Chapter 48
Chapter 48
Ever since the charity auction, Evadne had been holed up in her room, feeling pretty bummed out.
By the next evening, Cas sius and Arnold had swung by the vi to check up on her. Even though
Evadne chose toe downstairs to see them, she looked totally wiped out. “Evadne, Suri filled me in
on what went down at the auction.” Cas sius looked at his sister’s bandaged hand and couldn’t help but
feel a twinge of pain. “How’s your wound? Did Jason change your dressings? Still hurting? Any
infection?”
“I can handle it myself; he’s got enough on his te already; I don’t want to add to his troubles.”
Evadne murmured, feeling pretty down in the dumps.
*Jason is bing more and more unreliable! If we hadn’t bumped into Suri on our way home that
day, we wouldn’t have even known you were bullied by the Abernathy’s at the auction.” Arnold said
angrily, “I’m going to sue the Abernathys tomorrow, bro. Get our legal team on it. Let’s hit them with
defamation! They need to be taught a lesson!”
“Forget it; it’s not worth it.” Evadne said, her voice barely above a whisper, seemingly devoid of energy.
She knew that if this blew up, it would reach their dad’s ears. Even though he couldn’t interfere with her
affairs directly, she didn’t want him worrying over her.
That being said, she wasn’t about to let the Abernathys off the h ook.
Evadne looked at the wound on her hand, thought of the diamond bracelet she had been trying to fix
for two days straight, and felt a surge of anger.
“Your brothers heard you were hurt, and they’re worried sick. They’re all rushing back now.” Cas sius
hugged his sister, trying tofort her.
“It’s just a small scratch! How can they abandon their work for such a trivial matter?” Evadne said
anxiously.
She quickly whipped out her phone, ready to call her brothers.
“If anyonees back now, I won’t talk to them for a year!”
“You might not be able to stop Elvis Waverley, for he should be,” Arnold pointed to the sky, “on a ne
right now.”
Evadne just shook her head helplessly. Her brother, always trying to outdo her with his surprise visits,
“Let him be; I’ve done my duty as a sister!”
After saying this, Evadne immediately said to Cas sius, “Bro, take me back to Skyrimter; I want to
visit the Starry Vi.”
Ever since Mari stood up for na, all the women of the Abernathy and Stirling families had been
giving her the cold shoulder.
Life at home had already been tough, and now that she was being bullied outright, it was utterly
miserable.
“You wretch! Did na bribe you? Are you the spy she sent to sabotage us?”
After having a bit too much to drink, Glynnis went nuts, barging into Mari’s bedroom and yelling at
her, “You seem so kind, but you’re really a sneaky snake! I used to think you were an innocent fool. I
can’t believe you were just ying dumb, waiting for a chance to stir up trouble; you’ve be so cun
ning!”
“I’m not cun ning! I didn’t lie and na didn’t bribe me. I was telling the truth!”
Mari was frightened, clutching her favorite teddy bear. “You guys bully my sister-inw. I can’t stand
to see her being bullied!”
Glynnis grabbed Mari’s hair and yanked hard.
“Ouch, it hurts!”
“Who let you perm your hair again?! Did you forget what I told you? I said you’re not allowed to perm
your hair without my permission!” Glynnis was fuming, yanking Mari’s
hair.
The truth was, she wouldn’t be this angry just because of na. After all, it was Acacia who was
wronged so it had nothing to do with her.
The reason she was so mad was because Jareth, the guy she had always had a crush on, had actually
approached Mari of his own ord and he had even patted her on the Content provided by N?velDrama.Org.
head with a smile.
Seeing all this, Glynnis was green with envy. She wished she could sh ave Mari’s head bald!
“I know what you’re up to! You’re not really trying to help na, are you? You just want to y the good
guy to get Jareth’s attention, don’t you?”
Mari was in tears, at a loss for words.
“You just want to go against us; we despise na, so you want to help her, just to stand out, to show
your sense of justice?”
Glynnis’s face, usually so sweet and cute, was now contorted with anger. “Stop ying the innocent in
front of me! You’re not fooling anyone; you think Jareth would fall for a dummy like you. Don’t tter
yourself!”
“What are you doing?” Alva rushed in, quickly pulling Mari into her arms.
This kind of thing had happened so many times in the Abernathy family that none of the other ser vants
dared to intervene.
But Alva was Thaddeus’s girl, a veteran ser vant of the Abernathy family known for her kindness, so
she was the only one who dared to stand up for Mari.
“Alva, get out of here! This has nothing to do with you!” Glynnis said to Alva.
“I think the one who should leave is you!”
As Alva was soothing trembling Mari, she shot a stern look at Glynnis and said, “If you scoot out of
this room right now, I’ll pretend I saw nothing. Otherwise, when Mr. Frederices back, I’ll spill the
beans about how you’ve been bullying Mari.”
Glynnis was unsettled and frustrated.
If Thaddeus got wind of her true colors at home, he’d definitely spill it to Jareth; they’re tight as thieves.
If Thaddeus got involved, her pursuit of Jareth would be a tough row to h oe.
Considering this, Glynnis had to back off for now.
But she was seriously cheesed off, and on her way out, she sna tched the teddy bear from Mari’s
arms and chucked it out of the window.
“My bear!”
“Such a raggedy thing, a real pain in the neck!”
Mari didn’t even have time to put on her shoes; she dashed out barefoot.
Thaddeus had just returned to Windermere Estate and was taken aback by her panicked look,
“Mari, what happened?” Thaddeus stepped forward to stop her, frowning.
Although he loathed Elspeth and didn’t fancy Glynnis, he had a soft spot for her, especially after she
bravely testified for na the other day, he saw her in a new light. “My bear. I lost my bear.” Mari was
extremely anxious and she couldn’t help but burst into tears.
“Don’t worry, I’ll help you find it.”
Thaddeus led Mari to the backyard.
Finally, in a muddy flowerbed, they found the lonely teddy bear lying there.
Thaddeus was a neat freak; his custom-made leather shoes were always spotless. But he walked into
the flowerbed without a care for the mud and personally picked up the toy for Mari.
The bear was so dirty it was hard to look at, but Mari didn’t mind at all. She held it tightly as if it were
a treasure, sobbing with tears streaming down her face. Thaddeus wasn’t a soft-hearted man, but
seeing her cry so sadly, he felt a pang in his heart.
“If it’s dirty, just toss it. I’ll buy you a new one tomorrow.”
“No, I only want this one. This was a gift from na. It’s my favorite toy!”
Thaddeus was surprised; he didn’t expect her to care so much about na.
Mari remembered na’s kindness, the hard days without her, the neglect from her father, the
indifference of her mother, and the bullying from her sister.
“Brother!”
Mari suddenly threw herself into Thaddeus’s arms, crying out, “Can sister-inwe back? I miss
her so much. Can you guys not break up?”
Thaddeus’s lips were slightly parted, his throat blocked by an indescribable emotion.
He ruffled her hair with his big hand but couldn’t utter a word, fearing he would hurt her.
Just then, his phone rang.
It was a call from his grandfather, making his emotions even moreplicated.
“Grandpa.”
“Why can’t I reach na again?”
Hamilton was bing more and more anxious and he sounded like he was about to cry on the other
end of the line: “What’s wrong with na? I can’t reach her recently! She hasn’t visited me either! Did
na decide to ignore me? You ba stard! If it’s because of you that na ignores me, I won’t recognize
you as my grandson anymore!”
“Grandpa, na would never ignore you; don’t overthink.” Thaddeus ma**aged his forehead, his
handsome face filled with worry.
“Go find na for me! I want to see her! Hurry! Go find her!”