Chapter 417: Chapter 417: Confronting Mrs. York
Mrs. York glared at her. "So what!"
"Nothing really... It’s just that since Mrs. York likes to use power to oppress others, you should be prepared to be oppressed by power yourself, right? Since Mrs. York is a member of the York Family, then it’s only right that the York Group bears the consequences...
"Oh right, I’m not talking about Stella York’s York Group, but your York Family’s York Group. I wonder what Chairman York will think when he finds out?"
Estelle Lockwood finished speaking nonchalantly, and Penelope Sullivan nodded in agreement.
"Whether we blow this out of proportion or not, you are in the wrong," Penelope said. "Snatching my mother’s wedding anniversary ring—does that make you look good? Does it make Chairman York look good? But since Mrs. York doesn’t mind, we don’t mind making a big scene out of this either."
Mrs. York choked on her words before roaring in anger. "Who says I only have the York Family backing me?! Do you know who my backer is?! It’s Nathaniel! Nathaniel Sloan! I already told you, Nathaniel is accompanying my daughter to buy jewelry..."
"Mom!" Just then, a woman’s voice rang out from the second floor.
Thea York hurried downstairs. Having heard what happened from above, her expression instantly turned ugly. Didn’t her mother look at where they were!
She had thought it through: to smoothly secure her position, apart from Nathaniel’s favor, she needed a perfectly justifiable reason. Otherwise, even if she succeeded, she would end up just like her mother—wherever she went, people would call her a mistress! Even buying a ring would subject her to endless nitpicking and disdain!
She had to step into the role cleanly and become Mrs. Sloan without anyone being able to utter a single word of gossip. In that case, she couldn’t afford to have a public conflict with Estelle. Or rather, even if there was a conflict, Estelle had to be the one at fault. As for herself, all she had to do was display Nathaniel’s affection for her. She could provoke Estelle into striking first, turning herself into the victim, instead of causing a scene like her mother and handing Estelle leverage on a silver platter!
With this in mind, Thea pulled Mrs. York aside. "Mom, what are you doing? This is Mrs. Sullivan’s ring. You must be mistaken. The one I custom-ordered for you hasn’t arrived yet!"
After saying that, she looked helplessly at Estelle. "Estelle, my mom... She mistakenly thought this was the ring I got for her. She thought you were making up another lie to deceive her, which is why she didn’t believe you."
Estelle raised an eyebrow. That was an interesting way to put it.
Mrs. York had snatched the ring and was clearly the unreasonable party. Yet, by adding the phrase "making up another lie to deceive her" after her apology, Thea instantly transformed Mrs. York from an unreasonable troublemaker into a traumatized victim. Because she had allegedly been deceived by Estelle many times before, Mrs. York didn’t believe Estelle was telling the truth. Much like the story of the boy who cried wolf, Mrs. York only made a fool of herself because she couldn’t trust Estelle.
In the end, she made it seem like it was still Estelle’s fault.
Estelle narrowed her eyes, acknowledging the woman’s silver tongue. "Then I must trouble Miss York to specify exactly when I deceived or played tricks on Mrs. York?"
Thea’s expression stiffened. There was no deception or trickery; she had just made it up on the spot. Why was Estelle making a mountain out of a molehill!
"If Miss York won’t say it, then shall I?" Estelle asked, her tone filled with confusion. "Could the deception Mrs. York speaks of... refer to the time she forcibly took my eldest son home, using both threats and bribes, telling him he would eventually be abandoned by Nathaniel Sloan? Afterward, in order to take Christian away, I did say the matter would end there, but I still ended up telling Nathaniel about it later?
"But Christian is also Nathaniel’s child, and the day he came home, he broke out in a high fever..."
The surrounding crowd fell silent.
Could that even be called deception? Mrs. York had bullied someone else’s child. For the sake of her child’s safety, the mother might have verbally agreed to something, but of course she would explain the situation to the child’s father once they got home! Besides, everyone knew little Christian was sweet-tempered and well-behaved. If he was scared into a fever and Estelle still helped the perpetrator cover it up, wouldn’t she be out of her mind?
Thea choked on her words. "No..."
"Or perhaps," Estelle continued, "it was when Mrs. York, relying on her status as an elder, tried to teach Zachery a lesson. When Zachery refused to take a beating and resisted a little, Mrs. York pretended he had beaten her so badly she needed to be hospitalized?
"Miss York, I haven’t even sued Mrs. York for staging that scam yet... How does this count as me deceiving her?"
The crowd’s expressions grew even more contemptuous as they looked at Mrs. York. A perfectly respectable elder going out of her way to bully children young enough to be her grandsons—and these children just happened to be Estelle and Nathaniel’s. It wasn’t hard to figure out what her intentions were.
Mrs. York nearly coughed up blood in sheer fury.
Thea suddenly realized she couldn’t let Estelle keep talking. Every single incident Estelle brought up seemed directed at Mrs. York, but in reality, they were all targeting her! Thea felt she understood everything now. Estelle knew she was despised by Nathaniel and headed for a divorce, but she couldn’t bear to see Thea take her place so smoothly. She just had to stir up negative public opinion against her.
Thea’s eyes darted around, swiftly putting an end to the conversation. "Mom, so that’s the truth. I didn’t even know. I really thought Estelle had been playing tricks on you before...
"Estelle, I’m sorry. I was deceived by my mother too."
She turned back to Mrs. York. "Mom, whether it’s about today or what happened in the past, you were in the wrong. Apologize to Estelle."
Thea putting on this act prompted some to praise her good temper and kind heart, while others muttered that Mrs. York only knew how to cause trouble for her daughter. Understanding her daughter’s intention, Mrs. York clenched her jaw so hard it hurt and forced out the words, "I’m sorry."
Estelle watched Thea with keen interest, thinking it was rather amusing. When push came to shove, this Miss York was someone who would even sacrifice her own parents. If her parents lost their value as sacrificial pawns, who would she sacrifice next?
Mrs. York returned the ring, and Penelope immediately had someone take it to be disinfected. This scene nearly made Mrs. York faint from anger, and she left in a hurry.
Only after Mrs. York’s departure did Thea put on an apologetic face. "I’m really sorry, Estelle. I didn’t expect my mom to be so extreme. She just... sigh, she just feels sorry for me.
"Perhaps she’s always felt that you stole my place as Mrs. Sloan, and those three children too... Now that she sees Nathaniel and the Sloan Family trying every means to compensate me, while you remain indifferent, her emotions got a little out of hand..."
Penelope frowned. Great, she couldn’t understand a word of this nonsense again. How many times did it need to be said that the marriage between Estelle and Nathaniel was arranged by the Sloan Family?
What kind of bullshit was Thea spouting? Her words implied that she was Nathaniel’s original fiancée, but Estelle had used underhanded tactics—likely having children out of wedlock—to steal the position of Mrs. Sloan. That was supposed to be the reason why Mrs. York looked down on Estelle’s kids.
But a lie like this could be easily punctured the moment the Sloan Family provided any evidence. What exactly was Thea trying to do?