldn’t accept it. She sat to the side, looking completely soulless. Ethan Lancaster beckoned to Gwen Sharp. "Get up. Never kneel for anyone ever again."

Bracing herself on the edge of the coffee table, Gwen Sharp slowly got to her feet. Raina was beyond flustered; she felt if she didn’t get certain words out, she would literally suffocate.

"Ethan Lancaster, I won’t allow it."

"Allow what?" Ethan Lancaster asked with a smirk.

’Hadn’t she told him he could go find someone else if he needed an outlet? Why the change of heart?’

The words were on the tip of Annabelle Spencer’s tongue, but she swallowed them. It wasn’t that she was afraid of Cameron Fairchild; she just didn’t know what to say.

Ethan Lancaster shoved Ingrid Quinn, who had no choice but to give up her seat. Gwen Sharp walked over and sat down next to him. Raina felt like she had just swallowed a fly.

"Fine then, Fourth Master. Go ahead and make your home out here. Just grant me some peace and quiet, will you?"

"No," Ethan Lancaster was unrivaled in his scumminess. "The Verdant Garden? I’ll come and go as I please. And you will still serve me when you’re supposed to."

Raina snatched a glass of wine off the table and flung it at him. Gwen reacted in a flash, throwing herself into Ethan’s arms to shield him. The drink, full of ice, soaked her entire back.

Cameron Fairchild found the scene thrilling. "My dear sister-in-law, you’re quite the spitfire. Women are better off when they’re sensible, not so jealous."

"Shut up!"

When had Cameron Fairchild ever been spoken to like that? He masked the amusement in his dark eyes, his gaze turning sinister as he stared at Raina. "I call you sister-in-law, and you actually think the Fourth Master has real feelings for you? You’re nothing but a puppet the Reddington Family sent to the Lancasters. It’s called a marriage alliance, but what is it really? You’re just a tool to curry favor!"

Raina could barely remain in her seat. Her face was ashen, her lips drained of all color. His words struck Ethan’s heart as well. ’This hurts more than any physical blow.’

"Enough. Let’s go." Ethan averted his gaze, pushed Gwen away, and rose to leave.

Everyone in the room quickly followed them out. Annabelle Spencer pointed at their retreating figures, tears streaming down her face, sobbing too hard to utter a single word.

Once she composed herself, she frantically pulled Raina to her feet. "Come on! We can’t let them humiliate us like this, even if it kills us! Those scumbags!"

Raina stared blankly into the distance, completely limp. Annabelle had to physically haul her to her feet. At that moment, she was like a marionette, her steps large or small, completely beyond her own control.

Ethan Lancaster returned to the private room to retrieve something. The ten small glasses of liquor were still on the coffee table.

He leaned over, picked up a glass, and downed it in one gulp. Cameron Fairchild, who had followed him in, saw him drinking as he entered.

He drank all ten glasses of liquor, down to the last drop. Ethan put the final empty glass back on the table.

’He couldn’t bring himself to hit Raina, nor could he stand by and watch someone else do it.’

Cameron Fairchild shook his head slightly. "Was all that really necessary?"

As they walked out, they saw Raina and Annabelle standing by the door. Ethan walked right past them as if they were invisible, with Gwen trailing closely behind.

Raina stared at their backs, clearly goaded. "Ethan Lancaster, are you really not repulsed by filth?"

Ethan Lancaster merely sneered, utterly unfazed.

Cameron Fairchild, however, stopped in his tracks. He turned to look at Raina, then slowly walked right up to her.

He leaned in, a knowing, cruel smile on his lips. Every word dripped with poison. "You think *this* is filthy, my dear sister-in-law? Has it been a long time since you’ve seen that old lover of yours? I guarantee... when you see him again, you’ll cry your heart out. He’s far, far filthier than anyone here now."