Chapter 6

Edward hadn't expected to run into Hailey and William the moment he stepped out of the villa with his belongings.

William had been fooling around since graduating college. He spent his days loafing around with a group of idlers. Whenever he ran out of money, he would turn to Winona to bail him out.

As for Hailey, she had never hidden her disdain for Edward. From the very beginning, she had made it clear that she thought he wasn't good enough for Winona. To Hailey, Edward had hit the jackpot by marrying into the Spencer family, and she never missed the chance to remind him of it.

"Edward! Put that suitcase down!"

William stormed forward, yanking the suitcase right out of Edward's hand, his glare filled with hostility.

Hailey stepped up as well, her tone sharp. "You're not going anywhere!"

For a brief moment, Edward thought she might actually be trying to stop him out of concern.

"Mom, Winona and I are already divorced. I—"

Hailey cut him off with a furious roar before he could even finish speaking. "Shut up, Edward! Who gave you the right to call me 'Mom'?!"

Edward was momentarily taken aback by the sheer hostility in her voice. The words he had been about to say died in his throat.

Hailey's cold eyes bore into him. "I already know about the divorce. Didn't I tell you three years ago that you weren't good enough for Winona? Looks like I was right."

She crossed her arms, her tone sharp and unrelenting. "Do you even realize who Winona is? A country bumpkin like you could never deserve someone like her. You were never good enough, and you never will be.

"She must've been blind—no, worse than blind—to ever marry a piece of trash like you."

Hailey's words got harsher the more she spoke. Edward's expression darkened as he listened, and his gaze turned icy.

For a second, he had thought maybe Hailey had changed.

But he had been wrong.

She was still the same sharp-tongued, petty woman he remembered. Not an ounce of her had changed.

For three years, Edward had worked tirelessly for this family, doing everything he could to support them. Even though Hailey had never liked him, he had still treated her with respect, never once neglecting his duties as a son-in-law.

Yet, despite everything he had done, it had never been enough to change her opinion of him.

Edward's voice was cold. "Hailey, don't you think you're going too far? You know exactly how I've treated you these past three years. Have I ever disrespected you?

"Now that Winona and I are divorced, do you really need to be here just to throw insults at me?"

Hailey crossed her arms, her posture dripping with arrogance.

"You think I wanted to come here? Just looking at you makes me sick. The only reason I'm here is to make sure you don't sneak off with anything that doesn't belong to you."

Hailey sneered. "Luckily, I showed up on time. Who knows how much stuff you would've stolen by now?"

Hailey and William had only shown up because they'd heard that after Winona and Edward's divorce, Edward was left alone to pack up his things. When Hailey got the news, she immediately lost her composure. She called William and rushed over, afraid that Edward might take something that wasn't his.

Edward's eyes turned colder with anger.

"Heh... what do you take me for?" He scoffed. "Even if you offered me everything the Spencer family owns, I wouldn't want it."

His gaze shifted to William. "Give me my suitcase back. It's all my stuff, and there's nothing belonging to your family in it."

William sneered. "We won't know if there's anything belonging to my family unless we check. Just because you say so doesn't make it true."

As William moved to open the suitcase, Edward's anger flared. His eyes were burning with fury as he reached out to grab the suitcase from William's hands.

"William, don't push your luck. Everything in that suitcase is mine," Edward snapped.

Hailey stepped forward, blocking him with an arrogant expression. "If it's really all your stuff, why are you so afraid of us checking? What, do you still dare to say you didn't steal anything from our family?"

Edward was amused by Hailey's words. He coldly said, "Everything inside the suitcase is my personal belongings. Why should I let you check them?"

Hailey tilted her chin up smugly. "If you're refusing to let us check, that means you have something to hide. So, you must've stolen something from us."

The comment stoked the fire inside Edward. His fists clenched, the tension radiating from his body.

At this point, William had already opened the suitcase and started rummaging through it. After a thorough search, he found nothing of value, just some of Edward's clothes.

"Mom, there's nothing in here but clothes," William said.

He kicked the suitcase hard, sending Edward's clothes spilling onto the floor.

Edward's cold stare intensified as he watched the clothes fall. His temples throbbed with suppressed anger.

He was trying so hard to hold back, but the sight of these two pushing him was testing his limits. If it weren't for the fact that they were still Kayla's family, he would've already snapped.

Even if he wasn't concerned about Winona, he still had some respect for Kayla.

