Jacob suddenly turned his head to Charlie and asked worriedly, “Charlie, do you think your mother-in-law will ever come home?”Charlie frowned rather awkwardly. “Dad, what do you want me to say? Should I say yes or no?”Jacob startled in bewilderment then said sheepishly, “Hey, stop beating around the bush. I know you are not satisfied with your mother-in-law too just like me, right?”Charlie turned to him in shock and exclaimed, “Dad, I never said that!”Jacob looked askance at him and said, “It’s just between us, you don’t have to hide with me. Claire is not here anyway, we can say whatever we want, am I right?”Charlie knew what his father-in-law was thinking.He was looking for a partner in crime.He didn’t want Elaine to come home, but Claire wanted her mother to be found as soon as possible. Hence, a psychological confrontation had formed between the father and daughter which made the current score at 1:1. Charlie was the neutral party, in this case, so Jacob desperately
Charlie had never thought that his father-in-law could be so villainous, but he could understand his feelings.After all, the lady was the first love that he hadn’t seen in more than 2 decades who was as perfect as ever. Putting himself in Jacob’s shoes, he wouldn’t want anything or anyone to mess this up.Moreover, Elaine was like a death-defying time bomb. Once initiated, her blast would be so devastating, it would be equivalent to the detonation of a nuclear bomb.Hence, there was nothing wrong with him being so cautious.However, he didn’t know that Elaine was currently in the detention center, suffering from inhuman torture. She would remain in the living hell as long as they didn’t get an okay from Charlie.When they arrived home, Claire had just returned home too. He frantically walked to her and asked, “Dear, have you gone to the police station? What did the police say? Did they have any news about mom?”Claire was pale and worried. “The police told me that they had issue
Although Claire knew that it was most probably Dad’s idea, she couldn’t help feeling disappointed.Charlie quickly asked, “Dear, where are you going later?”Claire answered, “I’m going to meet mom’s friends and also the beauty salons that they often visited for their facial and spa.”Jacob hurried and said, “Oh, Claire, I won’t go anywhere today. I’ve invited my friend over for dinner tonight. She wants to cook for us tonight, so I need to get the ingredients ready and clean up our house.”Claire asked skeptically, “Dad, didn’t you already have lunch with your friend just now? Why do you want to see her again tonight?”Jacob cleared his throat and explained, “Lunch is lunch, and we ate at a restaurant. They came all the way from the States, it’s our courtesy to invite them over to our place and have a home-cooked meal together. This is a decent way to entertain your friends!”Claire exclaimed in dismay, “Dad, even if you want to entertain your friend, can you please observe the s
Meanwhile, in Aurous Hill Detention Center.Elaine could only watch the inmates finish their lunch, and Jennifer finished both lunch sets, she felt as if someone stabbed her in the heart, the sight was so painful for her to bear. She had not taken a bite of food for more than 24 hours, was beaten violently, and was forced to sleep all night in the freezing and humid toilet. She was dizzy with hunger and on the verge of collapsing.Yet, she didn’t dare to express any dissatisfaction because it would trigger Jennifer to beat her again.Because of her small appetite, Lady Wilson was full with just half of the rice portion in the lunch box.She paced leisurely to Elaine with the leftover lunch box in her hand, waved it in front of her, and asked with a grin, “Hey, you haven’t eaten anything for a night and a day, are you hungry? It must be tough, right? Would you like to have two bites?”Elaine glanced at the old lady like she was a light of hope and asked cautiously, “Really? Mom,
Lady Wilson shouted, “Wendy, come here, let’s get this shrew to the toilet and wash away the food on her head with cold water! She may take advantage of us not looking and eat it behind us! I don’t want that to happen!”Elaine cried in horror, “No! It’s almost winter now! You’re going to kill me if you wash my head with cold water!”Jennifer, who had been watching the scene, growled coldly, “Stop the d*mn bullsh*t! If I hear another word from you, I’ll shower you with cold water after the old lady washes your head with it!”Elaine wailed in extreme fright as Lady Wilson and Wendy dragged her into the toilet.Immediately afterward, Wendy pulled her head under the faucet and turned it without hesitation!The icy cold tap water splashed on Elaine’s head, making her brain freeze instantly followed by the excruciating pain from the cold that made her shiver all over.She looked at the grinning Lady Wilson, begging, “Mom, please, give me a towel, I beg you! I’ll freeze to death!”Lady
“What?!”Claire shrieked in shock, “Beautiful, elegant, good temperament, perfect personality. More importantly, she is a widow, a rich widow… That makes her the rarest bachelorette in the middle-aged aunties category, doesn’t it?!”Charlie nodded and said in a serious tone, “Yup, she is a bachelorette alright, but she doesn’t look like an aunty at all, more like an older sister.”Surprised, Claire asked, “Really? Like how old?”Charlie answered, “Maybe thirty-seven or eight years old, and at most forty.”“Seriously?!”Claire gaped in utter astonishment and disbelief. She rarely saw a woman who was 50 years old but looked 10 years younger.Wasn’t it a little too outrageous even for a movie star?Charlie nodded firmly. “I’m not kidding at all, she does look very young and beautiful. You know Catherine Zeta-Jones, right? Aunt Hall looks younger and more beautiful than her.”Astonished again, Claire said, “Shut up! Are you for real?”Charlie smiled. “Well, she’ll come to our hou
At this time, 24 hours had passed since Elaine had disappeared.Therefore, Claire was very worried and nervous, started going in and out of the beauty salons that Elaine frequented.She came to one of the beauty salons and asked the owner while showing her Elaine’s photo, “Hi, have you seen this woman before?”The owner looked at the photo curiously and asked, “Oh, isn’t this Mrs. Wilson?”Claire was equally astonished. “Do you know my mother?”The owner smiled and said, “Oh, so you are her daughter. Well, she used to be my regular here, but I haven’t seen her lately. She used to come here with her friends quite often. Why? Is she missing?”Claire nodded and asked, “Do you know any of her friends? Can you give me their number please?”The owner gaped as if something struck her mind and blurted, “Hey, one of her friends is doing facial right now. Why don’t I call her out and ask?”Claire quickly said, “That will be great! Thank you!”The owner smiled. “You’re welcome, it’s my p
Mrs. Wayne’s face twisted in a disdainful grimace that the already tight mask crumbled and fell off her face due to the distorted facial muscles.She looked at the poor mask on the floor, feeling upset. She got even more upset when she thought of yesterday’s incident.Although she and Elaine were not the best of friends, they shared a pleasant friendship where they often played mahjong and went for facials and spa treatments together.They had plenty of acquaintances like this who treated each other courteously, but Elaine’s ridiculous reaction yesterday had made her so angry that she couldn’t sleep at night.Claire couldn’t help but be bewildered and puzzled upon hearing Mrs. Wayne’s complaint. Why did her mother talk to her friend like this? She had been keeping a low profile recently because she didn’t have any money, but what’s with her sudden change of attitude? Did she stumble upon an unexpected wealth?She even said things like buying a beauty salon for herself! It proved