Unexpected Love: The Chief Auctioneer's Decision
Chapter 125: Bullying—Sophie Reveals Everything, No One Escapes
CHAPTER 125: CHAPTER 125: BULLYING—SOPHIE REVEALS EVERYTHING, NO ONE ESCAPES
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"Ah!"
Annelise Lancaster cried out, falling directly to the ground.
Two masked little ones helped Sophie up.
With her eyes red, Sophie immediately recognized her two brothers.
Sophie called softly, "Brother?"
Annelise Lancaster got up from the ground, her little face flushed with anger, and shouted, "Who are you?"
Nathan and Leo didn’t answer her, their cold eyes behind the masks staring directly at Annelise Lancaster.
Annelise Lancaster was a bit scared, and the others who were bullying Sophie also backed away.
Nathan stepped forward step by step, although due to the age difference, Nathan appeared shorter than Annelise Lancaster, his aura was not weak at all, even scaring Annelise Lancaster into retreating a few steps.
"Mommy says not to hit girls."
Nathan’s voice was low, "But Mommy also said, never let anyone bully my sister."
"What are you mumbling about?" Annelise Lancaster tried to hold her head high, "I tell you, I am a child of the Lancaster family, Damien Lancaster is my dad, if you hit me, my dad won’t let... Ah!"
Annelise Lancaster didn’t have the chance to finish before Nathan grabbed her, flipping her over his shoulder and slamming her to the ground.
Sophie was well protected in Yrador and hadn’t learned martial arts, but Nathan and Leo had been trained by Noah Scott’s subordinates.
Though they couldn’t fight adults, dealing with Annelise Lancaster was easy.
Annelise Lancaster was once again hurled to the ground by the ice-cold Nathan, and she started crying from the pain, "You hit me, I’m going to tell grandpa and grandma, I’m going to tell dad, I want you to pay!"
The others were about to run when Leo stopped them, "Where do you think you’re going?"
"Sophie, however they bullied you, bully them back," Nathan approached and pulled Sophie over.
Sophie looked at Annelise Lancaster, sitting on the ground crying, without any expression on her flushed face from being hit.
Annelise Lancaster defiantly held her head high, "If you dare hit me, I’ll tell Dad!"
At this moment, Ivy Summers came out.
Seeing that someone would arrive soon, Nathan and Leo had to leave first to avoid being exposed.
Ivy Summers ran over, "Sophie?"
Ivy Summers squatted down and saw the bruises on Sophie’s face, her hair resembling a bird’s nest.
Ivy Summers immediately glanced at the group of kids in front of her, realizing this was not the result of normal play.
Ivy Summers understood what had happened, trying to stay calm, looked at Sophie, "Sophie, what happened, tell Auntie."
Sophie pointed at Annelise Lancaster, "She and they bullied me, she pushed me down, sat on me, scratched my face, pulled my hair, and she was the one who pushed me into the water last time too."
Ivy Summers frowned, looking toward Annelise Lancaster.
Annelise Lancaster stood up, "I didn’t!"
Damien Lancaster also came out, asking, "What happened?"
Annelise Lancaster immediately ran toward Damien Lancaster, playing the victim first, "Dad, Sophie bullied me, Sophie bullied me."
Damien Lancaster looked down at Annelise Lancaster, then turned his gaze to the cold-faced Ivy Summers and Sophie nestled within Ivy Summers’ embrace, asking, "What’s going on?"
Ivy Summers gently brushed Sophie’s hair, comforting her, "Sophie, don’t be afraid, Auntie understands."
Ivy Summers stood up, walked toward Annelise Lancaster, and coldly pulled her out, crouched down, and asked, "Do you know what happens when kids lie?"
Annelise Lancaster stood dumbly, seeing Ivy Summers’s expression, she shook her head in fear.
"Then shall Auntie tell you?"
One moment Ivy Summers was kindly, the next she yanked Annelise Lancaster’s collar and tossed her to the ground.
With a "smack", Annelise Lancaster hit the ground hard, crying out from the pain.
Even Damien Lancaster didn’t have time to react, frowning, "What are you doing?"
"She brought this group of kids to bully Sophie, go look at Sophie’s face, do you know what this behavior is? It’s bullying!"
"Ivy!" Seraphina Kennedy, just arriving to witness the scene, strode over and helped Annelise Lancaster up, angrily saying, "What are you doing? Are you crazy, laying hands on a child?"
"Grandma, she hit me, they all bullied me."
"Ivy Summers, how dare you bully my Annelise." Seraphina Kennedy stood up, ready to avenge Annelise Lancaster.
But Ivy Summers was not one to back down, easily parrying Seraphina Kennedy’s hand, pointing to the surveillance camera facing their direction, "Annelise Lancaster, there’s a camera here! Better think clearly before you speak."
Annelise Lancaster froze.