During the three years of their marriage, Kayla was the only one in the Spencer family who had treated him decently.

When Hailey heard William mention that there was nothing valuable in the suitcase, her eyes turned to Edward, quickly locking onto the bulging pockets of his pants.

"What's in your pockets?" Hailey demanded, her eyes narrowing. "Take it out. Let me see if you've been hiding something in there."

Edward didn't expect that after forcing their way into his suitcase, they would now want to search him.

Did they really think he was that easy to push around?

"Enough!" Edward shouted, his voice booming. The force of his anger stunned Hailey and William into silence.

He turned his cold gaze toward Hailey, his voice steely. "You'd better stop while you're ahead, or you won't like the consequences!"

Hailey was momentarily shocked. Her eyes widened with disbelief as she stared at Edward. She hadn't expected the mild-mannered man who had always spoken softly to her to suddenly yell at her like this.

The commotion soon drew a crowd of onlookers, curious about the scene unfolding.

Though they lived in a prestigious neighborhood in Havaria, where only the wealthy or influential could afford to live, the residents were still filled with a deep-seated curiosity.

"Hey, isn't that the Spencer family's son-in-law? What's going on?"

"I heard they're divorced now. His mother-in-law came to check him over, worried he would steal valuables when he's leaving."

"No way! How could a mother-in-law do something like that? That's unbelievable."

The crowd began gossiping, casting disapproving looks at Hailey for her actions. They all thought she had taken things too far.

However, Hailey couldn't care less. Her gaze remained sharp as she stared down Edward.

"Edward, there are people watching. If you don't want to make a scene, you'd better hand over whatever's in your pockets for us to check."

At that, William stepped up beside Edward and reached for his pockets.

"Mom, why bother arguing with this guy? If he doesn't want to cooperate, we'll just search him ourselves."

Within moments, William pulled out everything from Edward's pockets. Besides a phone, there was also a key.

It was the car key that Steven had just given him.

Hailey's eyes lit up as soon as she saw the key. A smug, triumphant smile spread across her face as she shouted at Edward. "Edward, looks like you've been caught red-handed! You were planning to sneak off with our car when we weren't paying attention, weren't you?

"Even if it's just a Volkswagen, it could still sell for a few thousand. Don't even think about taking it!"

Years ago, Winona used to drive a Volkswagen. But as Spencer Group grew more successful, she bought an Audi, and the old Volkswagen ended up being used by Edward for grocery runs.

When Hailey saw William pull the car key from Edward's pocket, she immediately assumed it was the key to that old Volkswagen.

William also wore a triumphant look as he held the key in his hand, but when he glanced down at it, he froze.

The key wasn't for the Volkswagen.

Edward's voice turned icy. "Who told you this key was for your old, beaten-up Volkswagen?

"Even if you gave me that old Volkswagen for free, I wouldn't want it. If you're so attached to it, you can keep it as your family heirloom."

Hailey's expression froze at Edward's words.

She couldn't believe it. When she heard him say it wasn't the Volkswagen key, doubt flashed in her eyes. She quickly moved closer to William, snatching the key from his hand.

"This... this is the Volkswagen logo, isn't it?"

For a moment, Hailey was stunned. The logo looked somewhat unfamiliar but also strangely familiar. Then, as she rotated the key 180 degrees in her hand, a sense of recognition hit her.

The Maybach logo is made up of two crossed M's, while the Volkswagen logo features the letters VW.

At a quick glance, the Maybach logo could almost resemble the Volkswagen one, if one wasn't paying attention.

Edward shot Hailey a look of pure disdain, his voice cold. "Maybe you should open your eyes and take a good look. That is the Maybach logo, not Volkswagen."

Hailey was taken aback by his words, her face a picture of disbelief. "Isn't this the Volkswagen logo?"

Her eyes flickered back to the key in her hand. After Edward's reminder, she squinted at it, now realizing the logo looked slightly different from the Volkswagen one.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, William spoke quietly. "Mom, this really is the Maybach logo."

William had always been into luxury cars, so he recognized it immediately. However, the shock hit him hard. He couldn't understand why Edward would have a Maybach key.

After all, the basic models of Maybach cars cost millions, and the higher-end series could even go into the tens of millions.

The Spencer family had never owned a Maybach, so where did Edward get this key from?

When Hailey heard William's words, she felt her face burn with embarrassment, her eyes filling with a mix of awkwardness and shame.