Free Web NovelChapter 745: Chapter 716: Love in a Parallel Universe [038]
There was always discord between Sylvia Langley and Bianca Fordham. Sylvia particularly resented the Forrester Family’s continued financial support for Thomas Reed over the years, feeling that Thomas, as an outsider, was eyeing their wealth with ill intentions.
She had long wanted to teach Thomas a lesson but had never had the chance. Now that Sienna was bullied by someone from Vantage, she naturally seized the opportunity to vent her frustration on Thomas.
"Leo, ask yourself sincerely, how much money has my son given you and Vantage every year? Not to mention, this building you’re in now, I rented it to you at a low price. Without it, where would you find a building in such a location for your law firm with so little money?"
"A few years ago, you said you wanted to get into real estate, and you kept losing money. How much investment did my son make for you? Why did you abandon your good legal career to pursue real estate? You bought that piece of land no bank would finance, and you had no money to develop it. In the end, was it not my son who provided the funds for its development?"
"Vantage has been rampantly expanding overseas these years, lacking business yet maintaining a large team. Where did you get the money for this? You claimed the legal industry was tough, so you wanted to switch to finance—where did the funds for that come from? Wasn’t my son the one who invested real money into your ventures?"
Sylvia Langley’s tongue was skilled at throwing compliments and equally sharp at criticism, leaving people feeling uneasy without a way to argue back, as she was always speaking the blunt truth. Often, this left people feeling stifled with anger and unable to release it, which was the most frustrating.
After her tirade, she simply stood up, hands on her hips, pacing back and forth in front of the row of lawyers, criticizing, "Isn’t it normal for you lawyers to lose cases? With wins come losses! Do you expect to win all the time? Is there such a good thing? This whole room of successful lawyers blaming a loss on a new lawyer who’s been here less than half a year—is that appropriate? Is Vantage’s corporate culture centered around ’bullying’ newcomers? I tell you, companies like yours are bound to go under sooner or later!"
A crowd of lawyers stood silently, heads down, enduring the reprimand without a single retort.
Seated on the sofa, Thomas Reed leaned forward, elbows resting on his thighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, looking utterly frustrated yet not daring to utter a word.
After venting, Sylvia Langley sat back beside Sienna, carefully examining her face. She meant to check if she had been crying but instead discovered a dried blood-marked wound on her cheek.
Sylvia Langley shrieked, "Leo!"
Thomas Reed closed his eyes for a moment, then sat up straight and looked at her, appearing impatient but quickly softening his expression with a smile, "Yes, Aunt Sylvia."
"Look at this! Look at what your lawyers have done to Annie’s face! I want to file a charge against you all for intentional harm!"
Thomas Reed focused and did see a slight wound on Sienna’s cheek. His expression instantly turned stern, taking a deep breath, and he looked at Lawyer Chandler, "Lawyer Chandler, explain this!"
Lawyer Chandler was taken aback, not realizing he had caused the injury when he flung the stack of materials toward Sienna earlier. He hurriedly explained, "No one touched Lawyer Thorne. It wasn’t us..."
The other lawyers echoed, "That’s right, no one touched Lawyer Thorne, we all can testify to that."
Thomas Reed turned to Sienna Thorne and asked, "Lawyer Thorne, how did you get that injury on your face? Speak up, I’ll stand up for you."
Sylvia Langley quickly took out a small mirror from her bag for Sienna to see, "Annie, look, there’s a fresh cut here. Quickly tell us who hurt you, and I’ll sue them today!"
Sienna frowned as she looked in the mirror.
The cut was minor, barely noticeable unless closely examined, just a superficial scratch, probably nothing to worry about.
She knew the injury was from the stack of materials Lawyer Chandler threw at her, but she wasn’t eager to reveal that. Seeing Sylvia’s aggressive stance—ready to sue Lawyer Chandler and potentially seize Vantage’s building—if she spoke up, the matter might spiral into a prolonged hassle for her.
It seemed like a bothersome affair.
Sienna, weary of such engagements, deliberated for a moment and said, "I accidentally got a paper cut. It’s nothing serious; I get paper cuts all the time."
Thomas Reed noticed the papers scattered across Lawyer Chandler’s desk and immediately understood the situation. To prevent Sylvia from persisting further, he quickly suggested, "Aunt Sylvia, please take Lawyer Thorne to have her wound treated to prevent scarring. I’ll handle things here."
That hit the mark with Sylvia Langley.
She promptly got up with Sienna, "Annie, quickly, let’s go to your office. I’ll help you treat that cut. Scarring on such a pretty face...oh dear."
"It’s not a big deal."
With those words, the two left Lawyer Chandler’s office together.
Once they left, a partner shut the office door, casting a disapproving glance at Thomas Reed before sitting beside him. freewёbnoνel.com
No one spoke. The tension in the office steadily climbed, an impending storm-like pressure looming.
Thomas Reed’s face flushed, the redness spreading from his neck to his forehead, even his eyes turned red. His hands clenched and unclenched into fists, no trace of the smile he wore while talking to Sylvia. His expression was dark as if ready to destroy everything in front of him at any moment.
The lawyers present, sharing a sense of foreboding, dared not speak, all standing with heads bowed, awaiting reprimand.
In the next instant, with a series of sharp cracks, the teapots and saucers on the coffee table were swept onto the floor by Thomas Reed.
Immediately after, he slammed a fist onto the coffee table with a muffled thud, causing every heart in the room to leap into throats.
This was perhaps the most humiliating day in Thomas Reed’s life—both his dignity and his grandeur were stripped away. In front of so many people, Sylvia Langley criticized his failed investments needing Cyrus Forrester’s support, wrecking the prestige he had painstakingly built over the decades.
Even more heart-wrenching was Sylvia’s constant assertion that Sienna was her daughter-in-law, suggesting that Sienna and Cyrus Forrester had reached the stage of discussing marriage...
When did they get together...why are they together...
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"No, no, we still need to go to the hospital. What if it leaves a scar?" Sylvia Langley put away the iodine cotton swab, "My car is parked just downstairs, let’s go quickly!"
Sienna felt awkward and tried to hold her back, "Auntie, it’s okay, it won’t leave a scar. I’ve had paper cuts before, and they never left a scar, really."
Sylvia sighed as she sat down again, taking out another iodine cotton swab, gently cleaning the wound while saying, "Make sure to finish the bird’s nest later. I’ll go back to the old house and bring you some ointment."
"Alright, thank you, Auntie."
Sienna felt flattered; her own mother never brought bird’s nest to her at work or personally treated her paper cuts with iodine and bandages, let alone bringing ointment like Sylvia Langley did.
She had often heard that maintaining cordial appearances in mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships was considered good enough, with no hope for anything more.
