CHAPTER 119: CHAPTER 119: PROTECTING THAT GIRL TO THE END

"Now that Third Master is single again, it’s a perfect opportunity, isn’t it, Mrs. Forrest? My niece is graduating from the Ivy League this year and returning home. If she could just have tea with you..."

"We can discuss that later. There’s no rush."

Katherine Rhodes’s voice echoed gracefully, but Jenson Forrest’s face was grim as he strode toward the small guest room.

"How can you not be in a hurry? Third Master is almost thirty, and your former daughter-in-law didn’t lay a single egg in two years of marriage... Oh my!"

In the small living room, three ladies were arranging flowers with Katherine Rhodes. The one who spoke was Mrs. Lewis.

She hadn’t finished her sentence when she inadvertently looked up and saw Jenson Forrest standing in the doorway.

The man wore a black mask, his expression unreadable, which only made him seem more chilling and intimidating.

Startled, Mrs. Lewis pricked her finger on a rose thorn, instantly drawing blood.

Her face paled as she forced a smile.

"Third Master..."

Katherine Rhodes turned her head, surprised to see Jenson Forrest there. She quickly set down the hydrangea she was holding and stood up with a smile.

"Jenson, why are you back? I was just chatting with your aunts about your marriage. They’re all very concerned about you..."

Before Katherine Rhodes could finish, Jenson Forrest cut her off.

His sharp gaze remained fixed on Mrs. Lewis as he said coolly, "So, Mrs. Lewis, your family breeds by laying eggs? No wonder President Lewis and you have eighteen children. I’m just curious, how many of those eggs did you lay yourself?"

Mrs. Lewis’s husband was a notorious philanderer with illegitimate children everywhere, while Mrs. Lewis herself had only borne one daughter.

Jenson Forrest’s words were like a dagger to her heart, and her face turned shades of white and green.

She opened her mouth, but meeting Jenson Forrest’s cold stare, she didn’t dare utter a single word.

Just last month, her husband only had thirteen illegitimate children. How did it suddenly become eighteen? So, Old Lewis had even more to hide!

With this thought, Mrs. Lewis grabbed her bag and scurried away in shame and anger. She had to get home and get to the bottom of this.

Jenson Forrest’s gaze then swept over the other two ladies.

"Mrs. Cohen, as bad as my wife may be, is she worse than your daughter-in-law, who had you raising another family’s grandson?"

Last year, it was discovered that this Mrs. Cohen’s grandson wasn’t of Cohen blood at all. It was a huge scandal, but they had covered it up tightly and sent the child abroad.

How did Jenson Forrest know about this?

Mrs. Cohen’s face turned ashen. Before she could say anything, Jenson’s gaze shifted to Mrs. Ward.

Mrs. Ward flinched and forced a laugh, quickly saying, "Third Master, I was just talking nonsense. I’m sorry, so sorry. Please excuse me."

She grabbed her bag and scurried out with her head down.

Seeing this, Mrs. Cohen hurried after her.

Within a minute, only Katherine Rhodes remained in the small living room, her expression exceedingly stiff.

Katherine Rhodes clutched her chest, her vision going black as she glared at Jenson Forrest.

"Those were my guests! Jenson, did you come back just to anger me to death?"

Jenson Forrest had left her with no dignity at all. How could she ever show her face in her social circle again?

His eyes were icy as he looked at the humiliated and furious Katherine Rhodes.

"When have you ever given me any dignity, Mother?"

"How could you say I..."

Katherine Rhodes’s angry retort was cut off by Jenson Forrest’s cold voice.

"A husband and wife are one! It’s not just my dignity you’ve ignored. You’ve trampled the face of the entire Forrest family into the dirt!"

Jenson Forrest’s voice was deep and harsh.

Caught in the blaze of his fury, Katherine Rhodes felt a mix of anger, grief, and a touch of guilty shame.

She never imagined that even as he was about to divorce Zinnia, he would still protect that girl to this extent!

