Free Web NovelChapter 166: Chapter 166: A Family of Good-for-nothings
Cecelia Archer walked in carrying Rocky. "Brother, Sister-in-law."
Things had gotten so ugly that she expected her sister-in-law, shrewish and aggressive, to let her have it.
But the moment she finished speaking, her sister-in-law let out a wail and burst into tears.
"Cecelia, you’re finally back! *Sob sob sob...* Your brother laid a hand on me today! We’ve been married for so many years, and sure, we’ve had our ups and downs, but he’s never, ever hit me before. But today he did! I just... *sob sob...*"
Cecelia looked at her brother in surprise.
She hadn’t expected her brother to get physical with his wife on her account.
’No matter what, it’s wrong for a man to hit a woman.’
"Bro, how could you..."
For once, June Archer lost his temper.
"So she’s allowed to lay into me all day, but the one time I raise a hand to her, she cries like it’s the end of the world? Is she the only one who’s human here? Does she feel pain and I don’t?"
"You complain all day that I’m a good-for-nothing, you hate my job, you hate that you’re suffering with me—fine, then let’s just end this! Divorce! You can have the apartment, Rocky stays with me. You’re still young. With a house and no kid, you won’t have any trouble finding someone else. What’s there to cry about?"
"*Sob sob sob...*"
At that, his wife cried even harder.
"Cecelia, listen to him! Does that sound like something a decent person would say? Ever since you got with a powerful man, he thinks he’s got backup. He’s gotten bold. He would never have dared to say something like this to me before!"
"I’ve worked myself to the bone for him for so many years, and now he wants to kick me out and separate me from my son? My life is so miserable!"
Cecelia handed Rocky to her brother to hold, then went to stand in front of her sister-in-law.
She was already at her wit’s end but still had to comfort the woman in a soft, gentle voice.
"He didn’t mean it like that. You, of all people, should know how honest my brother is and how devoted he is to you and Rocky. Things just got heated and he said things he didn’t mean. I’ll apologize on his behalf. Sister-in-law, please don’t say things you’ll regret. Rocky’s old enough to understand everything now, and this will hurt him."
"Besides, it’s getting late. We should have dinner. I’ll order some takeout, and we can all eat together."
As she spoke, Cecelia pulled out her phone to order, but her brother stopped her.
"Forget about eating! Let’s get to the point! What exactly is wrong with Candy? Where’s Damien? Doesn’t he care that Candy is sick? And why are you suddenly talking about selling a house?"
This was precisely what the sister-in-law wanted to know. She immediately stopped crying and stared at Cecelia with wide eyes.
Cecelia had thought about this the entire way over. If she wanted her sister-in-law to give up the house, she would have to tell her the whole truth.
"Damien is out of town and won’t be back for a while. Besides, I can’t rely on him anymore. We were never legally married."
"What?"
"Let me finish, Sister-in-law. Damien isn’t just some ordinary person. I didn’t know at first either; I just sort of stumbled into a relationship with him. I only found out after his mother came back from abroad recently. It turns out he’s the president of the Vaughn Group. A family like that would never let him marry someone like me. Plus, Candy isn’t his biological daughter, and his mother would never allow him to be a stepfather. It was his mother who came to me today and demanded I give the money back. She said if I don’t, she’ll not only have Candy thrown out of the hospital, but she’ll also sue us."
Her brother and sister-in-law exchanged a look, their shock written all over their faces.
No wonder Damien Vaughn was so handsome, dressed so well, and drove such a nice car. No wonder he had such a noble air about him—he was the president of the Vaughn Group!
Good heavens, Cecelia had actually managed to land the president of the Vaughn Group!
Her brother’s first reaction was that they had to give the house back.
’A family like theirs was completely out of their league.’
’Never mind that Cecelia had a child—even if she didn’t, would she really have a good life marrying into a family like that?’
"I knew it! I was wondering how he could be so generous, making up that story about an overseas Chinese wanting to buy our old house... So that was it... Give it back to him! Give it all back! If you’d told me he was from the Vaughn Family, I wouldn’t have touched a single cent of his money. Why would someone like that ever genuinely want to marry you? Cecelia, you’ve been fooled again!"
Hearing the word "again," Cecelia’s cheeks burned. She was speechless. But her sister-in-law didn’t see it that way at all.
"So what if it’s the Vaughn Group? Does that mean they can just bully people whenever they want? We didn’t know who he was when we first met him. He was the one who wanted to be in a relationship—nobody forced him. Why is he demanding everything back now?"
"It’s called a voluntary gift! He’s that rich—what’s wrong with spending a little money on a girlfriend? To spend it and then demand it back... I can’t believe a wealthy family like that would have the nerve to say such a thing!"
Her brother glared at her. "So what are you saying? That you’re not going to give it back?"
"Cecelia already told you, Damien’s mother can’t stand her. It’s the mom who’s making trouble now. Forget about her not being able to marry into the family—even if she could, would she ever have a peaceful day with a mother-in-law like that?"
The sister-in-law continued, "We’re not saying she has to marry him. He doesn’t think she’s good enough to marry, and we don’t think he’s good enough to marry into our family! But she can’t have been with him all this time for nothing, just letting him sleep with her for free, right? After all this time, he doesn’t want to give anything? Isn’t that just taking advantage of her?"
Her brother was speechless. "..."
The sister-in-law took Cecelia’s hand, trying to pull her up.
"Cecelia, if you ask me, you’re just too naive, too easy to push around. Otherwise, back then, you wouldn’t have... never mind, let’s not talk about the past. Let’s talk about right now. Are you really content to just give the money back, get nothing, and have been with him all this time for free? He’s going to take that money and use it to marry someone else. Then they’ll be living the high life while you’re here struggling to raise Candy. Even if you don’t think about yourself, you have to think about Candy’s future, don’t you? He’s a grown man who’s already thrown his dignity away, and you’re worried about saving face? Can you eat your pride?"
Cecelia said, "...Sister-in-law, I think you’re missing the point. Right now, it’s his mother who..."
"I know it’s his mother. But in the TV shows, when a rich mother-in-law doesn’t want the girl to marry her son, she meets her and throws a check for five or ten million at her. Why is this old hag from the Vaughn Family so cheap?"
"..."
"No matter what, you can’t give that money back. You said it yourself, it’s not Damien who wants it back, it’s his mother. Her opinion doesn’t count! We’ll just refuse to return it, no matter what. Think of it as compensation for your wasted youth. This is a lawful society, what’s she going to do, have you killed?"
The sister-in-law had her own twisted logic. It wasn’t entirely nonsensical, but Cecelia just couldn’t bring herself to do something like that.
"Sister-in-law, I have to give this house back, no matter what. Please, don’t try to change my mind. I can’t afford to challenge the Vaughn Family’s power. If I really make his mother angry, she doesn’t need to kill me herself. She has a hundred ways to make my life a living hell... Please, just consider this to be you helping me."
If she had never known about the apartment, that would be one thing. But now that she knew it existed, the sister-in-law couldn’t accept just giving it away.
From the moment she saw the deed, she had considered the property her son’s. So today, even if Cecelia talked until she was blue in the face, she wasn’t going to hand it over.
"Don’t give me all that! It’s not my problem!"
"Since the deed is in your brother’s name now, it’s our joint property. Whatever you want to do with Damien is your business. It has nothing to do with me, so stop talking to me about it!"
"Get up. There’s no talking to you two spineless siblings! I’m going out to buy groceries."
