Chapter 819: Chapter 819: No Choice, I Just Like a Woman Like Her
After leaving Rose Valley, Catherine Ford planned to go to the bus station.
This side is a villa area, quite a distance from the bus station, and she was wearing high heels today. The walk already took a long ti when coming here, and now her heels were chafed, making her limp as she walked while a thin layer of sweat ford on her forehead. At that mont, a black Bentley stopped beside her.
“Get in.” The man’s low, cool voice was like a clear spring on snow, inexplicably compelling obedience.
Catherine Ford turned her head to see the stern face inside the car, and while she was about to refuse, the driver had already gotten out and opened the car door for her.
After saying thanks, Catherine Ford got into the car, sitting sowhat stiffly next to Benjamin Jones.
Because of the last lawsuit, she had been in contact with him several tis, yet sitting in such a compact space for the first ti, the brief spark of electricity from their earlier skin contact seed ready to burst into flas again.
She tried her best to calm her heartbeat, only to hear the man beside her ask indifferently, “Where to?”
Catherine Ford reported her destination subconsciously, and only after realizing it was odd did she say, “You can have the driver drop off at the bus stop sign, please.”
The man nodded, instructed the driver with a word, and looked down at his docunts.
Catherine Ford let out a slight sigh of relief, but soon tensed up again. The man’s presence next to her was too overwhelming, involuntarily affecting her. She tried to calm herself by thinking of other things, but she couldn’t help but drift back to thinking about the job Benjamin Jones had given her, and who to leave Alice with when she got busy – now that the villa district they were in was a bit far from both her current kindergarten and dance class. Plus, the neighborhood was sowhat far from the subway station; she would need to buy an electric bike.
She actually had wanted to buy one before, but always felt it was too expensive; maybe she should consider a second-hand one…
Catherine Ford was deeply in thought when her phone suddenly rang, startling her. It was Alice’s dance teacher, so she quickly picked up, “Miss Bess, are classes over? I’ll be there imdiately… What? Alice got into a fight, how is that possible? Alice is very well-behaved… Okay, okay, I’m on my way.”
After hanging up, her expression anxious, she noticed the bus stop sign, “Lawyer Jones, you can drop here, that’s fine.”
“The address.”
“What?” Catherine Ford was so anxious she didn’t understand at first.
“The school address.” Benjamin Jones repeated, his tone carrying so of his usual authority.
Catherine Ford realized what he ant, worried about Alice she couldn’t afford to be polite, and quickly cited the address of the dance training school.
Benjamin Jones instructed the driver.
The car sped up, Catherine Ford worried about her daughter, no longer feeling awkward, sitting upright in the car, eyes fixed out the window. Her Alice was always sensible; how could she possibly get into a fight with soone just like that? And usually, student fights wouldn’t involve the parents, there must be sothing wrong.
The more she thought about it, the more anxious she beca.
Upon reaching the destination, Catherine Ford thanked the driver and hopped out of the car, rushing anxiously towards the dance class.
Benjamin Jones watched the woman running in heels, frowning while the driver restarted the car. Just then, he noticed a wine-red ladies’ purse left on the seat Catherine had been sitting on. As he hesitated whether to return it, the phone inside the purse suddenly rang. He furrowed his brows, “Turn around.”
Out of breath, Catherine ran to the dance training class. Without seeing her daughter first, she was confronted with a face all too familiar. Her expression froze, her steps slowed, and then she heard a sound of disdainful snort.
Catherine’s heart skipped a beat but ignored Nancy Newman, who was fashionably dressed, and went straight into the classroom where she finally saw her daughter standing in the corner, shivering yet trying not to cry. Upon seeing her, the child’s eyes reddened, and she staggered towards Catherine, calling out softly, “Mommy, mommy…”
Running all the way and still catching her breath, Catherine scooped up her daughter, “Alice, be good, mommy is here.”
Nancy Newman watched coldly from the side, “Miss Bess, now that the other parent is here, let’s discuss what to do.”
Holding her daughter, Catherine heard Nancy’s words and glanced at the boy beside her with blood on his face, his nostrils stuffed with cotton to stop the bleeding, and wailing dramatically. She took a deep breath and looked indifferently at the dance teacher nearby, “Miss Bess, what happened?”
Before Miss Bess could speak, Nancy interjected, “Are you blind?”
Catherine gave Nancy a glance, “Miss Bess, may I check the surveillance footage?”
“Your daughter hit my son, and you still have the face to check the surveillance? Look at the state my son is in! She’s only three and already so ill-bred, truly a wild child, so venomous at such a young age!” Nancy looked disgustedly at Catherine and her daughter.
