No longer a pushover (Noelle and Cedric)

Grace was furious. "What the hell? Xenia has gone way too far! She made a deal and bought expired sanitary pads, and now your brother won't even let you call the cops? Instead, he wants you to clean up the mess! That's insane!"

Noelle shook her head. "I already called the police."

Grace huffed. "Good! You need to. Otherwise, Donovan might try to protect Xenia again and pin this on you. That bitch needs to go to jail."

Noelle left after packing her things. She was curious if the Cantrell family would still allow Donovan to protect Xenia if they learned the truth. And, more importantly, how would they handle the situation?

That evening, Noelle returned to the Liddell residence. The new butler was practically tripping over himself to serve her.

Xenia came downstairs and angrily snapped at him. "Where's the fruit platter I asked for? What's taking so long?"

"Apologies, Ms. Quigley. I was busy attending to Ms. Liddell. I'll have it sent up right away." The new butler had asked around about his predecessor's fate. Given what he had learned, he was determined to stay in Noelle's good graces.

After all, she was the biological daughter of the Liddell family. No amount of favoritism toward Xenia could change that.

Xenia slapped the butler. "Are you looking down on me now?"

The butler took the hit silently and simply left for the kitchen.

Noelle knew Xenia was just taking out her frustration on the new butler. "Instead of making trouble for others, maybe you should focus on how you're going to explain yourself to the police."

Xenia was livid. But her father had promised to handle it. She just needed to wait it out, play the victim card to Donovan, and everything would be fine.

During dinner, Donovan came home, reeking of alcohol. Xenia immediately rushed to take care of him. "Donovan..."

But before she could say anything else, Donovan pointed a finger at her and snapped, "Look at the mess you've made!

"The Cantrell family knows

everything now, and they've been grilling me for failing to keep my

sister in check. Do you have any idea how much humiliation I suffered today?"

Xenia teared up. "Donovan, I was deceived by the supplier..."

"No one could have deceived you if you hadn't made any deals in the first place!noveldrama

This happened because of your own greed and stupidity.

"Why can't you be more like Noelle? She's already won Mrs. Greene's favor and even spoke on behalf of the charity foundation!" Donovan had found out that Emma had pubficly supported the foundation, which meant she must have done so for Noelle's sake.

Xenia lost all composure. "That's because she's a Liddell by birth! I'm just a driver's daughter. Those rich ladies will never acknowledge me!"

She was resentful. Hadn't she worked hard enough?

Donovan's face was red with anger. In the end, he turned to Noelle. "The Cantrell family and Mrs. Greene are keeping things under control, so the situation isn't too dire. We'll release a statement saying that an internal procurement issue led to the expired sanitary pads."

"So you want the procurement team to take the fall for Xenia?" Noelle's gaze sharpened. "Not a chance. I'll make it clear to the police that Xenia handled the purchasing."

Donovan frowned. "What will it take for you to let her go this time?"

"There's no deal to be made. She needs to face the consequences of her actions." Noelle refused to believe Xenia could keep escaping punishment forever.

Donovan finally looked at Xenia helplessly. "You see how it is. There's nothing I can do. I'll hire you a good lawyer."

"Donovan, you can't just abandon me!" Xenia fell to his feet with tears streaming down her face. "I swear, I've learned my lesson. I'll never do this again."

Just then, a voice came from the entrance. A man in a wheelchair rolled in. "Xenia, stand up. You don't need to beg them."