Chapter 510 The One Holding the Whip
“Owen!” Lily snapped.
Owen shoved her aside and turned to Mr. Terrance. “I’m not going to hit my sister. And even if I were, I wouldn’t do it in front of all of you. If you’re not here to sincerely help plan my wedding, then you don’t need to attend it at all. Feel free to leave.”
Mr. Terrance’s face darkened. Realizing Owen meant what he said, he didn’t have the dignity to stay any longer. He flung his hand and shouted, “Fine! Think you’re all grown up now, huh? We’ll see if you’re still feeling high and mighty when no relatives show up to your wedding and you’re begging me to come!”
With that, he waved his hand and barked at the rest of the family. “Let’s go!”
The other relatives had the same idea. They looked down on Owen. Will was dead, and ever since, the paternal side of the Saunders family had distanced themselves. All of Owen’s social ties had been handled by Lily’s side of the family.
They didn’t believe for a second Owen could stand tall with no relatives there to bless his marriage.
The Moore family’s relatives trickled out one by one, following Mr. Terrance.
Lily was nearly in tears, her eyes red as she glared at Yunice. “This is all your fault! When are you going to stop ruining our family?”
Peggy bristled. “Hey, watch your mouth. That’s no way to talk to my ATM–ugh, I mean, to Yunice.”
Lily turned on Peggy with fury. “You’re just after her money! That money isn’t even hers to begin with! You think sucking up to her will get you anywhere?”
Peggy rolled her eyes. “What, should I be sucking up to you instead? You got anything to offer?”
Owen barked, “You shut your mouth too!”
Then he turned and frowned at Yunice. “And you–you really haven’t noticed? Ever since you got involved with Wyatt, you’ve been like a curse. Everywhere you go, something goes wrong. Two nights ago you nearly got Paul killed, nearly got us killed! And now today, you show up and start beating people in your own house. What the hell’s gotten into you?”
Elsie stepped forward, glanced at Owen’s expression, and offered in a soothing tone, “Owen, she’s Wyatt’s wife now. You can’t just hit her whenever you feel like it. Even if you rage yourself to death, there’s nothing you can do about her anymore.”
Yunice gave Elsie a mocking look. She hadn’t changed a bit–always so good at playing Owen.
She knew Owen had a short fuse. The more she said things like that, the more resentment he’d pile up. Eventually, he’d snap.
But this time, Yunice walked up to the whip lying on the floor and bent down to pick it, holding it in her hand.
Owen frowned. “Even if you give that to me, I won’t hit you. Like you wanted, I won’t get involved in your life again. You’ve completely let me down. And yeah, I get that you’re still bitter about how I hit you back then. But I’ll say this much–back then, I did it for your own good. If I hadn’t taken that responsibility myself, Mr. Terrance would’ve had his sons do it. And they don’t hold back. They’re vicious by nature. If I’d let them handle you, I wouldn’t have had the heart to watch.”
Yunice gently ran her fingers across the thorns of the whip. She was being as careful as possible, but the barbs seemed alive, scratching her skin painfully.
She said, “So what, I should thank you for whipping me?”
Owen snapped, “No need to get sarcastic. I never expected you to appreciate it.”
Oh, so he still thought he’d done the right thing?
Yunice asked patiently, “Then tell me honestly–did I really do something wrong back then? Did I really deserve to be whipped by my great-uncle with something like this?”
Owen’s heart gave a jolt. Meeting Yunice’s gaze, even he couldn’t answer with confidence. “Well… Uncle wasn’t entirely in the right, but you weren’t either. He’s an elder–you should’ve deferred to him. You insisted on arguing, so of course you got hit. Elsie was always so obedient, and he bossed her around just as much, but she never got hit. That’s because she was humble and well-behaved. You were wrong because you weren’t smooth enough.”
“No, that’s not it,” Yunice said, shaking her head. “I was wrong, yes, but not because I wasn’t smooth enough. I was wrong because I was too young, and I didn’t have the strength to rip the whip out of your hands.”
Her cold, steady gaze locked onto Owen.
A strange fear crept into him. He looked warily at the whip clenched in her hand. “What are you trying to do?”
The Moore family hadn’t fully left yet when the sound of chaos suddenly erupted from the direction of the living room.
Someone paused, frowning. “Did you hear something?”
Mr. Terrance stopped and turned around–then heard a scream.
"Owen?"
“Go check it out.” Mr. Terrance led the way back at once, with a crowd gathering around the living room door.