Chapter 404: Chapter 404: 404
After hearing Melody Summers explain the situation, Mrs. Vance shook her head hesitantly. "Strangers... No, I haven’t seen any," she replied. "I just heard arguing from their apartment a few days ago, and some crashing and banging sounds... And over the last two days, I’ve faintly heard a woman crying..."
As for the missing friend Melody had mentioned, Joyce Lawson, Mrs. Vance wasn’t sure if she had gone to apartment 1506.
Just then, Susan Warren came out of the bedroom, her belly large with pregnancy.
She had overheard the gist of the conversation from the bedroom and spoke up. "I couldn’t sleep a few days ago, and while I was pacing around the living room, I saw two people go into 1506, the apartment across the hall."
To ensure a smooth birth, Susan Warren had to get a certain amount of exercise every day, so she would often walk around her living room.
That day, she heard a knock on a door outside, so she peeked through her peephole and happened to see two people go into 1506 across the hall.
Hearing this, Melody Summers quickly asked, "Susan, who were those two people? Could you tell?"
Susan Warren frowned in thought before answering hesitantly, "They were both bundled up in thick down jackets, so I couldn’t really see... But I think one of them was the woman from 1501. I recognized the fuchsia scarf she wears around her neck!"
Mrs. Vance slapped her thigh. "A fuchsia scarf? Then it must have been someone from 1501, no doubt about it! I’ve seen her wear a scarf that color, too. It’s really eye-catching!"
Melody Summers frowned slightly. ’1501?’
She remembered that the couple Gene Young and Yvonne York lived in 1501...
At that thought, Melody Summers suddenly remembered something else—Yvonne York was Joyce Lawson’s aunt!
Melody recalled that when Yvonne York had first moved in, she’d given Joyce Lawson some sweet potatoes, and Joyce had even planned to share them with her.
If that was the case, then the person who went to 1506 with Yvonne York was most likely Joyce Lawson!
******
「Thirty minutes earlier.」
Ethan Sutton quietly entered the study, carrying a bowl of white rice.
He placed a rechargeable table lamp on the desk, illuminating the dark room.
The room was piled with coal and other consumable supplies. Besides that, there was only a simple wooden plank bed, with a slightly raised quilt on top.
Ethan Sutton hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward and threw back the quilt, revealing Joyce Lawson’s sleeping face.
The heating was set very low, and with no other source of warmth in the room, Joyce Lawson’s face was red from the cold. Her mouth was sealed with duct tape, and she was breathing with some difficulty.
As the quilt was pulled off her, Joyce Lawson felt a wave of cold wash over her in her deep sleep. She groggily opened her eyes.
When she clearly saw Ethan Sutton standing before her, Joyce Lawson’s eyes flew wide open, filled with terror.
As if she had seen some sort of monster, she writhed, trying to back away.
But her hands and feet were tied behind her back, and her struggles were futile.
Seeing her reaction, Ethan Sutton quickly tried to soothe her. "Hey, don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you. I saw that you haven’t eaten for the past two days and was worried you’d starve, so I waited until my parents were asleep to bring you something to eat."
With that, he held the bowl of rice in front of Joyce Lawson and said, "Look, it’s white rice! These days, rice is more expensive than gold. You probably haven’t eaten any in a long time, right? As long as you promise not to cry or scream, I’ll rip the tape off your mouth and let you eat!"
Unexpectedly, Joyce Lawson didn’t even glance at the rice. She just kept staring at Ethan Sutton with wary and furious eyes, her gaze a silent protest.
Ethan Sutton frowned, displeased by the defiant look on Joyce Lawson’s face.
’I can’t believe she’s starved for two days and still hasn’t learned her lesson!’
Ethan Sutton set the rice on the table and sighed. "Why do you have to be so stubborn?" he said to Joyce Lawson. "Let me tell you, your mother took a huge bride price from my family. She sold you to us, plain and simple! That makes you my wife! It’s useless to resist!"
Joyce Lawson’s eyes flickered. Over the past two days, she had fully processed the fact that her own mother had sold her.
When her mother, for the sake of saving Gregory Lawson, had pushed her toward the kidnappers, she had told herself it was a life-or-death situation.
But this time, without the threat of kidnappers like Titus Lowell, her mother had still sold her with her own two hands.
After the initial shock and grief, her only feeling now was regret—regret that she had been soft-hearted and let her mother and brother off the hook.
She never thought that after she’d shown her mother mercy, her mother would team up with her aunt to sell her to a stranger as a wife!
Because she refused to cooperate, she had been tied up here for two days. In her mind, she cursed herself a thousand times over for her weakness and stupidity.
Ethan Sutton looked at the anger and pain on Joyce Lawson’s face and sneered inwardly. ’Truth be told, I don’t like Joyce Lawson either.’
’Setting aside whether I’m even interested in women right now, even if I were, I’m... unable to perform!’
But that didn’t mean he didn’t want a wife.
He had figured it out over the past few days. It was precisely because of his... physical shortcoming that he needed a wife to keep up appearances. He had to show everyone that he was a "normal man."
As long as Joyce Lawson behaved, played along with his act, and helped him maintain his facade, he wouldn’t mind giving her the status of the Sutton family’s young mistress.
Thinking this, Ethan Sutton looked at Joyce Lawson and continued his persuasion. "Let me tell you, tons of women used to chase after me—all of them well-bred young ladies and daughters of wealthy families! If it weren’t for the fact that you graduated from a prestigious university and are a doctor, with a respectable education and career, I would never have chosen you to be my wife!"
"Just behave and stick with me! As long as you listen and do as I say, I guarantee you’ll live well in this apocalypse. You’ll never have to be cold or hungry again, and you won’t have to eat another sand vine cake. How about it?"
Ethan Sutton thought the conditions he offered were more than tempting. After all, how many people could still eat normal food these days? Joyce Lawson should have no reason to refuse such an offer.
But unexpectedly, Joyce Lawson just rolled her eyes, her face full of disdain. She clearly had no intention of humoring him.
Seeing her expression, Ethan Sutton’s temper flared—
Ever since he had been castrated by Raymond Hayes, he had become hypersensitive to disdainful looks from women. Joyce Lawson’s expression grated on his last nerve!
Seething with rage, he took two steps forward, raised his hand, and SMACK!—he slapped Joyce Lawson across the face. "You little bitch, you don’t actually think I’m desperate to marry you, do you?! You think just because we live in the same apartment complex, we’re the same kind of people? Let me tell you, dream on!"
"I, Ethan Sutton, am the young master of Sutton Enterprises, the heir to the Sutton Family! Before the disaster, the wealthy heiresses of Anworth were lining up for me to choose from. A woman of your class? I wouldn’t even have bothered to play around with you! And you dare to look down on me?!"
"You’re just a woman sold off by her own family, nothing more than a piece of merchandise! What right do you have to look down on me?! You’d better get smart and cooperate. Do as I say, or I’ll strangle you right now! You don’t believe me?!"
