Love’s Cunning Ruse

Chapter 178

“When someone’s not hiding anything at all, their disgust and anger can be expressed through micro-

expressions like furrowing their brow, squinting their eyes, lifting their upper lip, and forming nasolabial

folds. If jealousy is very restrained, it is almost imperceptible. When anger is more prevalent, it usually

manifests as wide-open eyes, unconscious staring, and keeping the rest of the face serious; when

disgust is more prevalent, it usually manifests as giving the side-eye, and the rest of the face doesn’t

have any significant expression.”

As Dylan started his analysis, everyone’s gaze shifted towards Davina. Indeed, every micro-expression

of jealousy that Dylan mentioned was reflected on Davina’s face.

“What does that mean?” Payne asked, “Any woman would be jealous of Julie marrying Kerry. It’s

normal for this Davina chick to be jealous too.”

“But in Davina’s eyes, there’s not just jealousy, there’s also hatred!” Dylan pointed at the video and

said, “Expressions of hatred are complex. It’s a mix of fear, anger, sadness, and self-blame for being

powerless.”

“How’s that?” Payne asked, curiosity piqued.

Hayden got it. The reason Kieran was not in a rush was that he knew who had kidnapped Julie. The

only thing he didn’t know was her motive for kidnapping Julie. But since she chose to kidnap her

instead of directly hurting her, this Davina chick in the video would definitely contact him soon. He was

sitting on the couch, lost in thought, probably waiting for the kidnapper to contact him.

Dylan continued, “The fear is because Davina knows she can’t be compared with Julie. The anger is

because she wants to eliminate her competition. The sadness is because she can’t do anything about

the harm that’s already been done. See, her lower lip is tightly closed due to muscle contraction,

causing her lips to be tightly drawn together. Her upper lip is slightly lifted, added to the downward pull

of the corners of her mouth, making the entire line of her lips curve downwards. Tight lips are a sign of

self-restraint. If she actually loses control and starts screaming, her emotions wouldn’t just be hatred,

but total rage. So, in front of Julie, Davina is always restraining herself!”

This profound explanation was indeed harder for Payne to grasp than his computer.

But after hearing Dylan’s conclusion, Payne frowned, “So, the person who kidnapped her is this

woman?”

As Dylan was speaking, Kieran had already grabbed his car keys.

Julien was not one to just sit and wait. She moved to follow Kieran, but Hayden grabbed her arm and

pulled her back.

Compared to arguing, Julien preferred to take action. Almost as soon as Hayden pulled her back,

Julien kicked at him.

Hayden nimbly jumped up, avoiding Julien’s attack. Julien swung a punch at Hayden’s handsome face

with her left hand, but Hayden easily dodged it. Then, he grabbed Julien’s swinging arm.

Taking this opportunity, he pulled her into his arms.

Payne, watching from the side, was flabbergasted. Not until he saw Julien in Hayden’s arms did he

react, “Could you guys just talk it out?! Why are you suddenly fighting?”

A peaceful conversation between Julien and Hayden? That’s a joke.

Just as Julien was getting ready to continue resisting, Kieran’s phone, who was about to leave,

suddenly rang.

An unknown call made both Hayden and Julien stop.

Payne immediately sat down at his computer, “Answer it. If it’s the kidnapper, try to buy some time!”

Given enough time, he could track the caller’s location.

Kieran had a hunch about who was on the other end of the line. He calmly answered the call.

The voice on the other end was indeed Davina’s, but all she said was, “Julie’s with me. If you don’t

want anything to happen to her, sign all the documents in my desk. You have ten minutes.”

After saying that, Davina seemed to realize that Payne might trace her phone, so she immediately

hung up and smashed her phone against a distant wall. Julie never expected the person who appeared

at the door to be Davina.

She had already persuaded the two kidnappers. If Davina had come a little later, the kidnappers might

have let her go. But, Julie never expected that the cold voice at the door would be so familiar.

