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Chapter 171: Chapter 171: How Dare You Curse My Wife?

When Ian Sterling saw Lynn Winslow’s smile fade, he knew she had sensed something was off.

Ian had felt something wasn’t right the moment he heard the Yates family had locked Mia Rhodes up. Lynn had never interacted with the Yates family, but he had—and he’d heard the gossip. He knew they weren’t smart enough to pull something like this off on their own.

After that, neither of them spoke, each lost in their own thoughts.

They arrived at the Yates family’s villa. After getting out of the car, Lynn Winslow took a look around and offered some backhanded praise. ”They have decent taste, I’ll give them that.”

Ian Sterling’s lips curled into a smirk. ”Indeed. Their family only got rich by capitalizing on this area’s development.”

The Yates family’s butler was the first to spot them. He panicked and rushed inside to find the family.

The Yates family was sitting in the living room. Mia Rhodes stood to the side, the side of her face red and swollen. Mrs. Yates shot her a disdainful glare.

”Couldn’t you have found anyone else? You had to pick someone with such a vile reputation? Are you trying to ruin our family’s good name?”

”What reputation does your family have to ruin?”

A cold voice cut through the room. The members of the Yates family whipped their heads around, their eyes wide with shock.

’Mr. Sterling? What’s he doing here?’

Mia Rhodes’s eyes lit up when she saw Ian Sterling. She took two steps forward before stopping abruptly at the sight of Lynn Winslow behind him.

She lowered her head, hiding her face, not wanting Lynn to see her in such a humiliating state.

Lynn couldn’t be bothered with her. She stood beside Ian Sterling, looking down on the three members of the Yates family with an air of superiority.

”Ah, Mr. Sterling, what brings you here?” Daniel Yates, the head of the family, stood and approached them, trying to curry favor.

Ian Sterling took a step back, his brow furrowed with unconcealed disgust. ”I was on my way to have dinner with my fiancée at the Powell estate,” he said coolly. ”We heard her cousin has been suffering quite a bit since marrying into your family, so I decided to come and see for myself.”

Daniel Yates laughed awkwardly, then turned to Lynn Winslow with feigned surprise. ”I had no idea Mr. Powell had such a beautiful granddaughter.”

His words were a thinly veiled jab, implying Mia Rhodes couldn’t compare to Lynn in looks. Mia’s expression soured. Ever since they were children, people had compared her to Lynn, and she had always come up short—in looks and in everything else.

In the past, she would have lashed out with a string of curses, but the recent torment from the Yates family had beaten the fight out of her, leaving none of her former pride.

Lynn Winslow scoffed, folding her arms. ”Mr. Yates,” she said nonchalantly, ”why don’t you just hand my cousin over to me. Regardless of anything else, she is a member of the Powell family.”

”On what grounds! She married me, so she’s part of the Yates family! The nerve of you Powells, thinking you can just take her away! You bitch.”

The young Mr. Yates stood up. He didn’t dare curse at Ian Sterling, but he clearly had no regard for Lynn Winslow. He started forward, ready to get physical.

Seeing this, a flicker of schadenfreude crossed Mia Rhodes’s eyes.

Whether Lynn got berated or the young Mr. Yates got what was coming to him, either outcome would be a delight for her.

The young Mr. Yates had barely gotten within a meter of Lynn Winslow when Ian Sterling stepped forward and delivered a vicious kick. Though the young man wasn’t short, his body was a wreck from years of late nights, drinking, smoking, and frequenting unsavory establishments ever since his family came into money. Ian’s single kick sent him flying several feet.

”You’ve got a lot of nerve, cursing my wife,” Ian Sterling sneered. He started forward to kick the young man again, but Daniel Yates rushed to block his path. Mrs. Yates shrieked, scrambling over to her son, crying and fussing as she helped him up.

