Chapter 138
Hospital Waiting Room.
The wall-mounted TV in the room flicked on to the Havenwood News. Vivienne watched as Arabe''s
pitiful face appeared on the screen, surrounded by reporters.
Arabe was charged with defamation. A criminal case couldn''t be pursued until Dorian was out of
surgery, and making a false police report could be dismissed with a fine, especially for a first-time
offender.
Arabe had paid her fine and was released in less than a day.
Reporters were waiting for her as she stepped out of the police station.
On the news, Arabe, with tears streaming down her face, looked into the camera. “I framed my foster
father because he really did molest me when I was a child. I wanted revenge, so I did what I did.
I was so young and defenseless, but I remember everything he did to me. I have nightmares every
night... I can''t let him go unpunished!”
Cordelia sprang to her feet in a rage. “How dare she?!” She eximed to Vivienne. “After what she did
to Dorian, she still has the gall to nder him! Is she even human?”
Cordelia was shaking with anger. During the two days Dorian was in custody, she and Thaddeus had
been the target of gossip and even an attempted acid attack.
Dorian was just released, but he had to be rushed into surgery. It seemed like Arabe just refused to
let him be.
Vivienne squinted her eyes, staring at Arabe''s face on the screen. She felt that merely bankrupting
the Hawthorn family had been far too lenient.
"Cordelia, calm down." Percival tried to soothe her. "We won''t let Dorian bear this nder."
Belonging to N?velDrama.Org.
Cordelia had barely sat down when a reporter on TV asked Arabe, “Miss Arabe, if what you''re
saying is true, why didn''t you report it at the time?”
“It''s all my fault!”
Cordelia was shocked to see Beatrice appear on the screen. Her face was full of sorrow and shame as
she stood by Arabe and addressed the reporters. “I was the one who asked Arabe not to report it
for the sake of my third son''s future.
After that, I kept her close to me to protect her. I thought if I, an old woman, treated her well enough,
she could forget what happened. But I didn''t expect her to still harbor resentment and do such a
ridiculous thing now.”
Beatrice turned to the camera with a pleading look. “I hope everyone can forgive Arabe for what
she’s done. Please consider that she’s just a poor kid.”
After she finished, she and Arabe hugged each other, both looking utterly dejected.
Cordelia was livid after watching the news. She was speechless with rage. She couldn''t believe that
her own family could be so cruel.
Did Beatrice not realize that her lies could ruin Dorian, Thaddeus, and even their entire family?
The tide of public opinion was turning again, with many saying that if Dorian really was a pedophile who
molested Arabe when she was a child, then he deserved what was happening to him.
Cordelia was scrolling through the derogatoryments about Dorian on Twitter as tears began
streaming down her face.
Vivienne felt a burning rage when she saw her like this.
Arabe really loved pushing her luck.
Without any expression, Vivienne sent out the video Coral had given her earlier.
The video was taken in Coral''s study. Coral''s mother had installed a camera to monitor her daughter''s
studies. For many years, the stored videos were never deleted. When Coral heard that Dorian was in
trouble, she decide to find it.
In the video, Arabe was chatting with Coral in her study.
Coral asked Arabe, “Why do you live with your granny instead of your parents?”
Arabe, then only eleven or twelve and not adept at hiding her feelings, made a face of disgust.
“My dad and mom are so poor that even if they give me their best, it''s not as good as what Granny can
give me from her spare change. I want a better life, so of course, I have to suck up to Granny."
She lounged on Coral''s couch, swinging her leg, and confidently continued, "You see, Michael and
Joseph''s children wear designer clothes worth thousands of dors. But if I were with my parents, I
could only wear clothes worth a few hundred dors, which they could buy only by scrimping and
saving. I don’t know why they insisted on being so stubborn when they could have a better life by
sucking up to Granny."
Netizens were stunned by the video. Arabe was so young, but her values were already so skewed.
The video clearly showed that Arabe chose to live with Beatrice because she was materialistic, not
because Dorian molested her and Beatrice was keeping her close to protect her, as they imed.
Vivienne quickly tapped on her phone, sending out another video. It was from the day Dorian took her
and Cordelia to the Hawthorn Mansion to sever ties with Beatrice.
She had never removed the Hawthorn family''s surveince cameras.
Beatrice had tried to find the cameras but failed. She assumed they had been removed.
As the video wrapped up, Dorian turned to Arabe and said, "Arabe, tell me truthfully, didn''t my wife
and I go without food and clothing for two years so that you could have enough? Thaddeus is my own
son, and there were times when he went hungry, but didn''t I always make sure you never had to?"
The social mediamunity was left in utter disbelief. They startedmenting, "Did Dorian adopt a
daughter or a devil?"
The couple had scrimped and saved, even sacrificing their own son''s needs, just to make sure Arabe
was well fed and dressed. And what was their reward for all of this?
They got a daughter who chose wealth over kindness. A daughter who cosied up to Beatrice and left
her adopted parents in the dirt.
Their reward was an adopted daughter who, after eight years, repeatedly smeared their names and
even used Dorian of a serious crime, leading to him being severely injured. Even when Dorian was
still in surgery, she didn''t forget to tarnish their name to clear her own.
This kind of daughter was nothing short of a demon.
And what about Beatrice? This old crone.
Arabe being adopted was bad enough, but Beatrice was Dorian''s own mother! How could she help a
foster granddaughter ruin her own son?
They had cut ties, so she could no longer get benefits from Dorian. For this simple reason, she decided
to destroy him.
This kind of mother was even scarier than Arabe.
The live broadcast from Havenwood News was on the television screen. After Vivienne had released
the videos, the journalists at the scene had naturally seen the content.
Those who had initially sympathized with Arabe and Beatrice quickly changed their tune. The
seemingly pitiful girl and elderly woman in front of them now seemed like two demons in disguise.
Unaware of the tide turning against her, Arabe continued to address the cameras. "I truly apologize
for this wastage of police resources. But I have no regrets; I will never forgive that demon, Dorian! I…"
Just as the word "demon" left her lips, a rotten egg was sttered on her face.
Arabe was momentarily stunned. Before she could react, another egg hit her, followed by a voice
shouting, "You have the audacity to talk about forgiveness?! Why don''t you ask your adopted father if
he forgives his lying daughter?!"
Immediately after, a barrage of rotten eggs and spoiled vegetables rained down on Arabe and
Beatrice. Some even threw stones.