“You are lying! We gave you more than that.”
Lauren was rendered speechless.She hugged her handbag to avoid the surprised gazes of the people staring at her.
“We have always been generous with you!” Natalie rolled her eyes.
Lauren’s response didn’t surprise her.She still couldn’t figure out why Lauren hated her so much.
The woman despised her with a vengeance.
When she still stayed with them in their house, Lauren would scold Natalie for even the smallest things.
“I didn’t ask you to adopt me, did I?”
Natalie sounded calm and composed.
“Since you adopted me, you are obligated to raise me.Considering your wealth and income, the money you’ve given me every month does not even cover the standard child custody.I can’t even meet my monthly expenses.I owe what I am today only to Hannah.She struggled to raise me, with her own savings. You’ve done nothing I should be grateful of.”
The onlookers started discussing heatedly.
“How could you do such a thing? A manicure like yours costs more than two hundred dollars!”.
“Since you chose to adopt a child, you should’ve been responsible for her.The Quinn family is rich, yet you gave your adopted daughter so little. Shame on you.”
All the color drained from Lauren’s face.
Little did these people know that the Quinn family was actually poor-something Lauren would never dare to admit.
After a while, Lauren said weakly, “We were worried we’d hurt our biological daughter. If Cassie saw that we treated her adopted sister better, she would’ve accused us of being unfair.And Natalie, even if we didn’t give you that much money, you shouldn’t have forced us to give you more.We adopted you and you should be gratefull”
Natalie set her glass on the table.
Her eyes flashed with sheer rage.
Even now, Lauren chose to lie through her teeth.
“The money wasn’t for me. just wanted to save Hannah’s life.I didn’t force you to give me more. You were the one who promised me that you’d give me the money if I married Sebastian instead of Cassie.But even after that, you kept refusing to pay me.I was just asking for what was rightfully mine.”
The audience burst into an uproar.
Everyone began to criticize Lauren harshly.
“How dare she!”
“So, she adopted a child but left her in the countryside and didn’t give her any money.Such a criminal should be sued!”
“How the hell could she ask her adopted daughter to marry someone as a substitute for her biological daughter? The poor girl!”
Sebastian was sitting on a black sofa nearby with his legs crossed.
He took a sip from his glass of wine as he watched this scene unfold before him.He had witnessed the whole thing.
“I didn’t know that your wife could be so fierce. You must be beaten up a lot at home, hmm?” Garrett joked, poking fun at Sebastian.
Sebastian’s eyes had been fixed on Natalie the entire night.To him, the woman before him now was a stark contrast to the woman she saw at home.
“She’s a submissive sweet girl at home.”
Sebastian took another sip from his wine, his eyes darkening slightly.
Seeing that his friend looked a little worried, Garrett smiled at him reassuringly.
“Don’t tell me that you want to interfere.From what I can see, your wife can handle this.”
“I suppose we shall wait and see,” Sebastian said gloomily.
At this point, Lauren couldn’t stand the humiliation anymore and dropped her gentle facade.
Her expression changed and she started coughing so violently, one might have wondered if she was terminally ill.
“What’re you doing here anyway? We took you in and raised you.Otherwise, who’s to say you wouldn’t be homeless right now? Isn’t it only right that you married someone for our sake? Just take it as a payment for our kindness.”
When she saw that her mother had changed tactics, Cassie immediately echoed Lauren’s sentiments, adding fuel to the flames.
“How could you have the nerve to talk back? If it weren’t for you, our family wouldn’t have ended up like this. You’ve pissed my mother off. You always think of that old maid but don’t give a damn about your foster mother.Don’t you have a conscience?”
Finally, Sebastian slowly stood up from the sofa.As he did, he drew the attention of the people around him.
Nobody knew who he was.
All they could see was a superior-looking, tall man with cold, black eyes, as alienating yet dazzling as the sun.
Everyone subconsciously felt drawn towards him.
He walked towards Lauren, shrouding her in his shadow.
He looked down at her and the daughter next to her with frighteningly cold eyes and said in a low voice, “Was your kindness enough to give you the right to force your adopted daughter to get married as a substitute bride?”
Being stared at by him like this, Lauren shrank back.
Any trace of arrogance she held earlier now disappeared.
“Wh-what do you mean?” she stammered.
Sebastian sneered coldly.
“When my mother’s family was rich and powerful, you clung to her like a parasite.Thinking you could profit from us in the future, you arranged for your daughter to marry her son when they grew up.Later, when my mother’s financial situation declined, you regretted your decision.Not wanting your biological daughter to marry me, you had your adopted daughter do it instead. Was that the real reason why you adopted a daughter?”
Memories brought about by Sebastian’s words resurfaced in Lauren’s mind.
Sylvia Larson… Lauren hadn’t heard that name in a long time.
Sylvia Larson was Sebastian’s biological mother.
At the time, the Larson family was one of the richest and most powerful in the city.
And Sylvia was beautiful-she was even considered the most beautiful girl in the city.
Sebastian had gotten his good looks from his mother.
And even though Sylvia was born into a rich family, she had a pleasant personality and never put on airs.
Lauren, on the other hand, came from an ordinary family.
When the two girls were in college, Lauren deliberately tried to get close to Sylvia, gunning to become the rich girl’s best friend.
Back then, Lauren had benefited a lot from Sylvia’s riches.
Later, she suggested to Sylvia that their children get married, if one of them had a boy and the other, a girl.
That was how Lauren successfully tied herself to a rich and powerful family like the Larson’s.
However, it wasn’t part of her plan for the Larson family to decline so suddenly.
As soon as Sylvia could no longer be considered rich, Lauren immediately cut off contact with her.
The two of them never spoke afterwards.
It wasn’t until about ten years later that Lauren heard that Sylvia had died.
She had practically forgotten about Sylvia by then, and even when she heard the news of her death, Lauren didn’t give a damn.
“How dare you accuse me of such nonsense!” Lauren said, albeit her voice faltered.
But she couldn’t say anything to defend herself, because Sebastian was right.
Wide-eyed, Natalie turned to look at Sebastian.
Sebastian had never told her before about how the engagement came about.
In the distance, Garrett’s heart leapt to his throat.
He was worried that something big was about to happen.
The subject of Sebastian’s mother was very touchy to him, and he seldom mentioned her.
It had been almost ten years since Garrett first met Sebastian in high school.
But he still didn’t know his friend’s family too well.
Something big had happened back then, which led to the collapse of the Larson family and the rise of the Klein family.
But all rich and powerful families were complicated behind the curtain.
Although the Klein family was powerful on the surface, they were rotten on the inside.
Their dirty secrets were just concealed well.
The onlookers began to talk even more harshly about Lauren.
