Chapter70Bound to be Kicked out by The Carnegie Family
Given her prompt arrival, the act of beheading the doctor as a demonstration appeared quite appropriate.
With an indifferent tone, Paige said, "Let her in."
By the time Margaret was brought inside, she was greeted by quite a scene.
Paige stood supremely confident, her aura domineering. She was clad in stiletto heels, a full four inches, mercilessly crushing the hand of Margaret's doctor under her foot.
The back of the hand was faintly stained with a smear of blood.
Margaret's composure stiffened at the sight, overpowered for a moment by Paige's formidable presence.
But Margaret was experienced and not easily intimidated.
She still managed to approach with her coolness intact, looking at Paige as if she were a stranger.
Until today, Margaret had believed she could easily manipulate Paige.
However, she realized that she had underestimated her all this time.
But under the current circumstances, with Xena still in Paige's clutches, Margaret couldn't afford an upfront confrontation.
That didn't prevent her from speaking her mind, her tone still frosty and detached. "So, you can't wait to turn on me, ripping our relationship apart?"
Paige took a step back, lifting her shoe from the whimpering doctor's foot.
The doctor, drenched in sweat from pain yet silently enduring, cried out in relief at the sight of Margaret.
"Mrs. Sackler, please help me!"
His voice was filled with a desperate plea, but Margaret gave him only a glance, then turned her attention back to Paige. "What's the point of tormenting a doctor who knows nothing? I know you married Raymond and now have the support of Bradley from the Carnegie family. You think you can do as you please here in Northwind?"
Paige bent down, extinguished her cigarette on the doctor's hand, and casually flicked the butt into the nearby ashtray.
Margaret noted the precision of Paige's action but thought little of it.
"You've injured so many people in the sanatorium, and now you're torturing a doctor right in front of me. Paige, let me tell you, I can have you sent back in there if it happens again. Do you get me?"
Paige couldn't help but laugh. Margaret was just being Margaret, audacious, even when she knew Paige had her precious granddaughter in her grasp. Instead of sweet-talking, she dared to threaten Paige. She truly had seen it all; her steadfastness revealed she was a force to be reckoned with!
"Send me back? Why don't you try? Mrs. Sackler, things have changed. It's not five years ago anymore. And I am not the same person I was back then. Go ahead, give it a shot. Maybe then you'll get to know me a little better."
Margaret's brows furrowed as she listened to Paige's words.
At the same time, she wondered whether Paige relied solely on Raymond to be so brazen.
Even though Raymond wasn't the head of the Carnegie family, and despite the Carnegies being one of Northwind's top families, the law still stood firm.
Paige could tell what Margaret was thinking and didn't want to waste any more time.
She looked down at the doctor on the floor and said, "Someone like you doesn't deserve to be a doctor. You're going to lose your license."
With that, Paige glanced at Julian, who immediately understood. He stepped forward and took the man away.
Paige's gaze returned to Margaret, "The antidote!"
Margaret's face was stern, "Where's Xena?"
"Relax, she's not dead. But if you don't give me the antidote, her fate is out of my hands."
Margaret pointed at Paige and spat, "You lunatic! I should have had someone deal with you in jail, you bastard. It would have saved Xena from suffering like this. Bring her out. I want to see her."
Paige let out a cold laugh, "So you're finally speaking your mind, wanting to get rid of me all along to cleanse the Sackler name, right? Too bad you missed your golden opportunity. From now on, you have no say over me, no way to touch me."
The only leverage Margaret had over her was her mother. Beyond that, Paige didn’t care. What else could Margaret possibly threaten her with?
Margaret’s seethed with hatred as she glared at Paige, wishing she could pounce and bite her.
Paige insisted a second time, "The antidote!"
Margaret replied, "It's been arranged for delivery already, but where is Xena?"
Paige shot Julian a look, and he nodded in understanding.
Before long, Xena was escorted over.
Compared to the doctor, Xena was in better shape, unbound and ungagged.
As soon as she arrived, her eyes locked at Margaret, and she rushed over, enveloping her in a tearful embrace.
"Grandma, you came. You've come to save me. Paige has gone crazy; she's a lunatic, and she knows martial arts—she killed all my guys."
Paige let out a cold laugh. "Killed all of your guys? What nonsense are you talking about?"
Margaret had already gathered information on her way there and knew that the bodyguards were just wounded.
"There, there, Xena, Grandma’s here now,” comforted Margaret. "Your men are all okay; they've been bandaged up. No one died; they only suffered some superficial injuries."
Xena looked up at Margaret, her eyes still wet with tears. "What? Just superficial injuries? And they didn’t—”
She couldn't finish her sentence as she felt an icy chill down her spine.
Paige's gaze was piercing her, ice-cold.
"Idiot!" Paige hissed.
The word struck Margaret's face like a slap.
Her granddaughter, the heir to the Sackler family she had carefully groomed, was deemed nothing more than a fool in Paige’s eyes.
Such a blatant insult!
Of course, Margaret didn't see her granddaughter as a fool; she just thought the girl was frightened.
It was natural for someone young and inexperienced to be scared.
Paige, a defiant character recently out of prison and accustomed to the company of criminals for five years, had tactics that Xena, mingling with high society, could never fathom.
Margaret glared at Paige. "Paige, it's true that the Carnegie family is one of Northwind's most prestigious dynasties, but with your behavior, even if they accept you today, the moment your true nature comes to light, they'll cast you out.
“You may leverage the Carnegie influence to take something from me now, but in the long run, you’ll give back everything you’ve taken."
Paige found Margaret’s words amusing.
Did she truly think that Paige’s boldness was solely backed by the Carnegies?
But, of course, Paige had no interest in explaining herself.
“From today onwards, anything belonging to the Sacklers is fair game to me,” Paige stated. “What can you possibly do about it? If the Carnegies think they can show me the door, let them try their worst.”
After finishing her declaration, Paige shouted upstairs, “Pearl, I'm out of smokes.”
Pearl heard Paige and instantly delivered the cigarettes she had prepared in advance.
As Pearl handed over the cigarettes, Margaret's gaze swept across her, and she gasped in shock, “You... you're...”
Pearl responded with a slight smile, "Mrs. Sackler, we meet again."
Margaret quickly realized who she was, "You're the woman who stole our project."
Pearl only smiled, "Yes, Mrs. Sackler, I’m the one who took your project," she opened her hand and gestured towards Paige with her palm.
