Hilary was fearful of Zach because every tender gesture he made was usually accompanied by motives and selfish reasons.
Hilary knew Zach too well from her years spent with him, and she was aware that if she wanted to remain as Mrs. Garrett and live a luxurious life, she needed to obey him.
Hilary did not even resist when he grabbed her phone.
Once the call was connected, Zach’s voice sounded very gentle and loving.
“Clary? It’s me, Zach. As an elder, I need to check on you since you’re getting married soon. Since this is also your home, come over for a meal with Mr. Tyson when you have time. Hehe, your mom was thinking about that too, but she was too embarrassed to call first. Please don’t take it personally, alright? I’ll be waiting for the both of you… Really? In that case, you are welcome to come by yourself. Jonathan’s having his holiday soon and will be returning home too, you siblings have always been close…”
Zach chatted with Clarissa for quite some time as he was trying to cultivate a good bond with her. Through the phone, he spoke to Clarissa as if she and he had a great relationship, more than the general father-daughter relationship.
While listening to their conversation, Yvonne was filled with jealousy. However, now that Clarissa had realized her dream, if she wanted to continue opposing Clarissa, her father would be extremely unhappy.
Most importantly, as long as Clarissa still had control over her, she had to avoid making any rash decisions.
Now that her relationship with Mason had hit a rock and he had been putting on hold their marriage plans, Yvonne wondered if he had discovered something. After getting engaged to Mason, even though she still fooled around, she remained cautious the entire time.
As Mason had been consistently putting off the marriage plans, Yvonne became suspicious.
After feeling that she was losing her position in her family, Yvonne didn’t want to stay any longer, so she got up and left.
As soon as Zach hung up the phone, he stopped her from leaving and said, “Yvonne, come here. Where are you going?”
Yvonne rolled her eyes and replied, “Where else can I go?”
Zach responded, “Clary is getting married soon. What about you and Mason?”
“How would I know? Since he doesn’t want to get married, what can I do?”
Zach furrowed his eyebrows unhappily and said, “Ask him to come over soon as I have something I want to say to him.”
Yvonne nodded and left.
Before Hilary could ask if Clarissa agreed to come for dinner, Zach was already staring at her with darkened eyes.
“Hilary, what exactly did you say to Clary that made her turn down the dinner invitation. You better tell me the truth, what makes her so angry that she refused an elder’s invitation? What exactly did you do to offend your child?”
“I…”
Hilary was also furious as she thought to herself. What do you mean by offending Clarissa? It’s that brat who went up against me.
However, she did not dare to tell the truth after looking at Zach’s cold stare.
Since she wanted Clarissa and Matthew to break up, Zach wouldn’t be able to take advantage of it if that happened, and Zach wouldn’t be able to acquire the fortune he coveted. She might be skinned alive if he knew what she was up to.
Hilary trembled as she couldn’t look Zach in the eye, then she replied softly, “I didn’t offend her, it was just her throwing a tantrum. Everything will be fine after a while.”
Zach replied in disbelief, “Really?”
“Of course, you don’t need to worry, just wait until I talk to her properly. She has become even more ill-tempered since she got together with Matthew. So, please don’t rush it, it will get better with time.”
Hilary coaxed and talked gently to Zach, hoping that her husband would stop pursuing the matter any further.
Hilary instantly called Clarissa as he answered a call related to work.
Since Clarissa had already rejected Zach and decided to cut off ties with Hilary, it only made sense that she wouldn’t go over to the Garrett’s for dinner or anything like that.
Clarissa could easily guess what Zach was thinking, however, he did not know Hilary’s intentions yet.
When Clarissa answered Hilary’s call again, Hilary’s voice was nonchalant as always as she declared, “Spoiled brat. What’s the meaning of this? Are you really thinking of cutting ties with me? You even turned down Zach’s invitation, aren’t you worried he will hit me again?”
Clarissa smiled coldly as she said, “Alright then, I’ll go visit the Garretts since you’re the one who is asking me to go. When the time comes, I’ll let Zach know why I didn’t want to go initially and why I wanted to cut ties with you.”
“You… Spoiled brat, I’m your mother. Are you threatening me now?”
“You are the one who’s threatening me now. Alright, just wait and see what Zach would do if I break up with Matthew.”
“Y-y-you… You’re such an ungrateful daughter. How can you treat me like this? You’re really mad.”
“Hah!”
Clarissa scoffed as she continued, “Whatever you want to say. You should know clearly whether or not you wanted me to do that. So should I go to the Garrett’s house or not?”
