Dorothea suddenly stood up and grabbed her bag, "I'm leaving, I have other things to do."
"Huh… okay," Vincent replied without care. But he had a slight suspicion, "Mom, you don't feel bad about Chloe, right? You're the one who taught me about this, so you shouldn't feel bad. Chloe is just like you to some extent…."
Vincent smirked and gave his mother a mocking gaze, "You two can take many beatings from their husbands and tolerate cheating. Perfect obedient women for men like Dad and I."
…
"Sure thing, Son," Dorothea opened the door and walked away. She wore shades to hide the tears welling in her eyes as she opened the door.
She saw the old Secretary Maria who stood near the door, probably eavesdropping. Dorothea knew that Maria was a professional, she didn't even fall into Vaughn's seduction when she was young, but she was so cold, like a robot, sometimes Dorothea felt uncomfortable talking with her.
"I'm leaving first," Dorothea said.
"Yes, Madam, I will call your chauffeur to get ready."
Secretary Maria returned to her desk, and Dorothea walked to the elevator.
She accidentally ran into Vernon, who came out of the bathroom.
Vernon raised one brow and asked, "Leaving so soon? I thought you're going to pester us even more."
…
Dorothea stayed silent. She was in no mood to argue with her second son after knowing that she had accidentally raised her first son as a monster.
Vernon scoffed when he got no answer from Dorothea, "What am I doing anyway? Talking to a useless mother like you."
Vernon walked back to Vincent's office while Dorothea stood still, waiting for the elevator door to open.
Ding!
Dorothea quickly entered the elevator and went down. The moment the elevator door closed, her trembling legs gave up, and she leaned at the corner of the elevator, trying to compose herself after she learned about Vincent.
"What have I done?" she murmured, full of grief. "I've accidentally turned Vincent into a monster."
Dorothea always thought that Vincent was a perfect son for her. He was smart, dependable, and better at managing and expanding businesses than Vaughn.
But this twisted side of him changed Dorothea's view of him, and now she realized that she was all alone.
She entered the backseat of her car and told the chauffeur to just drive back to the mansion. She was done with today and probably for the rest of the week.
'Should I schedule another therapy session with Shailene? She might give me good advice on what to do to fix Vincent,' Dorothea wondered. 'Though, I already know most of her answers will revolve around Vernon. She always insisted on me taking Vernon's side for whatever reason.'
Dorothea started recalling her relationship with Vernon.
By the time Vincent was ten years old, Dorothea, who had endured most beating, eventually grew numb, and Vaughn got bored with her silence.
So he started cheating with various women instead. By the time Dorothea discovered she was pregnant with the second child, she was already in deep depression. She tried to cover up her pain by excessive drinking, thinking it would kill the new baby in her belly.
She refused to bear another child from that bastard. It disgusted her so much just imagining it.
Unfortunately, Vernon was a strong baby. He survived childbirth despite all her excessive drinking, and she was stuck on raising her bastard husband's new son.
Dorothea sighed, 'That's impossible. I haven't given a shit about Vernon ever since he was born, I don't think there's a way for us to mend our relationship,' she thought. 'I will tell Shailene about it, and see if she can give me a new perspective on how to fix Vincent, rather than dealing with Vernon.'
'And about Chloe…'
Dorothea felt uneasy. She never thought that Chloe had it hard in life. She was living her best life because Vincent was supposed to be the perfect son and obviously would be the perfect husband, so Dorothea thought Chloe was just a spoiled, opportunistic low-class girl who happened to be very pretty.
Now that she has learned the truth…
'Naturally, I prefer to just ignore this whole thing. Act like I've never learned about her suffering, so I don't need to worry about her,' Dorothea thought. 'But she has Mackie in her hands right now, what if she made the same mistake, and my granddaughter will turn out just like her father?'
…
Dorothea clicked her tongue and checked her phone to see if she had Chloe's contact.
Just as she expected, she didn't have Chloe's contact here. Either she just deleted it or never bothered to save it.
Either way, she wanted to call her estranged daughter-in-law to check whether she was taking care of Mackenzie seriously.
Because if Chloe made the same mistake as she did, she might as well hand Mackenzie to her so she could take care of her granddaughter.
"Obviously, I can't ask for Chloe's contact from Vincent. He would question me…." Dorothea bit her lower lip.
Well, she knew one woman who could give her Chloe's contact.
But she felt it would be very degrading to ask her because Dorothea always saw this woman as a lower-class woman who sucked on Vincent's money.
Unable to curb her worry, Dorothea was forced to abandon her pride and found a contact started with 'J.'
"Damn, this is so embarrassing," Dorothea complained. She pressed call, and the phone was instantly connected.
-
"G—Good morning, Madam Gray, can I help you with something?" the woman on the phone greeted humbly.
Dorothea rolled her eyes, sure this woman was humbled only because her daughter was married to Vincent.
"Judith, do you have Chloe's phone number? I need it."
"Ah… I do, Madam. But what is this for?"
"I just need to talk to her."
There was a long silence before Judith answered;
"Madam Gray, I'm so sorry for my daughter's doing. I know she's a whore, but please don't punish us, we're trying our best to bring her back, but she blocked our numbers!"
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