Chapter 4

Mr. Davies panicked when he saw me.

He immediately pointed at Cassie and the others. "What do you think you're doing laying hands on her?! I'll call the police!"

Cassie looked at Mr. Davies, then pointed at him fiercely. "Eleanor, is this the kept man you're supporting?"

"You're meeting here, at a hotel? A man and a woman, it's not hard to guess what you're up to!"

Mr. Davies recognized Victoria and naturally deduced that Cassie was her regained daughter. His face instantly darkened. "So the Hayes family has no decency whatsoever!"

Victoria's face turned black. "This is outrageous! No one in Sterling City has ever dared to speak to me like that!"

"You two just wait! When my husband and Mr. Thorne arrive, I'll make you beg on your knees!"

Hearing that, Cassie's chin shot up, her confidence renewed.

Mr. Davies was about to say something, but I spoke first. "Cassie, I should never have been soft-hearted enough to pick you up from that dumpster."

"I'm telling you, I will pursue legal action for your slanderous accusations against me!"

Cassie burst into laughter. "Dumpster? Eleanor, aren't you tired of telling that lie?!"

"How come no one else found me, only you did?"

"Don't think I don't know, your own mother died of cancer, and you knew you might inherit it, so you kidnapped me!"

"You still expect me to repay you? Dream on!"

My heart twisted painfully in my chest.

It was true, I'd worried my mother's cancer might be hereditary, which was why I'd never dated or married.

When Cassie first learned of it, she had looked at me with sympathy and said, "Mom, don't worry. Cassie will be your family from now on. I'll always stay with you."

I thought she understood this was a deep pain in my heart.

But now that she was grown, she was ripping open old wounds.

Yes, the sweet, obedient Cassie was long gone.

Just then, Adrian called me.

He must have arrived.

I answered the phone, glancing at Mr. Davies. "Okay, we're coming out now."

Suddenly, Cassie snatched my phone again, catching me off guard.

She shrieked into the phone, "Who are you, another one of Eleanor's lackeys?! She's not leaving unless I say so!"

"Hmph, you offended the Hayes family. You'll have to bow down and kowtow fifty times before you leave!"

Adrian on the other end of the line paused, then said coldly, "The Hayes family?"

Cassie scoffed. "That's right!"

"I'm warning you, if you dare to stand up for her, I'll make sure you don't leave Sterling City alive today!"

With that, she slammed the phone down.

My head was buzzing.

Adrian Thorne was worth thirty billion dollars. How dare a mere ten-million-dollar family like the Hayeses speak to him like that?

Then, Victoria said with disgust, "What are you still standing around for?"

"Why aren't you forcing this woman to kowtow on the ground?"

"Once she's done, throw her out."

"If Mr. Thorne sees her, it'll ruin the Hayes family's image. I'll fire all of you!"

Hearing this, several bodyguards quickly surrounded me.

I was pushed, my body losing balance, and my knees hit the marble floor with a heavy thud.

My bones, already fragile from late-stage cancer, sent a searing pain through me with the impact.

The onlookers even clapped, cheering them on.

"She deserves it for causing trouble at the Hayes family's birthday party!"

"If they don't teach her a lesson, she'll come back trying to extort money again!"

"Just throw her out already, she's such an eyesore."

Mr. Davies tried desperately to intervene, but one man was no match for a crowd, and he was quickly restrained.

Cassie walked up to me. Before I could react, she slapped me hard across the face. "I almost forgot! This slap is for you!"

"If you ever dare to show your face in front of me again, it won't be just a slap!"

Just then, Adrian's furious voice boomed from the doorway. "Stop! I'd like to see who dares to touch her in my presence!"

Behind him, the CEO of Hayes Group, Richard, looked utterly bewildered.