Daniel Yates pleaded, ”Mr. Sterling, Mr. Sterling, please, don’t stoop to his level. He’s always been an idiot, you know that. Please, be the bigger person and forgive his offense. Let him off this once.”

Ian Sterling brushed away the hand reaching for him. A smirk played on his lips as he said slowly, ”Mr. Yates, if you can’t discipline your own son, perhaps I should help you.”

Daniel Yates shook his head frantically, but Ian Sterling sidestepped him and flexed his wrists, preparing to take out his pent-up frustration on the young man. Lynn, however, stopped him. The young Mr. Yates’s insults hadn’t soured her mood in the slightest. She smiled sweetly and said, ”Don’t dirty your hands. Let the bodyguards do it.”

”You dare!” Mrs. Yates spread her arms to shield her son. ”The Sterling Family and the Powell family may be more powerful than the Yates family,” she warned, ”but you can’t beat up my son in his own home! If you do, I’ll call the police!”

Lynn Winslow furrowed her brow, trying to suppress her laughter. After a long moment, she burst out with a snort. ’Call the police? The Yates family was truly naive. After all these years, they still didn’t understand how tightly the elite families of Quartos stuck together.’

”Mr. Sterling, Mr. Sterling, if you insist on taking her, then please, take her! We won’t stop you,” Daniel Yates blurted out as he saw the bodyguards draw near.

The young Mr. Yates started to protest, but a sharp glare from Daniel Yates silenced him, though he still looked resentful.

Mia Rhodes’s eyes widened, overjoyed at her imminent escape from this hellhole.

As he watched Mia Rhodes walk out with the other two, the young Mr. Yates grew more and more indignant. Shoving his parents aside, he made to give chase, but the bodyguards following the trio turned in unison and fixed him with a cold, hard stare.

Startled by their intimidating glares, the young Mr. Yates stumbled back a step. He felt the spot where he’d been kicked, which had just started to feel better, begin to throb with renewed pain.

As Mia Rhodes walked out of the Yates family home, she glanced back at the three of them. Her gaze was openly defiant, as if she knew they could no longer do anything to her.

Once outside the Yates’s house, Lynn Winslow turned to Mia Rhodes and said coldly, ”You bring all this on yourself, and still you make Grandfather worry. You’ve got some nerve.”

”Cousin, you...” Mia Rhodes looked at Lynn Winslow with a pitiful expression. When she saw Lynn wasn’t buying her act, she turned her gaze to Ian Sterling, only to find his eyes fixed on Lynn. Disappointed, Mia had no choice but to look away.

Lynn was speechless at her audacity. ”Stop the act. Do you think I don’t know what you’re really like? Your true colors are showing, yet you’re still here playing the pitiful victim.”

Mia Rhodes showed no embarrassment at being called out. Instead, she offered a soft smile. ”Cousin, not everyone is as fortunate as you. You’re protected and doted on by both the Winslow and Powell families, and your boyfriend is one of the most powerful men in all of Quartos. How could you possibly understand my suffering?”

”...” Lynn was rendered speechless by this sudden sob story. She rolled her eyes, turned, and got into the car without another word.

Ian Sterling followed her, sitting down beside Lynn and leaving only the front passenger seat for Mia Rhodes. Mia bit her lip, lowering her eyes to hide the hatred within them as she climbed into the front.

The car headed toward the Powell estate. Lynn Winslow leaned lazily against the backrest, and Ian Sterling pulled her into his arms, letting her rest against him. Only then did Lynn remember what had seemed off earlier.

Ian had been complaining about his back pain, yet he’d just been able to kick the young Mr. Yates. None of his movements had looked like those of an injured person.

”Is your back not hurting anymore?”

She asked, looking up at him. Ian Sterling paused, then gave an awkward cough.

The truth was, it had still hurt the day after, just not that badly. He had done it all just to make Lynn Winslow feel sorry for him.

The corners of Lynn Winslow’s mouth twitched, and she let out a derisive snort.