Jordan couldn’t accept it. His heart twisted painfully, and he felt like something was lodged in his throat. Even breathing was difficult.
Why had Rowena called off their engagement? He’d told her that he loved her!
He would never have allowed her to go through such torture if Jasmine’s true colors had been revealed earlier! He would never have gone through with this fake wedding either! It was too late, though.
“I don’t want to call off our engagement, Ro. I’ve made a mistake. I’ll repent for that, but I won’t agree to us not being engaged! Our engagement remains as long as I object to you annulling it!” He clutched the engagement annulment letter tightly. Then, he ripped it to shreds.
Melinda, Philip, and Roland had an ominous feeling when they saw the engagement annulment letter. They didn’t dare see what Rowena had given them. The box was unwrapped, but they didn’t have the courage to look at its contents.
If she’d called off her engagement with Jordan, what could she possibly do to them? They had a feeling they knew the answer, but none of them dared to voice it out.
Ultimately, Roland couldn’t take it anymore. He picked up the parental termination agreement. The words on it seemed emotionless and distant; Rowena had described the years of their kinship in a few simple words.
At the end of the agreement, she’d written, “I, Rowena Shore, willingly sever my ties with Philip Shore and Melinda Hertz. Neither party will have any legal obligation or duty to the other…” Her thumbprint had been stamped on it in bright red ink. Roland felt cold at the sight of it.
“How can this be? Ro doesn’t want us anymore?” He read the agreement repeatedly in disbelief, feeling like a fist was wrapped around his heart, squeezing hard.
Rowena was his baby sister–she’d always followed him around, but she no longer wanted him and their parents. She didn’t want her family anymore!
Melinda fainted upon seeing the parental termination agreement. Philip caught her, his eyes filled with shock and sorrow. He’d always been an upstanding man who stood with his back straight, but the agreement seemed to make him curl in on himself. He looked devastated.
That wasn’t the end of the circus show.
Philip wanted to take Melinda home so she could rest. “Maybe Ro’s just angry and jealous–she’s probably just throwing a tantrum to vent her anger. We’re family; we’re linked by blood. She wouldn’t actually be cruel enough to kick us to the curb.”
Jordan forced a smile and stuffed the pieces of the torn engagement annulment letter into his pocket. He left with the Shores.
At the same time, he lied to himself and said, “You’re right. Ro’s always been soft–hearted. It’s only right for her to vent her frustrations after everything she’s been through, but calling off the engagement and severing ties with her family is too much. We just have to coax her and talk sense into her. I’m sure she’ll forgive us!”
Roland added, “We’ve already punished Jasmine. From now onward, it’ll be just us as a family. We won’t be apart anymore!”
As they got closer to their home, their hearts started racing. They felt beyond uneasy.
When they entered the neighborhood, they saw a crowd gathered around their house, pointing at something. They didn’t know what was going on.
The car couldn’t reach the house, so they had no choice but to get out. There were people everywhere, so it took them a while to squeeze past the crowd and reach the gates. They only smelled the smoke when they got closer; it made them choke and cough.
The crowd chattered around them.
“Did you guys see what happened? All of the Shores were out; only a young woman was in the house. I heard she died after being burned to death on her bed–that’s where the fire started. The firefighters weren’t even in time to save her.”
“The flames were so strong that they burned the whole house down. Everyone but that young woman was out–do you think there’s something nasty at play?”
