Novel Square
Chapter 592: Kiki and Mimi's Birthday
The video showed Boris and Rachel's visit to the secret prison to see Joshua-it was surveillance footage!
"Joshua, stop beating around the bush. Where are the Five Poisons? And what really happened with Alina that year?" Boris glared at Joshua, his face full of anger, so much so that one might think it was his own sister who had been kidnapped! Joshua looked back at Rachel and Boris with a calm expression, his cold eyes faintly radiating a mocking light. "Are you from the Pace family?" Joshua asked coldly.
Boris snorted, "Good that you know. You better cooperate fully, or you won't have good days ahead!"
Joshua suddenly laughed, "You must be the Pace family's good-for-nothing, Boris, right? I was wondering what kind of failure Mr. Pace could produce. Seeing you today, the rumors are indeed true. Are you really his biological son?" "What do you mean by that!" Boris loathed being compared to the other children of the Pace family.
Everyone knew the Pace family did not harbor freeloaders.
Yet, unfortunately, that's exactly what he had become.
From a young age, Boris's talents paled in comparison to his siblings, and eventually, even his younger sister surpassed him. Left with no other option, Mr. Pace had to keep him by his side.
Now, while other members of the Pace family were shining in their respective fields, he was still lingering around his father, a classic case of a freeloader.
Joshua, sitting in the chair, boredly picked at his ear, "You two really match each other well-a failure and an adopted daughter, both not favored."
A flash of anger crossed Rachel's eyes, knowing well that Joshua himself was trapped in this small place, tormented daily by illness.
Yet he dared to mock her.
"Stop trying to stir trouble. I'm asking you, did you send someone to poison Tina? A few days ago, Tina drank some juice I freshly squeezed and got poisoned. Luckily, someone noticed in time and saved her. Was it your doing?" Upon hearing Rachel's words, Joshua momentarily faltered, but quickly regained his composure.
He smiled at Rachel and slowly said, "I'm locked up in here, waiting for your schedules to align just to see you. Why would I frame you? Or is it you who wanted to kill Tina and failed? Truly, a failure of an adopted daughter."
"Joshua!" Rachel was almost ready to burst in and hit him.
Fortunately, reason took over, and she restrained herself.
She knew well that with her meager skills, even with Joshua restrained hand and foot, she couldn't touch him.
Boris protected Rachel, "Where are the Five Poisons? Are they dead or alive? What did you all do to Alina originally!"
Joshua yawned, "Is anyone there? Show them out!"
"Are you sure you won't say anything?" Rachel glared deeply at Joshua.
She knew that each visit to see Joshua was a chance to pass messages between him and the Five Poisons, even if it was all in codes she didn't understand.
Yet this time, Joshua chose to remain silent.
Joshua lowered his gaze, "Show them out!"
Frustrated, Rachel stormed out, and Boris naturally followed her.
Jared turned off the video, his deep eyes flickering with confusion.
Was Rachel trying to clear her name?
Tina adjusted the style of her pendant and put down her pen, "Uncle, I think it's best to wait and see."
Jared snapped back to reality and gently caressed Tina's cheek, "Hmm, you're right."
Tina said nothing more, simply pointing to the adjusted pendant style and asking Jared, "Would this look good?"
Jared nodded, "Hmm, it's much better than those shoes."
Tina laughed and sent the pendant to Jayden, asking him to finish it before Kiki and Mimi's birthday.
On the day of the birthday, Tina already had two jade pendants in the gift box, both made of fine jade.
The Brookes family didn't have many relatives in Ashbury and were reluctant to invite mere business acquaintances, so there weren't many guests.
But those who came were all influential figures.
Logan arrived early, having not seen Grandpa Brookes in a long time and eager to match wits in chess, especially since the Brookes family had also prepared a generous gift at the last celebratory banquet. Marie and Scarlett sat together, chatting. Neither was particularly knowledgeable about cooking, yet both were seriously discussing how to bake a cake.
Asher, Jack, Brandon, and others were discussing the stock market, a topic that never lacked interest.
When Tina and Jared arrived, they just happened to meet Boris and Rachel getting out of their car.
Rachel greeted Tina warmly, taking her arm, "Tina, what a coincidence, let's go in together."
Tina merely glanced at her coolly before turning and walking inside.
Boris followed Jared, neither of them speaking to the other.
"Look, Dad, I brought Tina," Rachel said, feigning closeness with Tina as if to prove that she was uninvolved in the previous incident.
Tina saw through her little trick, merely curling her lip, saying nothing.
"Grandpa, Logan," Tina greeted, naturally withdrawing her hand from Rachel's grip, "Grandpa, has my master arrived yet?"This content provided by N(o)velDrama].[Org.
Grandpa Brookes snorted, "That old fool dared to come? He already delivered his gift this morning, sneaking it onto Kiki and Mimi's bedside table without showing his face." Tina chuckled, "He's afraid to see you."
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"He could never beat me before, hey! Why are you still cheating!" Grandpa Brookes tapped Logan's hand.
Logan, ten years younger than Grandpa Brookes, still seemed young in his presence.
It had been a long time since anyone had called Logan a youngster, and he muttered discontentedly, "I'm old enough, what youngster? I might say you're taking advantage of your age!" "Taking advantage of age is still better than your cheating!"
"It's shameful to take advantage of age!"
The two old men began to argue again, their third squabble of the day, acting like children.
Tina didn't bother to intervene, knowing it would soon pass, and went off to find Kiki and Mimi with the gifts.
Rachel stood aside, ignored by everyone.
Watching Tina chat easily with Kiki and Mimi, Rachel felt even more resentful.
Since their birth, Rachel had taken care of Kiki and Mimi, yet no matter what, the children never warmed to her.
Sometimes they would even cry when left alone with her, moments Rachel could never explain.
Even the usually aloof Angela received a warm reception from Kiki and Mimi, who would follow her around, giggling. In contrast, they never showed such affection to Rachel.
Seeing Tina's closeness with the children, Rachel felt even more jealous.
"Rachel, what are you looking at?" Boris approached, naturally draping an arm around her shoulders.
Rachel didn't pull away but instead started to sob softly, "I'm fine, Boris, let's go over there."