CHAPTER 399: CHAPTER 399: MELODRAMA

The so-called grievances are actually a bit melodramatic.

Mrs. Hawthorne comes from an upper-class prestigious family. Although it has declined now, it was still prominent twenty to thirty years ago.

In addition to her beauty, she naturally had many suitors.

But Mrs. Hawthorne was naturally rebellious. She grew up in a wealthy family, where her parents taught her to follow rules and prioritize family affairs, but she despised such a life. Outwardly obedient and gentle, she already harbored a rebellious spirit inside.

It was during this time she met a young man from society— the kind with intimidating tattoos, riding a roaring motorcycle through the streets every day.

Mrs. Hawthorne was harassed by some thugs during an outing, and this young man saved her.

His flamboyant character, coupled with the scenario of a hero saving a beauty, led Mrs. Hawthorne to fall in love with this young man.

At that time, she was already engaged to Julian’s father, but on the day of her engagement, she ran away to find this young man and hid her identity to live with him.

She believed that as long as she had love, she could spend her life in poverty with this young man.

However, she soon realized she couldn’t. Having lived a life of luxury, she found the novelty of poverty exciting for a day or two, but over time, she couldn’t bear it.

What she considered constraints before, she began to long for once they were truly gone.

She wanted to enjoy the resources her parents provided for her but resented their interference in her life.

The young man also sensed her growing impatience and knew it was because of his lack of money. To keep Mrs. Hawthorne, he took the risk of kidnapping the Chambers Family’s daughter, who was also Paige’s mother, for ransom.

At that time, Jared Sullivan was already engaged to the Chambers Family’s daughter. He witnessed his fiancée being kidnapped and immediately drove after them, ultimately confronting the young man.

During the struggle, the young man pulled out a knife to attack Jared Sullivan. To defend himself, Jared inadvertently used that knife and accidentally killed the young man.

The man she loved was dead, and Mrs. Hawthorne was heartbroken.

In the end, the young man just wanted money. The Chambers Family could have given the money, so why did they have to kill him?

Moreover, her family had already discovered her whereabouts and didn’t even give her a chance to take care of the young man’s body before taking her away.

And her engagement with Julian’s father was to continue.

Originally promised to be engaged, Mrs. Hawthorne ran away, disappearing for months only to return, saying she wanted to continue her engagement with The Hawthorne Family. How could The Hawthorne Family not mind?

However, The Hawthorne Family didn’t know what happened during Mrs. Hawthorne’s disappearance. Her parents kept it a secret until after Julian was born.

But Mrs. Hawthorne’s parents insisted that she was merely young and naive at the time and was deceived. Since she married into The Hawthorne Family anyway, shouldn’t minding such matters seem petty?

Moreover, Julian’s father genuinely liked Mrs. Hawthorne and chose to overlook her past. Since the people involved didn’t mind, The Hawthorne Family eventually let the matter slide.

If Mrs. Hawthorne had from then on forgotten the past and truly behaved as The Hawthorne Family’s daughter-in-law, then there wouldn’t have been so many issues.

But Mrs. Hawthorne didn’t. She always remembered that her beloved man was killed by Jared Sullivan.

And not only did Jared Sullivan not face justice for killing her lover, but he thrived afterward, marrying the Chambers Family’s daughter, living happily, and Sullivan’s company flourished. Every time she saw Jared, she wished to kill him.

Mrs. Hawthorne began subtly urging Julian’s father to deal with the Sterling Family, but although Julian’s father loved her, he was not impulsive. How could he confront the Sterling Family for no reason? Besides, at that time, The Hawthorne Family’s greatest power still rested in Old Master Hawthorne’s hands.

To use The Hawthorne Family to avenge her first love, Mrs. Hawthorne orchestrated a play.

At a banquet, Jared Sullivan drank a little too much and went to rest in a lounge. Mrs. Hawthorne entered, disheveled her clothes, and then started screaming that Jared had assaulted her...

Jared Sullivan inexplicably became the one who assaulted Mrs. Hawthorne, also earning Julian’s father’s resentment.

Since then, Julian’s father indeed went all out to fight against the Sterling Family.

Mrs. Hawthorne watched with an inner sense of triumph.

To outsiders, the feud between the Sterling and Hawthorne families was due to Jared Sullivan drunkenly misbehaving with Mrs. Hawthorne. This was the reason Jared Sullivan was too embarrassed to explain the grudge between him and Mrs. Hawthorne to Paige.

Even though it was later verified as a setup by Mrs. Hawthorne, it still sounded unpleasant to speak of it.

Jared Sullivan only then understood the source of Mrs. Hawthorne’s hostility towards him.

He didn’t feel he had done anything wrong. Mrs. Hawthorne loved her first love, but didn’t he love his fiancée? Was he supposed to watch his fiancée be kidnapped to satisfy Mrs. Hawthorne?

To him, Mrs. Hawthorne’s hatred was bewildering.

Now that The Hawthorne Family was targeting the Sterling Family, did they think the Sterling Family would just take it lying down?

So for that period, The Hawthorne Family and the Sterling Family were locked in a fierce battle.

Until Old Master Hawthorne found out about it.

No matter how deep The Hawthorne Family’s roots were, the Sterling Family wasn’t an easy target either, especially since they had allied with the Chambers Family. Wasn’t The Hawthorne Family’s conduct pushing for mutual destruction with the Sterling Family? There was no enmity between the families, so why sacrifice the entire Hawthorne Family for Mrs. Hawthorne’s personal vendetta?

Therefore, Old Master Hawthorne intervened in time to stop his son and, to prevent his son from being influenced by pillow talk, even took back control of The Hawthorne Family and personally sought reconciliation with Jared Sullivan.

However, since then, the families have had no further dealings, both minding their own business.

Mrs. Hawthorne’s grand revenge plan ended in vain, leaving her somewhat deranged. She grew increasingly dissatisfied with her husband, who could not avenge her, and increasingly discontent with The Hawthorne Family, even taking it out on the young Julian.

Whenever her husband went out, she would lock her son in the basement and treat Julian as if he were an enemy to vent her hatred for The Hawthorne Family.

To her, this child wasn’t the offspring of her first love, so she didn’t care for him.

For a long time, Julian’s father didn’t know about the life Julian was living because every time he came home, Mrs. Hawthorne would behave affectionately towards their son, and Julian, silent from a young age and threatened by his mother, dared not speak up.

Until one day, Julian also ran away from home, and no one in The Hawthorne Family could find him.

Half a month later, someone reported to the police. The police stormed into a villa and found Julian, covered in injuries, confined inside.

The Hawthorne Family only then discovered that Mrs. Hawthorne had already found Julian but had locked him in this villa, openly abusing him.

The only reason they were discovered was that a little girl accidentally stumbled into the villa, found Julian, and called the police.

When Julian woke up in the hospital, he had lost his memory of that period. The doctor said his brain might have been injured, so Julian experienced selective amnesia.

After all, being mistreated by one’s own mother was too cruel a memory for a child.

Moreover, since then, Julian developed a strange condition whereby if anyone touched him, his eyes would turn blood-red.