Take My Breath Away

Blanche asked a housemaid to fetch some ice for Portia. "That bitch Debbie thinks she is somebody just because she is the wife of Carlos Huo's secretary," she said through gritted teeth, a murderous look in her eyes. "She thinks she can do whatever she wants now! Next time I see her, I'll shave her bald!"

Griffin was pissed. He pointed at Portia with a trembling hand. "Tell me the truth! What did you do? I know Debbie. She is a fairly reasonable girl. She wouldn't have done this for no reason."

He had liked Debbie a lot when she and Hayden were dating, for her natural and poised manner. He still remembered how much she had done for Hayden and how she always protected Portia.

"Dad, I'm your daughter, not Debbie! Why are you always taking her side?" Portia protested angrily. Back when Debbie and Hayden were still dating, Portia's dad had blamed her every time she and Debbie had a conflict. And now, he still did. Portia felt it was unfair.

"I only take the right side. Your brother is trying to get Debbie back, but you and your mom are just doing him a disservice." Griffin was disappointed in his daughter. He also blamed himself for spoiling her.

Yet Blanche disagreed with his words. "Don't be absurd! Hayden has agreed to get engaged to the youngest daughter of the Qin family. She's from a truly illustrious family. Debbie Nian is married. Even if she wasn't, she wasn't good enough for our son."

Holding his hands behind his back, a reflective look on his face, Griffin explained to Blanche patiently, "How many times have I told you about the Nian family? It was an influential family in Y City when Artie and his father were still alive. Afterwards, Debbie's grandpa was forced to sell the company to pay his deep debts to the Lu family. Plus, Artie's medical expenses cost at least ten million dollars. It was not until then that the family started to run into financial problems. It was fair to say that before Debbie was ten, her family had been more powerful than the Qin family."

Blanche wasn't convinced. She said contemptuously, "Still, the family went down. Since the day I met her, she has never been refined as a good girl from a respectable family should be. Think about those days she practiced martial arts. A girl should be delicate and elegant, but she fought and s

t had already foreseen how the drama would unfold against Portia. The Gu family's influence had grown rapidly lately. Many advertising companies tried to suck up to Hayden, by bringing in Portia—his sister to do their commercials. Although she was only a freshman at college with lousy people skills, anyone eager to please her brother could easily get that around by highlighting Portia's beauty as the main strength for engaging her.

However, for the silly mistake of slapping Debbie tonight, all those advertising gigs would go up in smoke. In offending Debbie, she had messed with the wrong person. If Carlos chose to flex his muscles, Portia's life in Y City would turn into a living hell.

Emmett guessed that Debbie must have pleaded with Carlos for Portia. Normally, Portia would have lost a finger for hitting Debbie.

The next day, Debbie was fidgeting all day because of the investors' dinner she would have to attend that evening.

That was something new to her. Before Carlos left for work, she had asked as many questions as possible about the function.

Carlos spent a lot of time calming her down.

After he left, Debbie got dressed and left the house too.

They were going to New York for some time the following day. She felt she should put Lucinda and Sebastian in the loop about her trip before she left the city.

As soon as she arrived at her aunt's house, Debbie noticed Gail and Victor fighting at the entrance. In case they saw her, Debbie didn't get out of the car, but watched them argue and fight hysterically.