"Noelle, are you saying that because you can't explain yourself?" Xenia added fuel to the fire, "Noelle, Blake couldn't fight off those thugs. How could a little girl like you have escaped? That doesn't make sense."
"Yes, I was indeed caught in the end," Noelle admitted calmly. "They threatened me, forcing me to call someone to ransom me."
She then turned to Blake. "In the end, I didn't call you. I called another member of the Liddell family."
Blake pursed his lips. "Who? Was it Frank?"
Xenia quickly interjected, "But Frank has always taken Noelle's side."
She could deny anything as long as it was Frank. Noelle smirked at Xenia. "Unfortunately for you, it wasn't him. I called Donovan."
Xenia's expression turned unpleasant. Noelle called Donovan? What now?
Just then, Donovan's car pulled up beside them. He stepped out. "Noelle, have you finally come to your senses and decided to call me?"
Noelle turned to him. "There's something I need to ask you. I refuse to take the blame for something I didn't do all these years."
Donovan was confused. "What is it?"
Noelle asked, "Do you remember when Blake got into a fight with some thugs and almost died in that alleyway?"
Donovan nodded. "Of course, I remember. Back then, you led the thugs away, giving him a chance to escape. But you ended up getting caught, and they forced you to call someone to ransom you.
"As it happened, I just returned from a business trip and called you. That's when I came to save you."
Blake turned to Noelle. "Why didn't you tell me back then?"
Noelle sneered at Donovan. "Because Donovan said he would tell you himself."
Donovan stiffened, his tone awkward. "I must've forgotten. I figured that since you're siblings, and Xenia saved you anyway, it didn't really matter."
"Donovan, do you realize what you've done to me?" Blake's voice wavered. It was because of this misunderstanding that he had treated Noelle so poorly all these years, allowing Xenia to torment her.
And now, it turned out that Xenia was a liar, and he had been played for a fool all along. Blake looked at Noelle, his lips trembling. "I didn't know you were the one who saved me back then."
Would she be willing to forgive him this time?
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: No longer a pushover (Noelle and Cedric)