As soon as she said this, the atmosphere in the living room became tense.
“No!”
“No way!”
Joel and Tanya’s voices were heard at the same time, causing Heather to frown. She did not dare to speak to Joel but looked directly at Tanya. “How can you speak to your mother-in-law like this? Although that woman wasn’t your biological mother, you grew up in the Joneses. You should know basic manners, right? Who taught you to address your elders so loudly?!”
Tanya’s chest heaved up and down as she looked at Heather and said slowly, “I know you’re dissatisfied with me, but Mia is the daughter I’ve been looking for for five years. I definitely won’t be separated from her now!”
Heather lowered her head. “Speaking of which, I have to criticize you even more. Tanya, how can you call yourself a mother? How did you lose the child and let her get picked up by Hillary? You helped her bewitch our family for so many years! Besides, I heard that she even abused the child?! This is all because you didn’t take good care of the child!”
Every word she said was like a knife, a knife that stabbed into Tanya’s heart.
She had felt guilty for five years.
She even wanted to torture Hillary after seeing Mia’s injuries…
Although Hillary was already dead, Tanya was still having frequent nightmares. She would often dream that Mia had been lost again. She would usually wake up in the middle of the night and rush to Mia’s room. She would only calm down after seeing Mia safe and sound.
Therefore, she had no way of refuting this sentence!
Seeing that she was stuttering, Heather was about to continue speaking when Joel suddenly rushed to Tanya and said, “I’m the child’s father. The child grew up under my watch, but I didn’t protect her well. In that case, I’m more responsible! Are you going to scold me now?”
How could Heather dare to scold him like this?
Their relationship had not been terrible since Joel was young. After Joel became the leader, his aura became stronger, and she did not dare to offend him!
She said, “You’re so busy with work and have to take care of the company. It’s fine that you’re a little careless. Besides, if Tanya hadn’t lost the child, this wouldn’t have happened. How can you be blamed? Tanya isn’t a qualified mother!”
“Heh!”
Joel sneered. “Then are you a qualified mother? What right do you have to criticize Tanya?”
Heather pursed her lips.
Amos instantly threw the teacup in his hand on the coffee table. “Joel, how can you speak to your mother like this? We’re doing this for Mia’s sake! We’re her grandparents, how can we hurt her? Besides, you’re not by our side all year round and follow behind Ian every day. Shouldn’t your daughter be living with us?”
When Joel heard this, he sneered.
He lowered his eyes and suddenly said, “Are you sure you want to take Mia overseas with you for her own good? For company? Isn’t it so that you can ask me for money?”
His words pierced through their thoughts.
Heather’s face instantly turned red.
Amos stood up angrily. “Joel, how can you say that? Do we have such a crude image in your heart?!”
“Isn’t that so?”
A sarcastic smile hung on Joel’s lips.
Nora, who was at the door, instantly understood.
It turned out that Amos and Heather insisted on taking Mia with them because they were worried that after they went overseas, Joel would not give them any money?
As long as Mia was by their side, they wouldn’t be afraid that Joel wouldn’t recognize them as his parents, right?
Nora frowned. What kind of strange parents were they?!
It was no wonder that her brother did not have a good relationship with his parents. Joel looked straight at Amos, whose aura weakened again… Right at this point…
Bam!
Ian suddenly smashed the teacup in his hand hard on the ground with a loud noise.
He slowly raised his head and looked at Amos with a pair of eagle-like sharp eyes. His voice was very cold. “Amos, I didn’t expect you to still be so shameless after so many years! When you leave, the Smiths will definitely give you a huge settling amount. No matter how much you spend in this life, it’ll be enough! Why are you still so greedy?!” When Amos heard this, he swallowed hard and said slowly, “Ian, that’s not what I mean. Everyone knows that the days of the extended family are getting worse with each generation. Your sister-in-law and I adopted another daughter. She’s going to get married in the future too. We must give it to her and her children…”
At this point, Heather poked his arm.
Amos finally realized that he had gone too far.
It was indeed unreasonable to ask Joel for money and leave it to his adopted daughter.
Therefore, he shut his mouth.
