Chapter 12

“Mrs. Taylor, seriously! Forget about Fia. She doesn’t know anything! How can you simply look at her fight with Conrad’s mom?!”

Esme berated them like a warrior of justice.

When Mrs. Taylor saw that Beryl had been saved, she heaved a sigh of relief especially when she was found to be physically fine. She then said, “Mr. Maxwell, this is not Madam’s fault.”

“Mrs. Taylor, you practically watched over Conrad while he was growing up! How can you help an outsider!” Esme condemned her. “You were here too. Why didn’t you stop Fia bullying Aunt Beryl? Don’t tell me that you and Fia are in this together and you wanted to kill her!”

“Oh, shut up, you!” Fia said as she was somehow emboldened as the situation chilled her heart.

She stared at Esme and said, “This is a family matter. You have no place here!”

“You!” Esme stomped her foot in frustration before jogging toward Conrad and said, “Conrad, just look at her! She isn’t even at least apologetic about it!”

Conrad then said with a dark expression on his face, “Mrs. Taylor, help my mom into the living room to change into some fresh clothing.”

He trusted Mrs. Taylor. Despite that, he had personally witnessed Fia push his mother into the pond. He didn’t understand why someone who was as kind-hearted as her would do that.

Beryl grabbed her son’s hands and wept, “You have to get back at her for me, my son! Your ruthless wife almost took my life!”

Conrad could feel his throat becoming dry as he said, “I will investigate.”

He then paused and looked at Fia who was sitting there like a wooden puppet.

“If she is really trying to murder you, I won’t forgive her.”

“Ha.” Suddenly, Fia let out a laugh.

She stood up, facing Conrad.

“Did you know that in the past three years, your mother would come to our home and harass me whenever she liked?”

Conrad frowned and looked at Fia as his brain began to tick. He was suspecting how trustworthy her words were.

He would ask his mother if she had ever come to their home to bully her in the past three years and she had always said no.

Why did she suddenly say something like that?

“You don’t believe me?” Fia said as she bit her lips. “No matter how much you love and respect her, I’ll tell you right here now that she’s a mother-in-law from hell to me!”

“Why didn’t you say anything about it before this?”

“Because I was an idiot. I thought that as long as I kept my head down and treated her with sincerity, she would treat me well eventually,” Fia explained as she looked straight into his eyes.

However, she didn’t expect him to respond to her with the chilly words he did.

“Is that why you did that to her? Because you have too much hate inside of you?”

“…”

Ha!

She never expected him to come up with that kind of idea.

“Answer me!”

Fia cracked a smile as her heart began to chill even more.

“Yes.”

“What are you talking about, Fia?!” Echo began to cough again.

Mrs. Taylor was also getting nervous as she said, “Don’t give such a muddled response out of anger, madam! Mrs. Maxwell was the one that hit you and Ms. Lawson first. You were only fighting back…”

“Look at Mrs. Taylor, Conrad! The older she gets, the more foolish she becomes! She’s even siding with an outsider!” Beryl complained as she grabbed her son’s hand.

Conrad pulled his hand away and said, “Mrs. Taylor, give the driver a call and send my mom back to the family residence!”

His attitude was clear, and he would not allow anyone to go against his commands.

Beryl knew that this was the calm before the storm and gave Fia a provoking look.

“Esme, my mom’s not feeling well. Accompany her home for now.”

Esme quickly walked over and left with Beryl as she supported her.

Before Mrs. Taylor left, she still said, “Sir, I hope you can take care of this calmly. She’s really forced…”

“There’s no need for you to explain on her behalf if she can’t explain it herself! Go and call the driver!” Conrad kicked at the table in the middle of the gazebo.

Mrs. Taylor wanted to say something but held her tongue. She gave Fia a worried look before leaving.

Echo stopped herself from coughing and stood up despite her fatigue. “If someone is at fault here, it’s me.”

“…”

“Your mother is unhappy that I came to stay with you in your home. That’s why she started fighting with Fia.”

Conrad once again felt his throat becoming dry. Was this his fault then?

He was the one that had forced Echo to stay with them.

“No matter how you feel about this situation, I hope that you can deal with this fairly. You still haven’t divorced Fia.”

“Mom, stop begging him.” Fia held Echo’s hand with her back straight. “Let’s go back to the apartment.”

“I already told Silas to pick up your grandmother. Aren’t you worried that she’ll start guessing things if she doesn't see you here?!” Conrad said in an icy tone.

Echo gave Conrad a stare. She was very unhappy with his tone.

“Are you threatening us?”

“Of course not,” Conrad said as he pulled his shirt, trying to get rid of the water droplets off him. “I simply don’t want others to talk about me.”

Fia looked at him, all wet. She didn’t urge him to change at all as she suppressed her worry for him.

She didn’t want to show that she was concerned about him. She couldn’t make herself so meek anymore.

The way he talked to her mother sent chills down his spine. He didn’t even want to play pretend anymore as he spoke with her mother in such a tone.

He only cared about Esme right now!

“Don’t worry, my mother and I won’t say anything about this!”

She held Echo’s arm and then said, “Mom, let’s go back to the apartment right now. I’ll call Grandma and explain everything to her.”

“Alright,” Echo said.

Echo took in a deep breath and then took a step forward as she let Fia support her. However, she fell into her arms before she even took her second step, with blood coming from her mouth.

“Mom!” Fia cried out in anguish.

Conrad immediately stood up, held Echo in his arms, and walked toward the mansion.

“Can you call a driver to send us back to the apartment?” Fia asked as she chased after him.

“Your mom won’t be able to handle it. If you really care about her, don’t fight with me and cause her condition to deteriorate!”

Fia’s hands trembled, and she remained silent.

Conrad showered, changed, and then went directly to the guestroom. He saw Fia guarding by Echo’s bedside and whispered to her about when she was little.

He heard everything as he stood by the door and could feel the sadness of it all.

That was because Fia had no father and she had been harassed for it since she was little. He had helped her a lot because she was Esme’s cousin.

However, now that Fia and Esme were forced to stand on opposite sides of each other because of him, her life was simply going to be even more lonely.

“Mr. Maxwell.”

Silas’s whisper came from behind him.

Conrad turned around and walked out. “Is she here?”

“Yes. Downstairs. She wants to see Ms. Lawson and the madam right now.”

“Go and tell Fia that I’ll accompany her grandmother.”

“Understood,” Silas said. He only walked into the guestroom after he saw Conrad go downstairs.

Downstairs, an ancient woman with white hair and a crooked back was standing in the living room. Mrs. Taylor asked Thea Lawson to sit a few times but she refused to.

She knocked on the floor with the walking stick in her hand and asked, “Why isn’t Fia here to see me yet? Did Conrad do something to her?”

Mrs. Taylor was very fearful of her. Thea was a powerful woman when she was in her prime. She was not to be trifled with then, she was not to be trifled with now.

“That has to be a joke, right? Mr. Maxwell is treating the madam very well.”

“Is that so?” Thea said as she shifted the walking stick from one hand to the other. She then turned around and looked at Mrs. Taylor with a pair of discerning eyes. “Then why did I just see Esme helping Fia’s mother-in-law leave the mansion? Where is Fia? Speaking of Esme, why is she here with the Maxwells when she didn’t even have the time to see me? Her grandmother?”