Chapter 247: No wonder she isn’t the same Adelyn anymore.
"How could she be so shameless??" Charlotte slammed her palm against the table, not hard but enough to make a sharp noise, her face turning red with anger.
"Did she forget that it was we, the Scotts, who raised her?"
Maria flinched at the outburst.
Meanwhile, Clara’s expression only turned more solemn. She glanced discreetly at Maria, silently asking for her to leave.
Maria had no intention of lingering anyway. So, receiving her instruction, she gave a quick nod before quietly excusing herself.
Once she left, Clara turned back to Charlotte and spoke in a gentle voice.
"Mom, don’t question Adelyn’s decision like this. She might have had her reasons."
"Reasons??" Charlotte scoffed, her expression full of disbelief. "What possible reason could justify sleeping around?"
She didn’t want to believe it.
Yet ...
She couldn’t wholeheartedly dismiss it either.
After all, Adelyn was no longer the same girl she had once known.
She could barely recognize her anymore.
And because of that, Charlotte could no longer be certain whether Adelyn had truly resorted to such unethical ... such disgraceful means.
Perhaps Clara noticed the lingering uncertainty in her eyes.
Before that tiny spark of doubt could grow any stronger, she gently reached over and held Charlotte’s hand.
"Mom ... don’t blame Adelyn so quickly," she said, looking directly into her eyes with such sincerity that she once again resembled the gentle angel she had always portrayed herself to be. "We don’t really know what she went through while living outside. Seven years isn’t a short period of time. Being all alone out there ... it couldn’t have been easy for her."
Although her words sounded like they were defending Adelyn, they were quietly accomplishing the exact opposite.
With every sentence, they slowly erased the last traces of doubt Charlotte still held.
After all ...
The harsher the circumstances became, the more likely even the proudest person was to bow before them.
When Adelyn had left ...
She had only been sixteen.
How could a sixteen-year-old survive on her own in a cruel world?
Hearing it framed that way, Charlotte’s heart tightened once more.
Guilt quietly resurfaced inside her chest, making it ache.
Adelyn’s suffering ...
None of it would have happened if they had simply brought her home.
If they hadn’t abandoned her so easily ...
However—
"It isn’t easy surviving alone out there, Mom," Clara continued, gently squeezing Charlotte’s hand as though recalling the years she herself had endured. "The world is truly cruel. It forces people to do things they never imagined they would. If I hadn’t met all of you ... I don’t even know whether I might have ended up doing something similar."
A tear slipped from the corner of her eye and landed on the back of Charlotte’s hand.
"No, Clara..." Charlotte immediately comforted her, hurriedly wiping away her tears. "You wouldn’t have done something like that. You didn’t."
When Clara lifted her tearful eyes toward her, Charlotte nodded firmly, as though trying to convince both Clara and herself.
"Even after spending all those years outside, you never walked down such a path. You’ve always been a good child."
"So don’t think like that."
"Even if you had never found us ... you would have discovered another way to survive."
"You would never have chosen something so wrong."
"You would never have become like Adelyn."
Clara trembled under Charlotte’s comforting touch, quietly sobbing.
"But Mom ... please don’t blame Adelyn just yet," she whispered as she slowly pulled away. "This could still just be a rumor. After all ... we’ve known Adelyn better than anyone else."
"She was once the proud daughter of the Scott family. She might not have truly stooped to such despicable means. She—"
Before Charlotte could respond—
A cold voice interrupted from the entrance.
"She did."
Both Charlotte and Clara instinctively turned toward the doorway.
"Xavi ..." Clara called softly upon seeing Xavier standing there. Her brows furrowed slightly as she rose to her feet. She hadn’t expected Xavier to come.
Xavier glanced briefly at her before walking into the room.
"Adelyn has already stooped to such a detestable level," he repeated, his voice colder than before.
Charlotte frowned.
"Xavier ... what do you mean?"
Xavier’s jaw tightened.
He didn’t answer immediately.
Even though he had already convinced himself of what he believed was the truth ... Some part of him still found it difficult to truly accept it.
"I had someone investigate," he finally said. Every word tasted like poison on his tongue. "Her role didn’t come easily."
"She is most likely being kept by an older man ... someone who even already has a daughter."
Charlotte’s fingers immediately tightened around the edge of the sofa cushion.
Clara froze as well.
That piece of information was new even to her. She hadn’t expected it. But now that Xavier himself was saying it...
She found no reason to question its authenticity.
After all—
For Xavier to personally investigate Adelyn ...
And then come here to say something like this ...
He must have already confirmed it to his own satisfaction.
"How could she ..." Charlotte muttered through clenched teeth. "Is she determined to ruin herself and us?"
"Mom, don’t say that ..." Clara hurriedly spoke again, though her voice carried obvious hesitation this time. "Adelyn ... she might not have actually wanted this. She just—"
"If she didn’t want it, she wouldn’t have done it!" Charlotte snapped sharply, cutting her off.
The disgust on her face was impossible to conceal.
"Since she had done it, it means she has willingly chosen this path. No wonder she no longer wants anything to do with us. No wonder she isn’t the same Adelyn anymore."
Her eyes gradually turned colder.
"Over these past seven years ... she must have ruined herself so completely that she can no longer return to us as the person she once was."
"And even if she wanted to come back now ..." Her fists clenched. "I wouldn’t let her. She has become an utter disgrace. And the Scott family will never keep such a disgrace attached to our family name."
The room fell silent.
Charlotte’s breathing remained uneven as anger and disappointment churned inside her heart.
The Adelyn she had once cherished ...
The daughter she had loved with all her heart ...
That image was slowly shattering piece by piece before her eyes.
Or perhaps—
She was forcing herself to believe that it had already shattered.
Because only then ...
Could she convince herself that severing every remaining tie between them was the right decision.
Taking a slow breath, Charlotte reached for her phone once again.
Her fingers no longer trembled.
Instead, they moved with chilling determination.
She unlocked the screen, found the number she was looking for, and dialed it without another moment of hesitation.
The call connected after only a few rings.
"Benjamin ..." she said.
