Chapter 73
Arianna took one look at the expression on Alice‘s face and surmised that Trevor was still determined to make her go overseas.
She fell onto the couch and wailed.
“Mom, I don‘t want to leave the country…” Arianna whimpered through her sobbing. “I can‘t stand being away from you. I can‘t live without you!”
Arianna was well aware that Alice was reluctant to part with her, so she said those things on purpose because she knew Alice would not bear to see her like this.
Sure enough, Alice felt her heart breaking. All the years, Arianna was the only one who stayed by her side as her husband cheated on her and left the country, while her son was constantly busy with work.
Arianna was the reason why she managed to pull through those dreary, difficult years.
It was why Alice coddled Arianna to the point of overindulgence. Her daughter was her lifeline and the one who kept her sane.
Alice felt a pang in her heart as these thoughts ran through her mind. She clenched her jaw and declared, “Don‘t worry. I won‘t let him send you away!”
Arianna wiped her tears and growled through gritied teeth, “Emma must be the one behind this!”
“Mom, Trevor is trying to send me away because of that woman, Emma! I can‘t let her get away with this!”
“What does this have to do with Emma?” Alice did not follow.
Thanks to Crystal‘s schemes, Alice found out that Emma was back in the country.
Even so, she did not think that Trevor had any contact with Emma, nor would he do anything for her.
Arianna filled Alice in on how she and Crystal had teamed up to inform Simon about Emma‘s whereabouts. “Trevor must have found out about this. That‘s why he wants to chase me out of the country!” she concluded angrily.
“That can‘t be!” Alica refuted.
“Your brother won‘t treat you like this just for Emma‘s sake. You‘re his sister, and Emma‘s just his ex–wife. Why would he protect her at your expense?”
“No, it‘s impossible!”
“Mom!” Arianna screamed in tears.
Arianna was dead sure that Trevor was doing this to her for Emma‘s sake. Otherwise, he could have suggested this at any point in time, but he had chosen to send her away now, right after she had schemed against Emma.
“Emma Yates is a cunning b*tch!” Arianna screeched. “If she wasn‘t one, why would she choose to collaborate with Trevor‘s company as soon as she got back into the country? Why else would she write a script that makes jabs at Crystal?”
Alice was distressed to see Arianna behaving like this, so she asked, “Do you have Emma‘s phone number?”
“I‘ll call her up right now and give her a piece of my mind! How can she act so shamelessly? They‘ve been divorced for over a year already, so why is she still pestering Trevor?”
As soon as Arianna heard that, she sat right up on the couch and looked up Emma‘s new number before giving it to Alice.
Since she found out where Emma was staying, naturally, she had Emma‘s new phone number too.
Alice got her phone and made the call in a huff.
Emma had been hard at work on her laptop when her phone started ringing, so she answered the call without giving it much thought.
“Emma Yates!” As soon as the call connected, she heard an unkind voice screeching her name.
Emma‘s brows furrowed slightly. That voice… Why does it sound like Alice Douglas?Why would she be calling me?
Despite her bewilderment, she responded politely, “Hello. Who is this?”
“You shameless woman–” As soon as Alice began her angry tirade, Emma ended the call and blacklisted her number without hesitation.
She no longer had anything to do with Trevor, so why would she just sit there and take Alice‘s verbal abuse?
In any case, she had not done them any wrong either, so why would she need to listen to their insults?
Alice had called Emma in a fit of rage and wanted to take it out on her, but instead,
Emma ended the call before she could even finish her sentence. She was so mad, she nearly burst a vein,
How dare she?! What gave Emma the guts to hang up on me like that?!
Alice had spent decades being the proud and respected Mrs. Bateson. She had never been treated this way before.
She was so furious that she began heaving. Arianna quickly helped her to the couch.
“What happened?” Arianna did not know what went on in the call.
Alice‘s hands trembled as she said, “S–She hung up on me!”
“What did you say?!” Arianna was incensed. “She‘s becoming more and more arrogant. She even threw a cup of coffee in my face the last time!”
“Mom, you didn‘t know about it, right? It was an entire cup of coffee!” Arianna was scething at the memory of that incident.
Alice had to start taking deep breaths again, or otherwise, her anger would have boiled over and she might have actually gotten a heart attack.
The Emma that Alice recalled was a reserved and weak woman. She had spent those three years hurling all soris of insults and verbal abuse at Emma, but Emma never said a word in response.
“I‘m going to call Trevor right now and let him know how rude Emma was to you!” Arianna snarled.
Alice stopped her. “Forget it. Isn‘t that just letting him know that we‘re in the wrong?”
“I can teach her a lesson by myself,” Alice huffed. After all, she had a ton of experience dealing with Jared‘s mistresses. What was Emma compared to them?
Alice slowly regained her cool. “You know where she lives, right? Come. Let‘s go talk to her right now.”
“Huh? Now?” Arianna had not processed this turn of events yet.
“Yes.” Alice got up from the couch. “I won‘t be able to sleep tonight if I don‘t teach her a lesson today!”
Unsurprisingly, Arianna was thrilled to witness Emma being taught a lesson. She immediately climbed into a car with Alice and headed straight to Emma‘s apartment.
However, despite their incessant knocking, no one came to the door.
Eventually, the owner of the unit opposite Emma‘s told them, “The young lady who lives there hasn‘t been back for two days now.”
“Did something happen?” Both Alice and Arianna were at a loss.
“Yesterday, a guy came over and caused a scene, so I think she left to stay with a friend,” the neighbor said.
“Do you know what her friend looks like?” Arianna asked at once.
The neighbor had seen Emma leaving with Cerys, so the neighbor described Cerys to them.
Arianna glanced at Alice in disbelief. “It can‘t be Cerys, right?”
Cerys has a cold and reserved personality, so why would she take Emma in? In any case, she and Emma are not on friendly terms, right?
However, Alice said decisively, “We‘ll head over to Cerys‘ place and take a look.”
Alice didn‘t care who Emma was staying with as her only goal was to find Emma.
Arianna knew Cerys‘ address because Crystal had sent someone to tail Cerys in the past.
Crystal had suspected that Cerys had a flirtatious relationship with Trevor, so she investigated to see if her suspicions were true.
Cerys came from an impoverished family, but Crystal had 10 admit that Cerys was a beautiful woman with a captivating aura and a slender, but attractive figure. She stood out from the crowd.
There was a possibility that Trevor kept her by his side as his woman.
Cerys‘ apartment was in a high–end residential area, so people like Simon would not be able to sneak their way in, but it was easy enough for Alice and Arianna to get in since they owned properties in the area too.
The two women marched straight up to Cerys‘ apartment, and Arianna began to pound on the door once more.
As for Alice, she adjusted her clothes and checked her makeup before holding herself up with an air of elegance and superiority.