'That question...'
She wished Dorothea could be a bit less biased against her back then, so she could see Chloe suffering for so long.
If she had a little bit of pity on her, she'd notice that Chloe went from having the perfect ideal body to suddenly going overweight and then going severely malnourished until she could barely stand on her feet.
'If only she's a bit more sympathetic to my situation back then. Or at least caring enough to ask if there was something wrong with Vincent and our marriage, things could've been so different....'
There were a lot of 'if only' in Chloe's head. She felt that question was what she needed when she was still married to Vincent. Back then, she had a bit of hope that Dorothea could see Vincent's craziness because she believed that Dorothea was not a bad person.
She was just... busy with her messy life.
She kept waiting and waiting, trying to give her hints until she lost hope. So, she decided to stop hoping for anyone to save her from Vincent's abuse because nobody would help her, not her family or mother-in-law.
"Chloe?" Dorothea called her name because Chloe was unresponsive on the phone. "Are you there?"
"Ah-- sorry, I was just... thinking about the past...." Chloe muttered. "I've always wanted you to know how badly he abused me. How he ruined me physically and mentally, and made my life a living hell for the past ten years...."
Dorothea inhaled deeply as she noticed that Chloe's voice contained hopelessness. As if she had given up all hope of being rescued.
"I am so sorry, Chloe. I-- I know sorry is not enough," Dorothea said. "That's why I want to--"
Beep.
Dorothea was still talking when the call was suddenly disconnected, "--help you...." Dorothea finished her sentence alone. She checked her phone and tried to call Chloe again, but it quickly got rejected.
She frowned, "What's wrong? Why did she reject my call?" Dorothea tried calling for the third time, but the call didn't go through. It seemed that Chloe had turned her phone off.
Dorothea got worried that something terrible had happened to Chloe.
Vincent told her that Chloe was now staying with a new man, probably an old millionaire in New York, and tried her best to avoid Vincent.
Dorothea asked him to just drag Chloe back to the mansion, but Vincent said he was playing a long game and wanted Chloe to return with her own initiative, even out of desperation.
"She doesn't sound like she's in pain just now, so it's safe to assume that she's being treated well by her new man, right?" Dorothea theorized. "Then what about the sudden cut? What's wrong with her?"
Since Dorothea couldn't do anything right now, she just wished Chloe would call her back. She wanted to have more heart-to-heart conversations with her daughter-in-law, and hopefully, Chloe could trust her enough so they could meet.
"Let's just hope she's doing alright. I already feel guilty for ignoring her for the past ten years, I'd feel even more guilty if I can't even save her now."
**
Meanwhile, Chloe-- who was listening to Dorothea-- gasped and quickly turned her phone off when Vernon walked in and stood at the door, staring at her with deep eyes full of annoyance.
He tried to tone down his annoyance, but it always came off as strong because he overheard Chloe's conversation with Dorothea.
"V--Vernon, w--what are you doing here?" Chloe tried to act natural, but her nervousness was so obvious that it only annoyed Vernon even more.
Vernon opened his mouth, but before he could speak, there was another call from Dorothea.
Chloe quickly rejected it and turned her phone off.
She tossed her phone to the bed behind her back and focused all her attention on Vernon, "Do you need something? I--I can try to cook if you want."
"Drop with the pretense, Chloe. You're not fooling anyone," Vernon said coldly.
Chloe's heart dropped when she heard Vernon's cold, unfeeling voice directed toward her.
Their relationship had been developing so well that Chloe forgot how cold he was towards her initially.
Nowadays, Vernon always talked to her gently, and his voice always had that longing and loving sensation that could make her blush simply because it made her feel wanted.
But now, all of that sweetness seemed to have vanished instantly.
Vernon put his hand on his waist. He sighed and lowered his head as he didn't want to scare Chloe.
But he was annoyed, disappointed, and worried right now.
"Did you not realize who was on the phone with you just now?"
"I--I know...." Chloe replied meekly. "It's Dorothea..."
"Yeah, my bitch mother," Vernon said curtly. He was always pissed off whenever the topic was Dorothea.
He just had no good memory of that useless mother of his. From the day he was born up until now, he never had any sweet moment that he could treasure.
She was always drunk, crying, laughing, or all of them simultaneously. She was a crazy bitch, and Vernon was glad that Chloe came into his life, or else he'd be a mess just like his Big brother.
So he was disappointed that Chloe started talking to Dorothea, especially when they were talking about Vincent's abuse.
Obviously, Dorothea didn't give a damn about Chloe.
She had all the chances to help her, and she didn't. She was just an ignorant woman on the edge of killing herself, not that Vernon cared anyway.
That bitch could rot in hell for all he cared. It'd make his job easier as well.
"Just block her, Chloe. She has ill intentions, you don't want to fall into her manipulation," Vernon said. "I don't want you to do something stupid because of her."
"I--I will do it later...." Chloe replied though it was obvious that she wouldn't block Dorothea's number.
"Tsk," Vernon stretched his arm and opened his palm, "Give me your phone. I will block her myself."
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