Dorothea sighed, "You're right. Though, I do miss Mackie so much…."
"… Let's just hope that things will get better from now on," Chloe said.
"I hope so. I really want to see the light…." Dorothea murmured. She lowered her head, trying not to show too much sadness in front of Chloe. Chloe was already kind enough to visit her, so the least she could do was not bring the mood down.
Unfortunately, Chloe quickly noticed that Dorothea's mood was somber, so she quickly shifted the topic and pointed at the tumbler, "Have you had anything for breakfast? I made a banana-apple smoothie for you, it's Vernon and Mackie's favorite's drink after banana milk!"
"Ah, I do love banana and apple, I usually make smoothies or juice out of them, it's a comfort drink for me," Dorothea said. She grabbed the tumbler on the table and raised her brow, "May I?"
"Sure, I made it for you," Chloe said.
Thus, Dorothea took a sip, and her eyes widened out of surprise. Her tongue smacked a few times to taste the smoothie better in her mouth, "Oh wow, this banana-apple smoothie is tasty, you really know how to create a perfect balance for them! No wonder Vernon and Mackie love this so much."
"W—Well, it's my own recipe, because Vernon loved that smoothie when he was a kid, and I perfected the recipe for Mackie," Chloe said. "Glad you like it."
Dorothea took another sip of the smoothie from the straw. She smiled at her daughter-in-law, "You're very attentive to your family. That's good."
Chloe was a little shy listening to Dorothea's praise.
She had been cooking for the Gray family since she was only seventeen. But Dorothea was too drunk and depressed to appreciate her food, unlike Vernon and Vincent, who loved her homemade food so much.
But she was happy nonetheless. At least Dorothea knew that Chloe could take care of her family.
"Well, I'm in a better mood now thanks to your smoothie," Dorothea said. She put the smoothie on the table and continued, "Now, let's talk about my plan to distract Vincent."
"Oh, yeah! Please tell me!" Chloe was excited about this news. She actually wanted to have a more active role in helping Vernon. Even though Vernon kept telling her that all she needed to do was to stay by his side, she still felt that she did nothing all this time while getting all the help from Vernon.
She wanted them to work together. She wanted to fight for him just like how he fought for her.
If she could make a good connection with Dorothea in the long term, Chloe believed that Dorothea would be lenient enough to tell all secrets that Vincent never told Chloe, and she could inform Vernon about it.
Besides, Chloe always wanted to connect with Dorothea in a mother and daughter-in-law relationship. It'd be great if she could visit Mackie more often because Mackie was really close to her grandma.
In exchange, Dorothea would have peace of mind and find a family that'd accept her. So, it was a mutual relationship between them.
Though, it all depended on Vernon in the end…
"I called the man who managed all the charity funding of the Gray family last night. I told him there is a problem within the company, so he has to hold the scholarship for everyone for at least three months. We will keep the fund for now, and if the problem within the company has been solved, he can send it all to the awardees."
"But, what if that man asked Vincent about it?"
"Oh, trust me, he won't," Dorothea chuckled. "Vincent gives me full control over the charity, so I can do anything with it as long as it will give him a good name. The first two months, the awardees may think there's just a slight delay for the scholarship money, so none of them wouldn't dare to protest."
"But after three months, surely they will start protesting, maybe bringing it to social media," Dorothea said. "It'll get people speculating if something really happened within the company, and many of the important shareholders might start asking Vincent about it."
"Just like what I said before, I will use my mental health issue as an alibi of this blunder, and send the three months fund to the scholarship awardees. I will be safe, so you don't need to worry," Dorothea knew what was on Chloe's mind, so she said it earlier before Chloe started worrying.
"A—Alright then, I trust you with that…" Chloe said. Honestly, she was always nervous whenever it involved messing with Vincent. She tried to mess with Vincent once by driving her car around New York City without any clear direction to wind up since living with Vincent was literal torture.
But once she returned home, Vincent pulled her out of the car and dragged her by her hair into the master bedroom. He yelled and slapped Chloe. Because she was uncontactable for two hours, baby Mackie cried loudly because she only wanted to be taken care of by her mother.
"This will disturb him, and I'll try to see if I can do more to disturb him later," Dorothea said. "I hope it'll be enough help for my second son…."
"I'm sure it'll help him!" Chloe said with optimism.
Dorothea chuckled, "You sound so excited. Do you really want to help him that much?"
"Of course!" Chloe stated boldly. She had never been so bold in her life before, but when it came to Vernon, strength was drawn from inside her heart. She wanted to help him as he helped her. "I want to support him in any way I can."
Dorothea chuckled again, 'I don't think Vernon needs any help. He's very skillful on his own. Besides, he's a Gray man, I'm sure he'll find his way to tackle his problem.'
'But I guess, Vernon would be happy that his beloved woman actually wants to help him. It's a blessing to have a supportive spouse…' Dorothea thought. "I bet he'll be happy knowing that you're trying to help him in his endeavor."
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