Protectively, Catherine buried her daughter’s head in her embrace, shielding her from Nancy’s words, “I don’t know how a three-year-old can be venomous, but for an adult to repeatedly use the term ‘wild child’, that really shows a low class.”
“Am I not stating the facts?” Nancy retorted with a cold sneer, not expecting Catherine to talk back.
Catherine was unaware of how Nancy could have enrolled her son in the sa dance class, but it was clear that Alice would no longer be comfortable staying. While her heart ached, her expression turned colder, “Miss Bess, I want to know the truth; Alice is so young, she wouldn’t hit soone without reason.”
“This…” Miss Bess was troubled. She knew the truth, but Nancy’s husband was a high school teacher next door, and her son was just starting high school; she would need his help. Weighing against Nancy’s aggressive stance, she could only grit her teeth, “Indeed, Alice was at fault.”
Nancy imdiately looked smugly at Catherine.
As Catherine’s face grew dark, Miss Bess already tried to be the diator, “Alice’s mom, indeed, Alice was in the wrong first. Could you apologize to Henry on Alice’s behalf?”
“Apologize? My son has been hit like this, what’s the use of just apologizing? I’m going to take him for a full check-up, and after the fright he’s been through, there needs to be compensation for emotional distress,” Nancy insisted relentlessly.
Just as Catherine was about to speak, a man wearing glasses, looking scholarly and handso, walked in. Catherine’s face changed again, while Nancy imdiately softened her stern deanor, hugging her son as she rushed to Kyle Carter’s arms, “Husband, I never expected to run into my cousin here, and she even had Alice hit Hal…”
Kyle Carter glanced at Catherine, and then at his son with blood on his face, crying breathlessly, his face darkened, “Catherine Ford, it was you who did sothing wrong to in the past, and now you have your daughter bullying my son, what does this an?”
Miss Bess found herself in a difficult position, standing between two families with unresolved grievances.
Catherine closed her eyes, never having imagined that a minor scrape between two kids could escalate to personal attacks and instigating children.
“Miss Bess, please bring out the surveillance footage. If my daughter Alice is at fault, I’ll imdiately apologize to the other child’s parents and cover their child’s dical expenses. If there are reasons behind it, I hope they will apologize to Alice and .” Catherine Ford didn’t want to get entangled with Kyle Carter and his wife at all. If she had known they were also sending their child here, she would have withdrawn Alice from school on the spot.
After hearing this, Kyle Carter looked at Catherine Ford incredulously. “I didn’t expect you to beco like this, trying to argue against clear facts. I didn’t believe it when Nancy told that your law partner almost got Foster Newman thrown in jail, but now I see it’s true.”
Catherine Ford laughed, “That’s right, nothing to lose, so don’t ss with .”
She once loved this man so deeply, and now she finds her past self utterly ridiculous.
This must be what throwing your youth to the dogs feels like.
“See, husband, I was right. She’s nothing but a shrew now, and she’s raising a little shrew too,” Nancy prodded from the sidelines.
“Nancy, I advise you can insult but leave my daughter out of it. Do it once more and I’ll tear your mouth apart,” Catherine Ford glared at Nancy viciously. She never understood what it ant to be fiercely protective as a mother until she went through too much. So what if she sounded like a shrew? For her Alice, she would go as far as to kill.
“You…” Nancy was so intimidated by Catherine Ford’s gaze, it was as if her throat had been seized, and she didn’t dare to speak again.
Upon seeing this, Kyle Carter put on a face full of sorrow and looked at Catherine Ford as if she were a charity case. “Catherine Ford, you’ve truly disappointed . However, for old tis’ sake, if you apologize to Nancy and cover Henry’s dical expenses, I won’t make a big deal out of this.”
Catherine Ford was infuriated by Kyle Carter’s patronizing attitude and ignored him, turning once again to Miss Bess, “Miss Bess, I refuse to believe that my Alice would hit soone for no reason. If we can’t see the surveillance footage, I will not apologize or offer any compensation.”
“Alice’s mom, you’re putting in a difficult position,” Miss Bess said with a sowhat forced smile.
“I knew it, she just wants to dodge the bill. Knowing you’re poor, but I didn’t expect you can’t even afford this little dical expense,” Nancy recovered her wits and looked at Catherine Ford with contempt, her gaze lingering on Catherine’s worn shoes, and shook her head tsk-tsking in pity, “I thought after you divorced my cousin you would show so capability, but it turns out that’s not much.”
Today, Catherine Ford was wearing her work uniform, which was rather old-fashioned, and her shoes were a basic pair she had found online — chic but not durable. They had scuffed in one place today, and since she had rushed over, her heels were bloody; sweat from exertion was also sticking to her face. She felt extrely embarrassed under Nancy’s aningful scrutiny.
