Anger immediately surged in Charlotte’s heart.
She was never willing to hold her tongue, so she immediately retorted sneeringly, “Aunt Gretchen, you’d better worry about your own daughter! Nikki is half a year older than me, and she doesn’t have a boyfriend either. If you are so worried about women being left on the shelf, quickly find a man for your daughter to marry!”
Gretchen was so furious that she choked.
Indeed, her daughter Nikki was half a year older than Charlotte, so if Gretchen thought that Charlotte was too old to be staying single, she was just slapping herself in the face because Nikki was older!
After a while, Gretchen continued, “Hah, I don’t need to worry about Nikki at all. She’s now very close to the scions of the wealthy families in LA. They love hanging out with her, and maybe one day, she’ll marry a rich man! Unlike someone who’s so blind as to marry a penniless good-for-nothing that freeloads off of her even though she’s such a great catch herself!”
Cheyenne immediately remembered the scene last night where Nikki was with the scions in the restaurant and couldn’t help sneering. Nikki was clearly sucking up to them. You call that being close?
Charlotte wasn’t aware of this, but she was even more displeased to see Gretchen begin making indirect snide remarks at her sister and brother-in-law.
She suddenly smiled. “Aunt Gretchen, are you particularly fond of having a scion of a wealthy family as a son-in-law? When you married Uncle Justin back then, he was a scion too, but I’ve heard that he’s gotten himself a mistress and that it’s been a long time since he bothered to talk to you. I heard you’re getting a divorce too! Aunt Gretchen, surely that isn’t true, is it?”
The news that Charlotte suddenly exposed aroused their relatives’ interest for gossip. They immediately looked at Gretchen excitedly while some also began whispering among themselves.
Most people would be interested in such gossip.
Charlotte wasn’t spouting nonsense either.
Yesterday afternoon, Justin Heron had made a visit to the Turner residence, but he didn’t stay long and soon received a call. Later, he said that he had something to do in the office and left.
When he was on the phone, Charlotte happened to be outside at the time, with only a tree separating her and Justin. Perhaps because he didn’t see Charlotte and thought that it would be safe since he was outside, he spoke freely without restraint, thus causing Charlotte to hear some things she shouldn’t have.
For example, he said things like, ‘Sweetie, I miss you too’ and ‘Once I divorce that woman, I’ll marry you immediately’, which made Charlotte feel so disgusted that she almost washed her ears.
She felt that her ears were marred by what she heard!
Charlotte didn’t want to bring up these shameful things at first, but Gretchen just had to act like a mad dog and kept nitpicking on her and Cheyenne.
Charlotte had always been feisty and assertive, so she would definitely retaliate against anyone who repeatedly criticized her just to give them a taste of their own medicine.
Gretchen’s expression instantly changed!
She had known for a long time about her husband’s affair. In fact, she had kicked up a fuss about it in the beginning, but all she got in return was a heartless reply from Justin—”I lost my feelings for you a long time ago. If you can’t stand it, let’s get a divorce, and you’ll get lost from the Heron family immediately!”
How could she bear to leave the Heron family? They were at least a second-tier family in LA, which was much better than the Turners. If she divorced Justin, what would life be like for her in the future?
So she had no choice but to force herself to turn a blind eye to his affair and curb her anger while pretending like she wasn’t aware of the existence of his mistress.
But Justin’s mistress was getting more and more overboard. She wasn’t willing to only be his clandestine lover and instead wanted him to marry her. So she had been urging Justin to divorce Gretchen.
Gretchen naturally refused, so Justin went more and more overboard. Not only did he give her the cold shoulder, but he also stayed outside with his mistress every single day. Whenever he saw Gretchen, he would treat her with a harsh attitude and urge her to quickly agree to the divorce.
But Justin still cared about his pride after all and didn’t make this matter known to everyone. And Gretchen naturally wouldn’t wash their dirty linen in public and instead pretended like she had a blissful family with an impressive husband to continue making others green with envy. She had also been indulging in her delusions by choosing to ignore the truth.
But the truth she had painstakingly covered up was now exposed by Charlotte!
Boiling with fury, Gretchen pointed at Charlotte and barked, “I’m going to slap your mouth! What kind of nonsense are you spouting? I’m your elder, and you’re talking to me like that. You’re so ill-mannered!”
After scolding Charlotte, she poked the side of Karen’s face. “Very good. So much for treating you like my older sister, Karen Turner. Is this how you teach your daughter? Did you teach her to say those words too? Did you deliberately say those words to slander me because you’re jealous of my blissful life?!”
After lashing out at her ferociously, Gretchen suddenly looked aggrieved again as she turned to Eddie and her mother. She griped, “Dad, Mom, you two must do me justice! I came here with good intentions to attend Dylan’s wedding, and yet my niece has bullied me so harshly. She’s completely insulted my dignity as her elder. How can I continue living like this?!”
Gretchen sat down and patted her thighs while bawling loudly, completely losing her demeanor as an upper-class lady.
Cheyenne and Charlotte watched coldly and felt that Gretchen’s behavior was exactly the same as when Karen threw tantrums.
Indeed, they were sisters.
The guests around were a little surprised, but none of them intervened. After all, it was the Turners’ family matters, and it wasn’t appropriate for them to intervene. They merely stood at the side and enjoyed the show while gossiping and pretending to persuade them.
“Enough!” Eddie hollered loudly.
He glared at his youngest daughter, Gretchen, who made him feel incredibly humiliated and embarrassed. “You’re already almost fifty. What are you doing sitting on the ground and crying? Quickly get up and stop making a fool of yourself!”
Gretchen’s crying stopped immediately. She was rather afraid of Eddie and didn’t dare to disobey him, so she got up from the ground awkwardly.
But as soon as she saw the strange looks from the people around her, she put all the blame on Charlotte and glowered at her menacingly.
Charlotte was about to say a few more words to retaliate, but Cheyenne stopped her. “Forget it, Charlotte. Don’t bother with her.”
Although Eddie just reprimanded Gretchen, it was because he found it really disgraceful of her to be crying and complaining in public like a shrew. But if Charlotte continued to make malicious remarks, he would definitely reprimand her for being disrespectful too.
At this moment, a blue Porsche came to a halt slowly in front of the hotel. When the door opened, a man dressed in a long gray trench coat stepped out of the car and walked toward them.
“Wow!” The guests around them widened their eyes and gasped in shock and amazement when they saw him.
