Chapter 257 Slap
The Gardner Corporation terminated all cooperation with Queenie that night.
It was obvious from this piece of news that the Gardners were kicking Queenie out of the game. And as for her position as Colton’s fiancée? Everyone already knew where this was going.
Not only that, she didn’t even receive the invitation to the celebration banquet of Wendy’s 18th birthday.
As soon as William received the news, he hurried home and immediately slapped Queenie across her face when he saw her.
“You ungrateful child! What the hell did you do?! Why is the Gardner Family terminating their relationship with you?”
Queenie was caught off-guard by the slap, and her eyes immediately turned red. She only covered her cheek without giving a reaction for a long minute.
Still in the climax of his exasperation, William didn’t register Queenie’s pitiful appearance and he roared even louder at her, “Why are you so useless that you can’t even hold a man down? I wouldn’t have cut off my relationship with Nicole if it wasn’t because you and your mother kept inciting me to!”
Queenie never thought that her father would have such thoughts, and she growled through gritted teeth, “Dad, Nicole is the reason Colton wanted to annul the engagement with me! It is her; it is all because of her! You didn’t even try to understand things before you hit me!”
Queenie had never been hit by William throughout the years she was raised. Hence, the slap seemed to hurt emotionally as much as it hurt her physically.
Seeing William acting like this, Lydia immediately felt upset as she went to support Queenie. “Have you gone crazy, William Anderson?! Do you think we could have lived such a stable life all these years if it wasn’t for Queenie?!”
William finally calmed down as he looked at the mother-daughter duo in front of him. In fact, the reason why he was so angry was because a previous creditor had gone to him and made him lose face in front of everyone else. That was why he had stomped his way home in a fit of fury.
He did feel somewhat guilty looking at his daughter’s aggrieved face, but as prideful as he was, William refused to concede.
He only barked, “Just what the hell is going on?!”
Lydia proceeded to explain the whole story about how Nicole was a shameless woman who wanted to steal Colton from Queenie.
William was frowning by the time Lydia had finished her story. With a clench of his fists, he finally managed to swallow his anger. “It is Miss Gardner’s birthday banquet tomorrow. Queenie, I want you to explain yourself to President and Mrs. Gardner when you go tomorrow.”
Queenie could only nod with tears in her eyes. There was no way she could tell them that she hadn’t received an invitation.
…
Wendy’s grand coming-of-age banquet was held in the Gardner Residence. An endless stream of luxury cars had come to a stop outside the entrance, and almost the whole street was filled with costly, lavish cars.
Nicole had gotten to the Gardner Residence with Todd way before the banquet started to properly doll Wendy up.
Wendy had a pleasant-looking face to begin with, but pairing her natural good looks with Nicole’s dress and Triton Studio’s jewelry had promptly made her look like a princess that had come straight out of a fairytale.
Even the makeup artists couldn’t stop with their shower of praises when they were putting makeup on Wendy.
Wendy was also satisfied with what she saw in the mirror. With this dress she had on, she was sure that she would amaze every guest the moment she made her appearance!
Anna’s attitude toward Nicole had now become extremely friendly. The older woman immediately held Nicole’s hand the moment she saw her coming, and kept asking her questions that showed that she cared.
“I have to thank you for Wendy’s dress, Nicole. Oh—where is Hayden? Why didn’t you bring him along?”
“There are too many people at these kinds of events,” Nicole replied with a smile. “Hayden is still a child. I didn’t want him to cause a commotion here, so I let him stay at home.”
Anna started frowning then. “It is normal for children to play around. How about I send someone over to bring Hayden here?”
Nicole still declined her offer. There were all kinds of people that would attend the event, and Hayden was a young child who was too curious to stay still. It would be trouble if he got lost roaming around. It seemed like the better plan to let him stay at home.
“I can bring Hayden over another day if you want to see him, Mrs. Gardner. Hayden doesn’t enjoy these events, anyway.”
Anna couldn’t continue persuading after Nicole had said that.