Hilary had really put herself in a difficult position.
She couldn’t agree to either one as she couldn’t tell Zach the truth as well.
Hilary gritted her teeth in frustration, but she had no control over Clarissa.
Instead, Clarissa said nonchalantly, “It is fine if you do not have anything to say. You know that the relationship between us is so fragile that it’s not even as good as the one you have with Shermaine. At first, I couldn’t understand why you preferred her to me, your daughter. I then remembered the time when you slapped me personally in the face because of Yvonne. You think anyone is more important than your own daughter, and I am not even as good as a stranger to you. Therefore, I have nothing to think about anymore. Since you don’t like me, I don’t have to obey you. As a matter of fact, you shouldn’t have contacted me at all to tell me about your whereabouts and you should pretend that I don’t exist as a daughter instead. I will also tell myself that my mother died a long time ago. I think this is the best.”
As Clarissa hung up the phone, she was not bothered by Hilary’s pattern of causing her heart to ache over and over again since she had been long accustomed to it.
Despite the common belief that mothers love their children, there were mothers who dislike them instinctively as well. There was probably no logical explanation as to why my mother dislikes me.
Clarissa could only believe that was the case.
While Catherine listened to Clarissa’s phone call, she couldn’t help but sigh deeply.
“Your mom is selfish. In fact, it’s also my fault. If I hadn’t asked you to go to find her, things wouldn’t have turned out this way.”
Clarissa shook her head and said, “Grandma, even if you hadn’t done so, she would do her best to get me to come over. To her, I am just a tool that she makes use of when she can and discards when I’m of no use. Now, she wants to take away my happiness for the sake of another person. I am no longer sad, even though I don’t understand how she can be so heartless to me. A heartless person such as her cannot be explained by common sense.”
Catherine frowned and asked, “Why does she want to ruin your happiness? Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”
It was only then Clarissa realized she had spoken too much.
However, she didn’t want to hold back anymore. She then revealed to Catherine how Hilary liked and was eager to see Shermaine, as well as how she wanted to break her up with Matthew because of Shermaine.
Upon hearing that, Catherine was unable to contain her anger. Then she asked, “Her family name is Smallwood?”
“That’s right. What’s the matter, Grandma? Could it be that you know Shermaine as well?”
As Catherine shook her head, she pondered for a while. Having only felt that it wasn’t as simple as she had thought, Clarissa waited for Catherine to respond.
Catherine stated, “If this girl whose family name is Smallwood and her father’s name is James, then I know the reason.”
“James?”
Since she hadn’t really cared about the name of Shermaine’s father, Clarissa immediately asked Gina, who was usually able to remember all information in her head.
Upon receiving Gina’s confirmation, Catherine smiled bitterly.
“This shameless woman. After so many years, she still dares to… Shameless.”
Catherine’s rage was fuming as she smacked the sofa next to her angrily.
Feeling shocked by that, Clarissa had already imagined a huge scene in her head based on Catherine’s reaction.
“Grandma, could James be…” An adulterer?
At the thought of that, Clarissa believed Hilary was capable of doing such a thing.
Catherine’s eyes were filled with anger and disgust.
“Despite the fact that she is your mother, I still have to tell you that she has loose morals and was always fooling around. She wanted to divorce your father when she was pregnant with you. If it hadn’t been for the Smallwood being unattracted to her, she might have run away with someone else. She married again after all these years, but I never thought she would hurt you for that Smallwood man. Clare, tell me where this shameless woman is, I want to teach her a lesson. As a woman, let alone a mother, she is utterly shameless.”
Catherine gripped her cane tightly and hit it against the floor as if she was striking Hilary instead.
As she digested this entire situation in her mind, Clarissa was no longer surprised.
It seems like she has always been like that. Previously, she could hit me because of Yvonne and now, she could hurt me because of Shermaine. It’s the same logic. In her heart, she only cared about those men and their children, she doesn’t even care about her own daughter.
Clarissa pursed her lips as she grabbed Catherine’s hands and said reassuringly, “Grandma, I’ve already known the reason now and the reason is that she simply doesn’t love me. Since she doesn’t love me, I won’t love her too! Let’s not be angry, if you’re angry because of such a woman, I will be heartbroken. In addition, that is also her own business. She is a married woman now but still thinking about other men, which has nothing to do with us. Anyway, I will not allow myself to be bullied by her. We should just move on with our lives. She might be in trouble one day if her husband discovered her intentions, but it won’t matter anymore.”
Without any feelings left for her, whatever Hilary did or encountered, Clarrisa would only treat those matters indifferently.