On the other hand, Heather suddenly said, “Ian, it’s really not that Amos and I are unreasonable. It’s just that it’s really inappropriate for Mia to stay in the country. I have a video here for you to see!”
With that, she took out her phone and opened a video before handing it to Ian.
Joel and Tanya walked behind Ian and looked at it together.
Nora raised her eyebrows and walked over slowly too. She wanted to see what Heather was up to now.
The video was from Mia’s kindergarten.
A group of children was playing with Legos..
Mia sat alone in a small corner, building a princess toy.
However, there were a few pieces missing. She stood up and walked to the Lego box. She was about to look for the missing parts.
However, as soon as she walked over, the children immediately dispersed.
“Mia’s grandfather is a murderer! We don’t want to play with her!”
“My mother said that murderers have lunacy in their genes. It’s contagious. Mia, stay away from us!”
“That’s right! Stay away from us!”
“A murderer’s granddaughter is a small murderer. Will Mia kill people in the future?”
“My mother said she would. She might go crazy one day!”
“Ah! It’s too scary! Boohoo, I don’t want to die!”
The children were chattering and screaming. No one attacked Mia, but their actions made her feel hurt.
The little girl looked at the group of people in a daze. She waved her hands. “Don’t be afraid. I won’t kill anyone. Really… I really won’t kill anyone…”
“I don’t believe you! Anyway, I won’t play with you! I won’t be your friend either!” “Me too. Mia, go away. We don’t want to talk to you!”
II
11
The world of children was very simple, so their words were even more hurtful.
If it was between adults, Tanya would not care about these words, but Mia would. She was already sensitive and fragile. Mia lowered her head and felt like she could not ever raise it up.
Mia then sighed silently and returned to her seat. However, as soon as she walked back, she realized that someone had broken the lego toy she had made.
She looked at it in a daze. Finally, she sat in the corner alone and lowered her head in frustration. She did not say anything else.
That small girl made one’s heart soften.
Nora sighed silently.
Even her heart ached when she saw this, let alone Tanya!
When Nora looked up, she saw that Tanya’s eyes were already red. She tried hard to control her emotions as her body trembled slightly.
Over the past few days, while Karl was in prison, she had put all her attention on him.
When Mia said that she wanted to go to school with Pete, Tanya had let her go. She had also told Joel to pay more attention to his daughter. However, she did not expect her daughter to be bullied in school?!
Joel hugged her shoulder and patted it gently as if he was giving her strength. “Don’t worry.” Although Mia was rejected, she was better than the other children. She was from the Smiths, so those people did not dare to touch her.
It was just psychological isolation.
Joel had actually learned of Mia’s situation long ago. He knew all this.
Joel looked at Heather and asked coldly, “What do you mean by showing this to us?”
Heather said directly, “I’m telling you that the child is not happy in school! She needs to go with us! Leave this place and change to a new environment. Live well in a place where no one knows her!”
She said sincerely, “Joel, you’re in charge of the company, so you definitely can’t leave. Tanya is your wife. You’re newlyweds, and you’re unwilling to separate. Therefore, it’s best for us to take Mia overseas. Besides, if you really can’t bear to leave the child, then the two of you can have another one.?!”
Joel felt that these words were really ear-piercing. “What are children to you? Are they commodities? Or are they pets? If Mia is gone, I can just get another one?”.
Heather pursed her lips. “No matter what you say, I’m doing this for your own good! You saw it too. Mia is being pushed aside and isolated in school! You’re still her parents, don’t your hearts ache?!”
Joel lowered his eyes. “Mia is growing up. Her matters will be resolved very well. Don’t worry about this. She won’t care about this in the future.”
Heather instantly pointed at his nose and scolded, “What do you know? Do you think Mia is as heartless as you? Do you think Mia is the same as you, that she doesn’t care about the opinions of others at all? Let me tell you, in this country, with her grandfather in prison, Mia will be looked down upon for the rest of her life! Something big will happen sooner or later! You either let Mia leave with us or you divorce this murderer’s daughter!”
Nora could not listen to this anymore. She said, “Who said that Karl is a criminal?!”
Heather sneered. “He is already in prison and they aren’t letting him go. They must have sufficient evidence to keep him in there. They couldn’t have kept him there just to make friends, right?”