Upon hearing Nancy’s words, Kyle Carter also sized Catherine Ford up.
Catherine Ford felt deeply mortified. Holding her daughter Alice, her hands trembled lightly, and she kept telling herself to hold on. The more this happened, the more she could not show weakness. After all, she had escaped from the claws of the devil Foster Newman; what was any other difficulty compared to that?
Nancy noticed Catherine Ford’s pretense of strength, and the smile on her lips broadened, “How about this? I’ll speak to my cousin, and we’ll still take you and Alice back…”
“You dare!” Catherine Ford’s body tensed up as she heard Nancy’s suggestion, and at the sa ti, she felt her daughter shuddering in her arms. She shouted angrily, warily eyeing Nancy.
Sowhat smug, Nancy retorted, “Why so fierce? I an well for you. Coming from your family background, my cousin didn’t despise you even though you were pregnant before marriage, and he still married you. What standing do you have to look down on him? Ungrateful. I’d like to see how you, dragging along a child, manage to get married off again!”
Catherine Ford had a natural fear of Foster Newman, blanching just hearing Nancy ntion him. To her astonishnt, Kyle Carter echoed the sentint, “Although Nancy’s words are unpleasant, they are the truth. Having missed out on Foster Newman, where else can you find a man willing to accept your past and your daughter now?”
“Mommy, Mommy… I’m scared…” Catherine Ford trembled all over, gritting her teeth, wishing she could spit blood in the faces of this despicable couple, but then she heard her daughter’s trembling voice.
Compared to her, Foster Newman is even more of a nightmare for Alice.
“Alice isn’t afraid, mommy’s here, mommy’s here.” After saying this, Catherine Ford looked up with eyes red, only to et the tall man who had been standing outside the door for who knows how long. If Catherine could still brace herself while Nancy Newman was scrutinizing her earlier, now that Benjamin Jones had suddenly appeared, Catherine suddenly felt that she had nowhere to hide in her embarrassnt.
When Nancy Newman and Kyle Carter saw Catherine Ford suddenly stop talking and stare blankly outside the door, they curiously followed her gaze and were startled to see the aloof and distinguished tall man.
The few female teachers who had been acting invisible in the dance class suddenly had their eyes light up, while Miss Bess quickly stepped forward, “May I ask who you are?”
Benjamin Jones directly ignored her and looked at Catherine Ford, “Isn’t it dealt with yet?”
Catherine Ford was taken aback by the question but subconsciously shook her head.
Seeing this, Benjamin turned to the crowd, “Who is in charge here?”
“I… I am,” Miss Bess hurriedly answered.
“Here is my business card. My assistant will contact you later to deal with this,” said Benjamin as he stepped forward decisively, “Alice must be hungry, let’s go.”
“Ah, oh.” After a mont of panic, Catherine realized the man was helping her, and her heartbeat uncontrollably quickened, her previous anxiety cleared, she obediently followed him.
Nancy Newman’s eyes were filled with fury as she incredulously watched Catherine Ford and the obviously aristocratic man by her side. She didn’t know who he was, but she recognized the watch on his wrist, worth millions.
How could Catherine Ford know such a man? And they seed so close…
What’s scarier is that after he spoke, everyone seed to take it for granted and didn’t stop them from leaving.
Watching Catherine Ford carrying Alice out of the dance studio, Kyle Carter finally reacted, “Catherine Ford, who is he?”
Catherine’s body stiffened; she simply couldn’t answer Kyle’s question, but Kyle scoffed, “Is he the adulterer? Is it his child you were carrying when you betrayed ?”
“Don’t talk nonsense!” Catherine panicked and turned around to refute, casting a frightened glance at Benjamin Jones.
“I’m talking nonsense? Ha, then why would such a wealthy man be with you, Catherine Ford? You sure are crafty,” Kyle sneered, looking jealously at Catherine.
Nancy Newman also ca to her senses, “Handso, you must not know about her. She divorced her ex-husband because she was unfaithful and almost sent him to jail. Dare you still want a woman like that?”
Catherine’s face flushed with a deep purple as she involuntarily tightened her grip on Alice, causing the little girl in her arms to whimper from discomfort. That’s when she ca to her senses and looked at the malicious pair with teary eyes, “You… you…”
Overco with anger and trembling, she was unable to complete a sentence. At that mont, the man in front turned back, pulled her behind him, and looked coldly at Nancy Newman and Kyle Carter, his tone resigned as he spoke, “I can’t help it, I just like her type of woman.”
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