Chapter 614: He Has Video Evidence

"It was you? Seriously?"

Ivy whipped her head around in shock, accidentally bumping right into Quentin’s chin.

"It’s true," Quentin said. "I just found out about it myself—that you were that beautiful, kind-hearted little girl from back then."

Ivy almost laughed at the phrase ’beautiful and kind-hearted,’ but Quentin’s words quickly helped her piece together exactly what had happened.

"So, did you think Claire was the one who brought you food all that time?"

Quentin nodded. "I was tied up and dragged there by Silas. It was an abandoned courtyard."

Old Master Blackwood had been out of town on a business trip, and Silas had finally found the perfect opportunity to mess with the illegitimate son he had always despised.

Caleb, meanwhile, turned a blind eye. He disliked the illegitimate son just as much and was content to let Silas torment him. If the boy ended up dead, well, it could only be blamed on his own bad luck. Caleb had already been a beast in human clothing back then. On the surface, he claimed he would be a good older brother, but in reality, he was terrified that Quentin would snatch away the family inheritance.

Silas had his men chain Quentin up in that courtyard. The place he was forced to stay in was a literal dog kennel. He had been treated like a dog—utterly humiliated.

Of course, Quentin had long since paid them back in full. Two years ago, when he finally secured his power, he chained Caleb up in that exact same spot, treating him like a dog and barely giving him enough food to survive.

Back then, Silas had wanted to torture him but didn’t actually dare to kill him, so he only sent food over every two or three days. But the food felt like a degrading handout, and Quentin refused to eat it at all.

If it hadn’t been for that little girl bringing him food, Quentin might have genuinely starved to death.

"A week later, the Old Master returned from his trip. Silas didn’t dare to step out of line, so he let me go and threatened me to keep my mouth shut," Quentin explained. "When Silas dragged me back to the Blackwood family, I only had enough time to slip that jade pendant into the lunchbox. I thought you would find it."

Who would have thought that, by some twist of fate, Claire would be the one to take it?

"You mean the jade pendant you gave me?" Ivy asked. She didn’t have it on her right now.

Quentin nodded. "Yes. That was left to me by my mother. She didn’t leave me much—just a string of Buddha beads and that jade pendant. I assumed the little girl from back then had kept it, so when Claire came to me with the pendant, I genuinely believed she was her.

"Claire used that life-saving grace as leverage to make me rescue Ruby Sterling," Quentin continued. "I told her last time that I would help her just that once, but whatever gratitude I owed her for her childhood kindness would be wiped clean. I didn’t know it was actually you. When Claire told me to absolutely never mention it to you, I should have realized something was wrong."

"But how did Claire know it was you in there?" Ivy had never taken the incident to heart, assuming at the time that it was just a minor blip in her life. She hadn’t known who was in the courtyard, let alone who was locked up inside.

After calling the police and finding the place empty, Ivy had waited around for a few days, but no one ever came back. Although she still occasionally walked past the area, she had a gut feeling that the courtyard was deserted. She hadn’t brought the incident up to anyone on her own.

Based on Quentin’s story, Claire must have stumbled upon the pendant by chance when Timothy Sherwood was angrily punishing Ivy. But how did Claire eventually find out that the person inside was Quentin?

Quentin shook his head. "I don’t know. She might have overheard Silas and the others talking about it."

None of that mattered now. What mattered was that he and Ivy had missed each other for so long, all for nothing.

"Since Claire had the jade pendant, how did you finally realize it was me?"

"What time did you usually bring me food?" Quentin asked.

Ivy thought for a moment. "Sometime in the afternoon, I think. It definitely wasn’t during lunchtime. I had to wait until the servants took their afternoon naps before I could sneak out."

"And what kind of food did you bring me?"

"It’s actually quite embarrassing to admit. I only brought you leftovers. Whatever was left over from lunch, I quietly packed away. I never prepared anything special for you."

"Isn’t it obvious then? Your answers are so simple and straightforward, whereas Claire spun wild, extravagant tales."

It might have just been a casual act of kindness from Ivy, but to Quentin, it had been his very life. Without Ivy’s food, he probably would have starved to death right then and there.

Ivy looked up at him. "So, you arranged to meet Claire at the hotel just to talk about this?"

"I didn’t arrange to meet her at the hotel. That must have been Jason Summers’ scheme. Jason got wind of the situation from somewhere and assumed I would be endlessly grateful to Claire, so he tried to use her to threaten me.

"Remember last time when he asked you to step outside and kept me behind alone? He wanted to use Claire as leverage to force me into persuading you to hand over what he wanted."

"Even if I don’t trust Jason," Ivy countered, "why should I trust you? What if you’ve been involved with Claire this whole time and you’re just lying to me?"

Even though she knew Quentin was likely telling the truth, Ivy couldn’t resist teasing him a little, wanting to make him sweat.

"I have proof," Quentin stated.

"What proof?" Ivy wanted to see exactly what foolproof plan Quentin had up his sleeve and what evidence he had prepared. If the evidence wasn’t convincing enough, she fully intended to throw a dramatic fit.

Quentin pulled out his phone and handed it to Ivy. "See for yourself."

Ivy knew Quentin’s password. His phone even had her facial recognition and fingerprint saved, so she unlocked it in a second.

The first thing that popped up was a video. Ivy tapped play.

The footage captured everything that happened from the moment Quentin walked into the room. He hadn’t even closed the door, leaving nothing to hide.

As soon as he stepped inside, Claire lunged straight at him. The entire encounter only lasted a few seconds. During that brief window, Quentin had tried to shove her away, but Claire clung to him like an octopus. Immediately after, Quentin pulled out a gun and pressed it to Claire’s head.

The clip Jason had shown Ivy only featured the very beginning of the encounter. It cut off right before Quentin drew his weapon.

If Quentin hadn’t recorded the rest of the video himself, and if Jason had pushed his manipulative lies even harder, anyone—even Xavier and Miles Mercer—seeing Claire hugging Quentin in a hotel-like setting would have completely believed the worst.

The remainder of the video showed Quentin coldly interrogating Claire.

"So you went to see Claire just to clear things up?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn’t you just ask me directly? Why didn’t you explain yourself this morning?"

Quentin rested his chin on the top of Ivy’s head. "I wanted to get the full story from Claire first. Ivy, when I found out you were the little girl from back then, I was incredibly happy."

"Well, that’s your fault for never talking to me. If you had just spoken to me a bit more, I might have recognized you the moment I saw you."

"I was too pathetic back then. I didn’t want you to see me like that."

On the other hand, he also hadn’t wanted to implicate Ivy. He had been terrified that if Silas found out, he would go out of his way to cause trouble for the little girl.