Chapter 332
332
After pulling myself together, I packed up and headed back to the Quill residence with Cordelia.
I never came back often these past two years – only showing up during the holidays for a family dinner, and even then, I didn’t stay long.
Under Jeremy’s pressure, Mom no longer acted like she wanted me dead the way she did right after Julianne left. But every time she saw me, she still looked at me like I was her worst enemy.
Today was no different.
When Mom saw me, her face lit up with a gloating smile. “Karma finally caught up with you, didn’t it? I told you before- someone as vicious as you was bound to get what’s coming!”
She must have seen the news online. Seeing me dragged through the mud, hated by everyone–worse than even a rat in the gutter–seemed to fill her with pure joy. It was as if she’d been waiting for this day forever.
I ignored her.
But Cordelia couldn’t hold back anymore and blurted, “Mrs. Quill, Emi’s your biological daughter! How could you be so cruel to her? How could you?”
She truly didn’t understand. Back when Julianne was around, there was a reason for her hatred. After all, Julianne ke things up and turning Mom against me.
stirring
But Julianne had been gone for two years now Mom knew the truth about everything. She knew I never bullied Julianne. And yet, she still treated me like this.
If we weren’t related by blood, maybe it would make some sense. But we were.
There was a time I actually doubted if I was really Mom’s daughter. Cordelia and I had secretly done a paternity test , taking hair samples from both me and Mom. The results were undeniable. I was 100% Mom’s biological daughter.
That made it even harder for Cordelia to wrap her head around it.
She couldn’t understand how a mother could be so vicious to her child. What kind of twisted thinking led to that?
“Why? Because she’s rotten to the core! Because she’s so vile that even I , her own mother , can’t stand her!” Mom sneered.
She never explained why she went from disliking Julianne to loving her so much that after Julianne’s death, she hated me enough to wish me dead.
In the past, I was hungry for answers. But now, I no longer care. By that point, I couldn’t care less about Mom or anything she did.
So when Cordelia looked like she still wanted to say something, I grabbed her and dragged her off to find Grandma.
But she just couldn’t hold it in. Even as I was pulling her away , she turned her head back and shouted, “Mrs. Quill , one day you’re going to regret this!”
Mom snapped right back, “ I’ll never regret it! You just wait and see This is only the beginning! Someone as nasty as her–it won’t be long before she hits rock bottom!”
I didn’t react at all. I didn’t care what she said and tuned her out completely. I didn’t even stop to think about her words, sol completely missed her underlying message.
When Jeremy saw me coming over , he broke off from greeting guests and headed straight for ine .
My relationship with him has been pretty decent over the past two years , mostly because of business ties .
After taking over the company, he’d grown up a lot. When it came to business, he knew how to swallow his pride if it meant getting ahead.
332
+25 BONUS
“Emi, what the hell’s going on online? Did you go and mess around with Mr. Hardwell? Do you have any idea how many people bailed on Grandma’s birthday party because of this crap?”
All Jeremy cared about was expanding Quillcrest Pharmaceuticals and proving to Grandma that he could make it.
He was obsessed with networking, and for Grandma’s birthday party, he’d invited a bunch of Claudeville’s big shots.
Before the scandal, everyone had happily agreed to come. Now, thanks to me, they had refused the invite.
People who ran a successful business were smart–nobody wanted to get dragged into a scandal. Especially not when it meant crossing the Hardwells.
I didn’t blame them. When trouble hit, it was human nature to look out for themselves.