Kowtow
Knowing that this was the personal matters involving the Reeds Family, Sonia did not hope for Toby to
be a part of it as she wanted to resolve it herself.
Hence, he respected her wishes and was willing to wait for her here.
She smiled at him before turning around to walk with Daphne to her father’s grave.
Jessica was kneeling in front of the grave. Since she did not have an umbrella, her body was completely
drenched from the rain, which made her look like a mess as her hair and clothes stuck to her skin.
Of course, the cruel, savage expression on her face made her look worse.
“So-nia!” she said through gritted teeth when she saw Sonia walking toward her. Then, she exerted some
force on the ground to try to stand up.
However, as soon as her knees left the ground, the two bodyguards immediately pressed on her
shoulders to force her down.
With a loud thud, Jessica’s knees slammed into the ground once again, making her yelp in agony. “Let
me go! I’m the vice president of Paradigm Co.. If you dare to treat me this way, I’ll fire you! You better
believe me!”
With that, she turned around and fiercely glared at the bodyguards behind her.
Both of them shot fearful glances at Sonia, who waved and looked at them calmly.
Then, she turned her gaze to Jessica before speaking in a cold voice, “You can’t even fire them. First of
all, you only have the title of being a vice president. Even though you have the right to fire them, as long
as I, the chairman, defend them, you won’t stand a chance at all.”
“You…” Jessica glared at Sonia before she smiled sarcastically. “Fine, Sonia. I admit that you are a step
ahead of me and that I’ve lost. How ruthless you are!”
Sonia merely looked at her icily, but she had no intention to continue with the topic. In the same tone,
she asked, “Do you know why I brought you here?”
Jessica chuckled coldly. “Who the hell knows what has gotten into you?”
Sonia’s face darkened. “I thought by asking them to detain you here, you would at least look at the grave
in front of you. Unexpectedly, you didn’t even glance at it even though you’ve been kneeling for so long!”
She felt truly for her father.
Jessica rolled her eyes upon hearing Sonia’s words. “Are you out of your mind? The reason for you
bringing me here to this creepy place is just to ask me to look at the grave in front of me? Hah! How
ludicrous! Why would I want to see something like this?”
“Something like this?!” Sonia was now truly triggered. Clenching her fists tightly, she glared at Jessica
with reddened eyes she howled angrily, “Is Dad’s grave just an insignificant thing to you?”
“Dad’s grave?” Jessica’s eyes narrowed before she suddenly jerked her head toward the grave in front of
her. When she saw the inscription—Rest in Peace, Henry Reed—on the tombstone, her expression
suddenly became more conflicted. She looked guilty, flustered, and fearful, but contrary to what Sonia
hoped, there was not a tinge of remorse or sadness on her face.
“Jessica, you are really heartless. Your biological father is buried right in front of you, yet you aren’t sad
at all. In fact, your apathy and callousness is rather terrifying.” Sonia looked at Jessica as though she
was a monster.
Of course Jessica understood what was being implied. Her gaze wavered slightly before she retaliated
loudly, “Callous? Me? That’s because he deserves it!”
Staring fixedly at the grave in front of her, she continued, “We are both his daughters, but he has treated
me so harshly and you so lovingly. What did I do to deserve that? I just feel that it’s incredibly unfair!
Since he, as a father, was biased toward his kids, he had no right to blame me for not treating him as a
father!”
“Sure enough, your thoughts have remained unchanged.” Sonia looked at her in pain. “I have already
told you before that he had treated us both the same. However, since you were rebellious and took the
wrong path in life, he treated you more harshly in the hopes of making you a better person. However, you
have really misunderstood his intentions. I really feel sorry for him.”
“What do you know?” Jessica’s voice became shriller. “Of course you would speak up for him since he
loved you so much.”
Sonia gave up on speaking some sense into Jessica after seeing how stubborn Jessica was.
After all, Sonia knew that no matter how many words were spoken on this topic, the woman would still
think that their father had disappointed her. No matter what others had told her, she would not change
her mind.
To be more precise, people like Jessica were incredibly selfish. Even though she knew that her father
was doing this for her own good, as long as his attitude did not match her anticipated attitude, she would
think that he had let her down and hate him at the slightest mistreatment.
“Very well, Jessica. Since you keep saying that I’m speaking up for Dad, I’ll do just that.” Sonia’s face
had completely darkened at this point.
As she crouched, Daphne also followed suit so that the umbrella stayed above her head.
Sonia raised her hand and grabbed Jessica’s chin to immobilize Jessica’s head so that she could only
look at the grave in front of her. “Even though you are an unfilial child who is not fit to be Dad’s daughter,
his blood still flows inside you. Since you are undoubtedly his biological daughter, you have to pay him
your respects no matter what.”
“What? You want me to pay him some respect?” Jessica asked incredulously with shock.
Sonia lessened the force in her hands as she replied, “That’s right. Not only do I want you to pay him
some respect, I also want you to give him a kowtow. This is something you should have already done six
years ago. Now that you are six years late, you have to compensate for the lost time!”
“Why should I do that?” Jessica glared at Sonia with fury in her eyes, but Sonia merely looked indifferent.
“Because you have his last name, and because you are his daughter.”
With that, she looked at the two bodyguards behind Jessica.
“Both of you, lower her head firmly and make her kowtow several times in front of my dad.”
“Yes, Chairman Reed.” With that, they immediately carried out her instruction, leaving Jessica no time to
object.
Her head was being pressed down to the ground in the next second.
With a thud, her forehead landed on the stone surface of the grave, making her dizzy.
However, it was not yet over. Without even giving Jessica some time to relax, the bodyguards lifted her
by the hair and forced her forehead to the ground once again.
After repeating this several times, Jessica was close to losing her sanity. Her forehead was red and
swollen while her skin was almost torn off.
If the two bodyguards hadn’t been supporting her, she would not have been able to stand still and might
have just laid on the ground.
Trying her best to cope with the dizziness, she lifted her eye and stared at Sonia with her blurred gaze.
Once again, her cruel voice was full of venom. “How dare you treat me this way, Sonia! Just you wait! If
you are that capable, just try to kill me off! Otherwise, I will definitely report this to the police and sue you
for kidnapping and causing harm!”
“Oh? Police, you say?” Sonia arched her eyebrow sarcastically. “Jessica, do you really dare to do so? I
don’t think so because you will be digging your own grave.”
“What do you mean?” Jessica’s heart sank upon hearing that. A sudden sense of uneasiness and fear
overcame her for no good reason.
Sonia leaned forward and spoke in a low voice, “It’s all because you drugged Dad and caused him to
lose his mind to the point where he jumped off from the building. This case might not stay a secret for
long now.”
“You—” Jessica immediately jerked her head upward to look at Sonia. Blood drained from her face as a
shiver passed down her spine, sending tingles to her entire body. How did she know that it’s not
completely because of me and Mom’s act of taking away all the money that Dad jumped from the
building? How did she know that we drugged him?
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