Perhaps because her eyes were blindfolded, Julie’s hearing was particularly sensitive. Davina’s voice

in Julie’s memory was not sweet, but at least it was gentle. But the sentence she just said to the two

kidnappers, “If anyone dares to let her go, I’ll kill him immediately”…

Her voice was truly terrifying when she said this.

Davina seemed to have brought a lot of people. Julie was blindfolded, so she wasn’t sure what

happened, until Davina made that phone call to Kieran. Then Julie heard the sound of the phone

shattering.

“What documents are there in your desk?” After the shock, Julie asked Davina calmly.

Davina snorted coldly, and said to someone next to her, “Go take off her blindfold.”

When Julie’s blindfold was taken off, she found herself hanging about ten meters high, below her was

hard concrete.

If she fell from this height, even if it wasn’t fatal, she would definitely be seriously injured. Moreover,

she was tied to a chair,

There was a crane nearby. Julie guessed that the two kidnappers might have used the crane to hang

her up when she was unconscious.

And the two kidnappers…

Julie looked to the corner of the ground. The two kidnappers were tied back to back by Davina’s

people, with objects stuffed into their mouths, unable to speak, only struggling helplessly.

“Why?” Julie did suspect at one point that Lucian was the one who kidnapped her, but it never crossed

her mind that it would be Davina.

She thought it was a reunion when she bumped into Davina at the company, but this was quite a

unique way to reunite.

Davina sneered. She arched her eyebrows and looked at Julie with contempt, “You want to know why?

You’re not worth it!”

The hatred in Davina’s eyes was so intense that it seemed to have scorched her eyes.

Julie was even more baffled. She didn’t have a strong impression of Davina, but she could at least

remember that they didn’t have any bad blood between them. So where did this deep hatred come

from?

Davina looked up at Julie, “Julie, I’m really curious… what do you see in Kieran?”

Julie wasn’t afraid of heights, but being hung in mid-air like this, even with strong mental fortitude, she

felt dizzy.

She knew that her own strength was useless at this point, so she complied and looked at Davina,

responding lightly, “Yeah, what do I see in him? How did I end up falling for him? Why don’t I love

myself more?”

Davina didn’t want to hear this kind of answer from Julie.

Her eyes were red with anger, “Why do all men have to chase after a frivolous woman like you?”

Frivolous?

Julie had a hard time accepting that word. Often, she wished she could be as frivolous as Davina

described. But she only cared about Kieran, whether she loved or hated him…

“Frivolous? Is that how you’ve seen me all these years?” Julie looked down at Davina from above.

What Davina hated the most was Julie’s calm demeanor. Even if she knew that she might die in the

next second, she could still converse with her so calmly.

“You chased after Kieran when you were in school, but why did you have to seduce Rankin? Do you

know how disgusting and hypocritical you are?” Davina’s veins in her neck protruded due to her rage.

Julie’s vision was blurring. She was a bit far from Davina, so she couldn’t see her clearly, but she could

feel Davina’s anger.

Rankin?

That was a name Julie hadn’t heard in a long time.

Back in school, she had used all her tricks to make him tutor her. In the end, he had no choice but to

agree.

She used to call him Rank affectionately, but Rankin was aloof, much like Kieran. Thanks to Rankin,

Julie and Kieran ended up in the same high school. Looking back, if they hadn’t been in the same high

school, things might not have turned out the way they did.

Even though Rankin didn’t smile often, he was a very gentle person in Julie’s memory.

She remembered something Rankin once said: whether love comes first or last, many people will try to

cut in line.

Back then, they were about the same age. Girls usually mature earlier than boys, but Rankin seemed

to understand some things earlier than her.

Davina was in the same class as Julie in high school, so she should know that the person Julie was

pursuing was Kieran. Why would she think Julie seduced Rankin?

Julie frowned at Davina, “What do you mean by ‘seduce’? If I remember correctly, Rankin transferred to

Veridia for studying abroad before high school graduation. We haven’t been in contact all these years.

When did I seduce him?”

“Rankin’s dead! It’s all because of you! You’re the one to blame!” Davina shouted at Julie in rage.