No longer a pushover (Noelle and Cedric) novel Chapter 902

Ruth stepped forward and pleaded, "I was just trying to get Xenia to talk through everything I said earlier. I didn't mean any of it, and I never used you back then."

"You shouldn't be explaining to me. Do it to my mom instead," Cedric replied.

Ruth laughed short at his cold, unyielding expression. "Do you think your mom will believe you? She won't because she only trusts me, her dear best friend."

That thought calmed Ruth. Yes, it was just her words against Cedric's, which were hardly a threat.

Cedric calmly replied, "Such a shame then. She saw and heard everything."

Of course, he knew exactly what kind of people the Merlocks were. He'd made sure Emma witnessed everything, or she wouldn't have trusted him either.

Ruth's eyes widened in horror as she quickly glanced around. "Your mom's here, too? You know she isn't in great health, so how could you bring her to a place like this?"

"Stop putting on an act. She's not here in person, but everything that happened here was streamed live through surveillance cameras. She watched it all from home."

With those words, Ruth collapsed to the ground and screamed in despair, "Are you that desperate to ruin me?"

"If you're afraid of being exposed, then maybe you shouldn't have done those things in the first place."

"That's not the same. You know how close your mom and I are. You're doing this just to ruin our relationship," Ruth protested. She hadn't expected Cedric to go this far.

Cedric expressionlessly said, "I've tolerated the Merlock family for far too long. If it weren't for my mom, I would've long made my move. Do you think you would've stayed afloat till then?"

Ruth's expression fell at his words. "Do you think your mom is any better? Back then, I was supposed to marry your dad as your stepmom, but she wormed her way into your life.

"You're the reason your dad married her. If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have ended up in such a mess."

With that, he turned and left. Now that everything was out in the open, he saw no reason to entangle himself with the Merlocks any further.

Laura panicked and turned to Ruth. "What do we do now? If we don't have Mrs. Greene's support, the contracts we just secured will fall through."

Ruth finally snapped back to reality, and a wave of fear started creeping in. "How would I know what to do? We walked right into Cedric's trap. He planned this from the start."

"Explain to Mrs. Greene, Mom. You two have known each other for years, and she won't cut you off just like that. She's soft-hearted, and if you apologize and explain to her, she'll forgive you."

"Why should I apologize to her? I've bowed my head for years, and I'm done." Ruth flared up again and refused to yield.

"But Mom, she's the only person we can rely on right now. Just hang in there, alright? It's all done for if you end up in prison."

Ruth wiped her tears away. "You're right. Let's head over to the Greene residence right now."