Damien Lancaster looked toward Sophie, calling someone to get the surveillance footage, his brows deeply furrowed.
Annelise Lancaster sobbed, hiding in Seraphina Kennedy’s embrace.
Seraphina Kennedy glanced at Sophie, feeling Ivy Summers was blowing things out of proportion, "It’s just minor scuffles between kids, aren’t you exaggerating a bit?"
"I don’t consider this minor scuffles; this is outright bullying."
Bullying once guarantees a second time.
Last time, Annelise Lancaster pushed Sophie into the water, and this time she’s bullying her with a group of kids. What about next time?
What’s going to happen next time?
The commotion soon alarmed the people inside, and some of the parents of these children came out. Seeing that the situation wasn’t right, they wanted to take their own kids and leave.
Ivy Summers spoke up directly, "No one is allowed to leave until this matter is resolved."
"Ivy Summers, what are you doing? Are you trying to rebel in my Lancaster Family?" Seraphina Kennedy questioned sternly.
Ivy looked at Seraphina Kennedy, "Don’t you trust Annelise Lancaster’s words? Let’s look at the evidence then."
The surveillance evidence was quickly brought over.
The footage indeed showed Annelise Lancaster leading these kids to harm Sophie, but two children wearing masks appeared and saved Sophie. Ivy immediately recognized them as Nathan and Leo.
The emotions in Ivy’s eyes shifted imperceptibly.
Damien Lancaster also saw the two masked children.
There were plenty of kids at home today, but none were wearing masks.
Where did these two children come from?
Damien Lancaster was suspicious.
"Did you see clearly? If this isn’t bullying, what is it?" Ivy Summers was even angrier after watching the surveillance footage.
She couldn’t believe how a child could be so bad.
Seraphina Kennedy looked at Annelise Lancaster in her arms, and Annelise immediately cried out, "Grandma, it’s Sophie who always bullies me at home, so this time I just got back at her."
"You’re lying, I didn’t!" Sophie loudly defended herself.
Seraphina protected Annelise, "Did you hear that? Sophie bullied Annelise first. How could our well-behaved and sensible Annelise bully someone?"
Ivy Summers doubted if Seraphina Kennedy was blind.
"Damien, say something."
After a long silence, Damien Lancaster spoke, "I believe Annelise Lancaster wouldn’t bully anyone..."
Ivy Summers kept a cold face, "Damien Lancaster!"
"To prevent Annelise Lancaster from being bullied again, from today onwards, Annelise Lancaster is not allowed to step into the Imperial Bay Villa. If this happens again, for Annelise Lancaster’s safety, she will have to be sent back to the orphanage."
As Damien’s words fell, Annelise couldn’t even cry.
Although she was still young, she could tell that Damien’s words were in favor of Sophie.
"And what about you?"
Damien Lancaster looked at the children hiding behind their parents, "Apologize to Sophie."
With the surveillance in place, the parents naturally dared not defend their own children. One by one, they all apologized to Sophie.
Ivy Summers was not satisfied with such an outcome, but she knew that since it was the old man’s birthday banquet, it wouldn’t look good to cause a bigger scene.
Ivy Summers picked up Sophie and left.
And the scene just now was watched clearly by Rachel Shaw from the shadows.
Although she didn’t know who those two children were, Rachel Shaw felt that they were not simple.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have worn masks to hide themselves.
Ivy Summers took Sophie to treat her wounds. At this moment, Ivy noticed two small figures flashing by in the shadows.
Ivy put away her gaze, carried Sophie to find a doctor first, then quietly went out and called Nathan and Leo.
Soon Nathan and Leo appeared.
"Mommy."
Ivy walked over quickly, full of surprise, "Why are you back?"
"Because we missed Mommy, we planned to come back to see Mommy and Sophie, and didn’t expect to see them bullying Sophie when we arrived," Leo said, clenching his tiny fists angrily.
"Alright, Mommy knows. It’s too easy to be noticed here; it’s not the place to talk. Go home first, we’ll talk later."
"Okay."
The two little ones quickly left, and Ivy Summers, fearing anything unexpected, followed them out and felt relieved when she saw them get in the car.
Just as she was about to head back, Ivy Summers saw a familiar-looking person walking past the old mansion gate.
Ivy narrowed her eyes slightly.
She wondered if it was just an illusion, but she felt that person looked very much like one of the men who escaped after kidnapping Sophie.
The police hadn’t given up on pursuing this man, and he had already been wanted. Logically, he shouldn’t have been able to escape Aethelgard, but unfortunately, he hadn’t been caught.
Thinking, Ivy followed, and when she recognized the back and the figure, she immediately took out her phone to contact the police.
The road outside the old mansion was quiet, with few pedestrians and vehicles, making it especially secluded. The man in front walked faster and farther away.
Ivy didn’t dare to follow too closely; her heart was on edge when suddenly a hand reached out from behind, covering her mouth and dragging her aside.