She argued unreasonably, "You and Zinnia are getting divorced, aren’t you? Since you are, what’s wrong with me saying a few things about her to my friends? Was anything I said untrue? Is it worth you making such a scene and driving away all my guests?"

Seeing she still didn’t recognize her mistake, Jenson could only imagine how she must have treated Zinnia over the past two years.

His expression darkened. "When the Hawthorne family came with a marriage proposal, you told me that you had informed Zinnia and she was considering it. Is that true?"

His sudden question about something from four years ago stunned Katherine Rhodes. She instinctively wrung her hands guiltily.

"Of course, it was. Why would you suddenly..."

"No! You never told Zinnia at all. That night I was drugged... that was your doing too, wasn’t it, Mother?"

Jenson Forrest’s question was heavy. He had returned today precisely to get to the bottom of what happened back then.

He hadn’t expected to walk in on Katherine Rhodes gossiping with her friends. He knew his mother didn’t like Zinnia, but he hadn’t expected it to be this bad.

"What are you saying, Jenson? You are my son! I want to give you the very best of everything. Zinnia has nothing to her name. Why would I drug you just to let that ingrate Zinnia benefit? The one who drugged you was obviously that ungrateful wretch herself!"

Katherine Rhodes defended herself angrily, her brow furrowed.

"Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden? Did Zinnia say something to you again? She’s about to be divorced, so why is she still causing trouble and trying to sow discord between a mother and her son!"

Jenson Forrest stared at her. Katherine Rhodes’s disdain for Zinnia was blatant.

Looking at it this way, drugging him didn’t seem like something she would do.

He said grimly, "You still haven’t answered my question. Why did you lie and tell me Zinnia knew?"

Katherine Rhodes pursed her lips. "Why else? Your father had already agreed to the Hawthorne family’s proposal. Zinnia is an ingrate; she would never have obeyed. If I had let you know she was being kept in the dark, you would have broken with the family for that girl!

"I said what I did because I thought if you heard she was considering it herself, you might not interfere. You might let her obediently marry into the Hawthorne family. Who knew you’d still have a huge fight with your father.

"After you and that girl were embroiled in that scandal, Mrs. Hawthorne no longer wanted her, so the whole thing was dropped. I never saw the need to mention it to Zinnia again."

Who knew what kind of spell Zinnia had cast on Jenson Forrest, making him defy his family time and again for that wretched girl!

Jenson Forrest’s dark eyes bored into Katherine Rhodes. "You’d better hope that’s all it was."

Katherine Rhodes frowned, an inexplicable chill running down her spine.

Jenson Forrest added coldly, "Zinnia and I are not divorced yet. She is still my wife. If anyone slanders or belittles my wife again, I will not stand by and do nothing. And that includes you, Mother!"

Katherine Rhodes’s face went white. "What do you mean by that? What are you going to do to your own mother? Haven’t you defied your elders enough for that woman?"

Jenson Forrest had already turned to leave. A servant hurried over to console Katherine Rhodes.

As she was helped to the sofa, her chest heaved, her face ashen with fury.

Outside the window, a small figure ducked her head back and ran to her room—it was Julia Forrest.

After leaving Aria Villa, Jenson Forrest called Ryder Reynolds.

"Re-investigate what happened that night four years ago! Don’t miss a single detail."

He tapped his fingers on his knee, his eyes deep in thought as he said, "Focus on the servants who entered or exited Zinnia’s room that night, especially the ones who took out the trash."

A paper packet of powdered drugs couldn’t have just materialized in Zinnia’s trash can.

Once they found the person who meddled, they wouldn’t be far from the real culprit.

He had to find out who drugged him and what their motive was.

「That night.」

Zinnia lay in bed. She turned on the prenatal music on her phone, placed it on the bedside table, and was about to go to sleep when her WeChat beeped twice.

Zinnia picked up her phone and saw it was a video message from Julia Forrest.

Zinnia had been too busy to see Eighth much recently, but the two siblings still messaged each other on WeChat every day.

This little rascal is up so late. What could she be up to?

Zinnia smiled as she opened WeChat and saw the video from Eighth.

She tapped it open and froze as she saw its content.