When fate plays its hand

Chapter 0874

“Oh, so they’re your classmates? From Jandersville? No wonder they speak so differently. A poor guy

like you actually has friends to stand up for you? Tsk tsk… I can’t believe it…” Kenny furrowed his brow. “Shawn, stop wasting time. Let’s take them down together!”

“Got it, bro!”

At that moment, Ollie limped out of the house, holding a kitchen knife. “Don’t you dare lay a hand on them! Or else, I’ll fight you to death!

His face was flushed, and his veins bulged out from his neck. There was a mix of desperation and recklessness in his demeanor.

As the saying went, those who had nothing to lose were fearless against people in power.

A submissive man who had never fought back was now holding a kitchen knife, seemingly ready to risk it all and taking them down with himself.

The Sneider brothers were shocked. After snapping out of it, they exchanged uneasy looks for a moment.

Kenny said, “Fine, we’ll let you go for now, but I’ll bring the contract tomorrow. At that time, you will have no choice but to sign the papers!”

With that, he called Shawn and turned to leave.

They muttered curses under their breath. Ollie the Cripple had gone crazy!

After they left, Ollie dropped the kitchen knife, and the shovel slipped from Joli’s hands. They fell to the cement ground with a sharp clang, one after another.

Ollie’s legs gave out, and he slumped to the ground. Joli hurried forward to support him.

Meanwhile, Sebastian stood nearby and noticed Joli’s forehead was drenched with sweat. Beads of sweat ran down his neck and soaked into the collar of his sweater.

…

That night, Miranda and her friends stayed over at Joli’s house. Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

Ollie freshly prepared a meal and invited them to have dinner at the table. It was a simple meal of meat, vegetables, and soup. “Eat up, don’t be shy!”

“Thank you, Mr. Clifford.” Madison was genuinely starving and devoured two full plates right away. Sebastian also ate quite a bit.

Miranda noticed that Ollie and Joli hardly touched the meat. While they were still eating, Ollie quickly took a few bites before getting up to feed and medicate Wanda.

After eating, Wanda didn’t lie down like she had earlier in the afternoon. Instead, she came out of her room with Ollie’s support to greet Miranda and her friends.

She had even changed her clothes and redid her hair. Wanda seemed to be a little nervous as she spoke. She kept smoothing the nonexistent wrinkles on her collar. She spoke cautiously and was deliberate in her words for fear of embarrassing her son.

Miranda spoke, “Thank you, Mrs. Clifford. The food was delicious. Mr. Clifford’s cooking is amazing!”

Wanda couldn’t help but smile. “He used to work as a cook. I’m glad you like it. Eat more if you’d like. He can whip up more dishes if it’s not enough!”

Meanwhile, Madison had put down her utensils and burped with satisfaction. She quickly waved her hands when she heard this. “No, no. It’s more than enough. We’re all full!”

“Please don’t hold back…”

“We’re not! Really, we’re stuffed!”

After exchanging a few words, Wanda seemed to be in better spirits. “Ollie, turn on the

television. Let them have the remote so that they can choose a channel they’d like to watch.

11

Then, she turned to Miranda and the others. “It’s already so late. Why don’t you three stay here for tonight? Julie can sleep with me and her dad. Miranda and Madison can take Julie’s room. As for Sebastian, you’ll have to squeeze in with Joli.”

“Alright. Thank you, Mrs. Clifford.”

“No need to thank me. I should be the one thanking you for coming all this way to look for Joli. You three almost got hurt during the day…” Wanda sighed deeply at this point.

The bruises on her waist and legs hadn’t faded yet. She had tried to get up when she heard the commotion outside earlier, but she ended up falling off the bed instead.

“Joli, take them to the village entrance early next morning. Get Micah to give them a ride to town in his pickup truck,” she instructed.