Rory Linden’s hand tightened around her phone. She hesitated for a mont before speaking. "Auntie Rhodes, I’ve always known I have many shortcomings. After eting Miss Willow, especially, I realized the gap between myself and a truly well-bred lady. But I can change..."
"You don’t need to tell all this. And I’m not going to make you and my son break up imdiately. I’ll give you one year. When you break up, I will give you a sum of money that will ensure you’re financially secure for the rest of your life."
Charlotte Rhodes’s voice was devoid of warmth, cold as ice.
Just like her feelings for Rory.
"I don’t want your money." Rory stated her position clearly. "You should be well aware that I have no parents and no connections. In this relationship, I may have only had the right to decide if it started. As for the right to continue or end it, that has never been in my hands."
"Auntie Rhodes, I’m just an ordinary person. If your son wanted to break up with , I wouldn’t even be able to see him, let alone refuse his decision."
Rory laid out her circumstances, word by word.
She had realized this back when she was just Miles Harrison’s tagalong.
Although they attended the sa school and went to the sa classes every day, the campus was under tight security. Students were chauffeured in and out of the gates.
If she hadn’t ended up living with the Harrington family because of what happened to her mother, she might never have even t a person like Miles Harrison in her entire life.
Let alone Sean Harrison.
A long silence stretched over the phone line.
Finally, Charlotte Rhodes spoke. "Rory Linden, you’re a smart girl. It is absolutely impossible for to let you be my daughter-in-law. Accepting my proposal is in your best interest. It allows us both to maintain a shred of dignity."
"Auntie Rhodes, why don’t you tell what kind of daughter-in-law you’re looking for? Maybe, and I’m just saying maybe, one day..."
"Impossible."
Charlotte Rhodes’s refusal was blunt.
Her tone left no room for negotiation.
"Auntie..."
"Rory Linden, I despise you. I despise your face, and I loathe every drop of blood that flows in your veins."
Charlotte Rhodes spoke very slowly, her voice chillingly cold.
It was as if the person on the other end of the line was not a junior, but a sworn enemy.
Rory froze.
’She’s barely even t Charlotte Rhodes. As far as she could rember, she’d never done anything to make the woman hate her so much...’
’Could there be so misunderstanding?’
The thought had just popped into Rory’s head when Charlotte continued.
"I can answer your earlier question. I don’t have any specific standards for a daughter-in-law. But I will absolutely not allow the daughter of a woman who seduced a married man to beco my daughter-in-law."
Charlotte Rhodes practically seethed as she spoke.
Rory, however, didn’t imdiately understand. "What are you talking about?"
Charlotte Rhodes explained, word by word, "Before your mother passed away, she was having an affair with my husband."
"Impossible! You’re lying!"
"It’s not a lie. One of the maids in the house told herself. And my husband admitted it."
Charlotte Rhodes stated coldly, "Your mother was just a mistress."
Rory wanted to argue, to say sothing in her mother’s defense.
But she found that every word felt powerless.
She was only five years old when her mother passed away.
Rory’s knuckles turned white as she gripped her phone.
A long mont passed before she spoke again. "Ms. Rhodes, I can agree not to be your daughter-in-law. But I will prove my mother’s innocence. And when I do, I hope you will personally go to my mother’s grave and apologize for what you’ve said."
"The result will only disappoint you."
Charlotte Rhodes hung up the phone.
Rory sat alone in the office, filled with anger and indignation.
’My mother would never do sothing like that!’
’But... how am I supposed to investigate sothing that happened over twenty years ago?’
’Who do I even ask?’
After thinking it over and over, Rory concluded that Evelyn Irving was her only way forward.
She imdiately dialed Evelyn’s number and asked her to have dinner that evening.
Evelyn had recently been mulling over the idea of having Rory as a daughter-in-law, so when Rory invited her out, she naturally accepted with pleasure.
After setting the ti with Evelyn, Rory sent a ssage to Sean Harrison.
The man called her back almost instantly.
"Why the sudden dinner with my aunt? Don’t you need to go with you?"
"No, it’s fine. I... I have a private matter to ask Auntie Irving."
"A private matter?"
Rory was a terrible liar.
Knowing she couldn’t invent a reasonable excuse, she decided to be direct. "Sean Harrison, I do need to investigate sothing that I can’t tell you about right now. I’m not trying to hide it from you on purpose, it’s just... I really don’t know how to bring it up. If I can figure it out, I’ll tell you then."
This matter concerned Sean Harrison’s parents.
It was just as Charlotte Rhodes had said.
She didn’t have a mother; she couldn’t bear to watch Sean have a falling out with his own.
Hiding it from him for now was probably the best choice.
Sean offered a serious suggestion, "I think your investigation would go faster and more smoothly with my help."
"I’m sorry, but no..." Rory bit her lip. "This is sothing I want to do on my own."
From a certain perspective, it was sothing she *had* to do on her own.
After a brief silence on the other end of the line, the man spoke.
"All right. If you need help with anything at all, tell anyti."
"I will."
But Rory knew the truth.
In the matter she was investigating, if any of the three people involved was a villain, it would affect the relationship between the two of them.
She trusted that her mother had never done such a thing.
But she was afraid to ask Sean for help. If the culprit turned out to be one of his parents, would he cover for them?
-
That evening, when Rory rushed to the designated restaurant after work, Evelyn Irving had already arrived.
"Rory, dear, what’s so important that you had to invite out alone?" Evelyn produced a small bag. "I was just shopping nearby and saw a little necklace that would suit you, so I picked it up."
"Auntie Irving, you don’t have to. We doctors aren’t allowed to wear jewelry at work."
Rory hurriedly pushed the bag back.
"Oh, but you’ll have chances to wear it. You’re so young, you should dress up more often."
Evelyn had no intention of taking it back.
Rory thought for a mont and decided to state her position first. "Auntie Irving, please give the receipt later. I’ll return it for you, and then I’ll transfer the money to you."
So much had happened recently.
Including Miles’s accident a while back, which had made Evelyn suspicious of her.
A crack had already ford in their relationship.
Moreover, with the whole Lucy Shaw incident, if she wasn’t firm in her attitude, Evelyn would definitely think there was still hope for her and Miles.
"Oh, Rory, you’re being too formal with ." Evelyn finally took the gift back. "So, what did you want to see about?"
Rory passed the nu to Evelyn before speaking. "I just wanted to ask you about so things related to my mother. Also, I rember when I first ca to the Harrington family, there were six or seven maids, a gardener, and a butler. I was wondering if you might have contact information for any of them. I’d like to ask them about my mother."
Rory’s mother had worked as a live-in maid for the Harrington family for several years.
Rory herself had lived with her grandmother as a child. Only after her grandmother passed away when she was four did she move to the Harrington estate with her mother.
She had known the staff there.
But not long after her mother’s accident, Old Mr. Harrison passed away, and Charlotte Rhodes returned from abroad.
That entire group of staff was gradually replaced.
There were likely only two people who might still have their contact information: the wife of a deceased Harrison uncle, and Evelyn Irving.
"Oh my, how would I rember that?" Evelyn waved her hand dismissively. "Why are you suddenly asking about the past?"
"I just... wanted to ask."
Rory couldn’t possibly tell her the real reason.
Evelyn held the nu, her gaze turning investigative as she looked at her. "It’s not because you think you look like Nadia Willow, and you’re looking for evidence to see if your mother had so connection to the Willow family, is it?"
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