The first one to flip out was Michael Garcia.
He was attending a banquet when he received the news.
The person next to him brought his cell phone over, nudged Michael, and asked, "Old Garcia... Is, is that your wife written about here?"
Michael Garcia was startled, he took a closer look, and felt like he’d been smacked in the face.
"How... How is this possible! Definitely not my wife!" He forced himself to remain calm as he vehently denied it.
But soon, other people noticed the news and began whispering to each other while checking their phones.
"Old Garcia... It’s clearly your wife, man. You better ask her quick, or you might not even know you’re being cuckolded."
Laughter erupted from the group, and one by one, they stopped drinking and took out their phones to check out the gossip.
Michael Garcia couldn’t stay seated any longer and imdiately got up to leave in a hurry.
When he made a call, the line was busy, so he had no choice but to call his stepdaughter.
But no one answered.
Just as his pace quickened and he was so anxious he felt like chopping soone, his phone rang.
Upon seeing the caller ID, he exploded!
"Fiona Marshall! You fucking cheated on ? You tired of living?!"
From the other end, Fiona Marshall urgently defended herself, "Old Garcia, don’t believe the nonsense online; it’s all fake, a misunderstanding! I went to that doctor because of Lily’s surgery. If you don’t believe , you can go ask!"
"You think I’m blind? Do you need to undress to ask about surgery? They’re not operating on you!"
Michael Garcia was uncontrollably enraged.
Fiona Marshall tried to explain further, but he dropped the line with a curt "We’ll settle this at ho," and hung up, furious.
Inside a private property, Fiona Marshall held her phone, repeatedly calling "Old Garcia, Old Garcia," but failed to stop her husband.
On the bed, with her right leg in a cast, Lily Garcia was frantic with worry.
"Mom, what do we do now? Will Michael Garcia divorce you?"
Fiona Marshall had no confidence whatsoever, but still put on a brave front, "He wouldn’t dare! The company is already not doing well. If we divorced now, and with asset splitting, the Garcia Family would go bankrupt!"
"But the internet is buzzing about it; how could he possibly swallow his pride?"
"And whose fault is that?" Fiona flared up, turning to shout at her daughter, "If it weren’t for your stupidity, clinging onto Christopher Hart, would we have ended up here? He previously offered you five hundred million! Five hundred million! Is your brain filled with shit? Rejecting five hundred million to destroy your mother’s reputation!"
Lily Garcia was scolded and felt wronged, muttering softly, "Your affair is your own doing, what’s it got to do with ? Michael Garcia has been good to you, yet you betray him..."
"What?" Fiona Marshall was infuriated and with a heavy hand, pressed down on her daughter’s head, "You bla ? Of all people in the world, you have no right! If not for you, would I have been blackmailed by that beast? Would soone have sothing on ?"
"But these were all your ideas, you told to switch places with soone else and pretend to be the kidney donor! You said by doing this, the Hart Family would be indebted to , and I could marry into a wealthy family and beco the lady of the house, living a life of glory!"
Lily Garcia did not back down, and mother and daughter started a shouting match.
"You ungrateful bitch! I should have left you behind when I divorced! I should have let you stay with your good-for-nothing father! Haven’t you burdened enough?"
"Yes! I’m your burden, why did you give birth to ! You shouldn’t have had !"
"Shut your mouth!"
"You started swearing at first! Why do you bla for your mistakes? Clearly, you’re a slut who can’t stand loneliness and jumps into bed with any man—"
"Slap!"
Lily Garcia had not even finished her tirade when Fiona Marshall, mustering all her strength, fiercely slapped her across the face.
And the slap wasn’t the end of it; she suddenly snapped, grabbing the pillow from under her daughter’s neck and covering her entire face with it.
Lily Garcia’s right leg was heavy in its cast, as if welded to the bed, rendering her unable to move.
With her breathing obstructed, the instinct to survive made her hands slap and pull frantically, as mother and daughter fought each other with all their might...
————
While Alia Garcia and Hope were having dinner, the sound of a car approached the yard.
Aunt Harper noticed the master returning and was a bit surprised, promptly adding another set of cutlery.
Christopher Hart sat down, remained silent, and quietly started eating.
Alia Garcia also pretended not to see him.
Hope’s eyes darted about, and then she suddenly asked, "Daddy, do you still like Mommy?"
Both adults were stunned at the sa ti, then felt so embarrassed they wished they could dive into the ground.
"Hope, ti to eat," Alia Garcia reminded in a low voice.
The little girl imdiately turned her head and asked, "Mommy, do you still like Daddy?"
Without hesitation, she said, "I do not."
"Oh..." Hope acknowledged.
The man’s movents to pick up his food seed normal, but his fingers noticeably trembled.
"Hope, eat your food, no talking," it was the man’s turn to remind her.
"Daddy, you’re handso and rich, but Mommy still doesn’t like you, why is that?"
"..." Alia Garcia let out a clear cough, "Sweetie, if you’re full, go play."
Christopher Hart listened to his daughter’s heart-stabbing question and couldn’t keep his composure.
But a man has his pride.
After a quiet mont, he asserted confidently, "Daddy is handso and rich, anyone normal would like that, so the problem is not with Daddy."
Alia Garcia froze.
What does that an?
The problem is with her?
"Sweetie, Mommy wants to teach you sothing, rember it."
"Mhm."
"If you like soone just because they’re handso and rich, that kind of love is too shallow, too vain. Liking soone should be about certain qualities that make your heart flutter, maybe it’s a good character, maybe it’s a good temper, or it could be that they make you a better person—understand?"
Hope stared with wide eyes, confused.
Clearly, this profound truth was too much for a four-year-old to comprehend.
But children may not understand, adults do.
Christopher Hart, looking at her, eventually couldn’t hold back and broke the silence, "I have a bad character? I have a bad temper?"
Alia Garcia ignored him.
She had sworn—not to speak a word to him.
"Have you beco mute?" the man demanded, angry.
"Sweetie, I’m done eating, how about you?" To prove she wasn’t mute, Alia Garcia put down her chopsticks and deliberately spoke to her daughter.
Hope said in her milky voice, "Mommy, Daddy’s talking to you."
"Shall we play with building blocks, or should Mommy tell you a story?"
Christopher Hart: "..."
He had realized.
This woman was throwing a temper tantrum! Expressing her protest by ignoring him!
Seeing her daughter finished with her al, Alia Garcia picked her up and left the dining room.
The vast dining table suddenly had only the Master left.
On the side, Aunt Harper silently lowered her gaze as if she saw nothing.
Christopher Hart watched the backs of the mother and daughter leaving, his fists tightly clenching the chopsticks to the point of nearly snapping them.
This woman...
Simply—
He felt like he wanted to bite her into pieces, drain her blood, and swallow her whole!
Just as the tension in the dining room was becoming suffocating, the sound of a car approached from the courtyard.
The next second, a voice as brash as a fishwife’s curse burst forth.
"Christopher Hart! Co out here!" Fiona Marshall barged in, the servants unable to stop her, "You despicable shaless man! Playing the field, a cheating scumbag, and now you dare to slander !"
Alia Garcia was startled, but quickly realized—it was likely related to the scandal that erupted online that afternoon.
But why was she looking for Christopher Hart unless it was his doing?
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