Chapter 33: Chapter 33



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Two days ago, Helen was drinking alone at the bar. Coincidentally, she bumped into Annabelle.

They were sitting next to each other, and Helen could tell that Annabelle was quite drunk by the girl’s flushed face. Since Matthew was no longer a cripple, Annabelle had unwittingly lost her chance to marry into the Nelson Family because she had been too selfish to love a man who couldn’t fulfill her role. Annabelle was very resentful of that fact and couldn’t stop cursing Dolores.

Helen moved closer to Annabelle to establish a relationship between them. Helen learned from Annabelle that she was also from the Flores Family and that she hated Dolores, her half-sister, very much.

Helen was close to Matthew all the time, so if she was going to launch an attack against Dolores, she would be easily discovered. Therefore, she realized that she needed to manipulate Annabelle if she wanted Matthew back.

Although Annabelle was a lot like Beulah, she was nowhere near as cultured and literate. After all, Annabelle was only seventeen and still had a long way to go to reach maturity.

Helen had been well versed in the ways of society since she was young and, to top it off, was always learning from Matthew. As a result, she was very good with words.

She had told Annabelle that she worked for the WY Group and that it would be easy for her to help Annabelle eliminate Dolores.

Under Helen’s seduction, Annabelle struck a deal with her.

When Annabelle returned home, she immediately told Beulah what had happened.

Although the idea excited her, Beulah also feared Dolores’ revenge. Eight years ago, by having a daughter, Beulah became the New Mrs. Flores Family. Having a son gave her the opportunity to tempt Randolph to send Dolores and her mother away.

Therefore, Beulah accepted Annabelle’s proposal almost immediately. The two conspired and talked to a guy about their plan. They planned to take Dolores to a secluded place and have the guy rape her while taking pictures of the process. They wanted to destroy her and make Matthew get rid of such a dirty woman. Only they hadn’t planned for her to get away.

After answering Helen’s call, Annabelle went downstairs immediately, wanting to discuss with Beulah her next step in attacking Dolores. However, when she reached the living room, she sensed an ominous atmosphere hanging over everything.

Both Randolph and Beulah had grave expressions on their faces.

Annabelle walked toward them and sat down next to Beulah, wrapping her arms around her mother. “Mom, what’s wrong?” Beulah remained silent.

Randolph was very grumpy as he barked. “I never asked you to do anything weird. I just wanted you to apologize to her so she’d stop being so mean about the past. Now that the company is in trouble and we need your help.”

To be precise, they needed Matthew’s help. It seemed that Dolores had somehow endeared herself to Matthew, so they thought they had to first make a move on Dolores to get her on board.

However, based on Dolores’ tone that day, it seemed that she only wanted to focus on past misdeeds.

Randolph still harbored some feelings for Beulah, so if they weren’t in such a terrible situation, he would never even consider divorcing Beulah.

“Dad, who are you asking Mom to apologize to?” Annabelle couldn’t understand what was going on.

“And you… Dolores is still your sister. You should try to treat her even better.” Randolph shot a glance at Beulah. “Think about what I said. I’ll call her now to invite her to dinner tonight.”

Annabelle was not as calm and collected as Beulah. When she realized that her mother was being asked to apologize to Dolores, she immediately stood up and exploded. “Papa, how can you ask Mama to apologize to her?”

Randolph’s eyes were trembling slightly and he couldn’t understand why his usually obedient and sensible daughter was behaving so strangely forcefully at that moment.

“I’m your father, do you think you should talk to me like that?” Randolph finally replied in anger, “Let me set the record straight. If you are willing to apologize, everything is still up in the air; but if you refuse to apologize, I will divorce your mother immediately!”

Unlike his wife, he still gave priority to the company. As long as he could maintain his status in society, he would have no shortage of women to marry at any time. If he lost his wealth and status in society, it would mean he had reached his doom!

“Papa…”

“Annabelle!” Beulah instantly interrupted her daughter.

She was very clear about Randolph’s priority-why would she care about his dignity after all he’d been through? If he was serious, he’d divorce her in an instant. And all because of what had happened with Jessica and her mother. Even though they had been a family for a long time, he could abandon her at the drop of a hat.

Annabelle stomped her foot hard and folded her arms. “Dad, but why, who does Dolores think she is, and why do we have to apologize to her?”

With a loud crashing sound, Randolph threw the glass off the table against the nearest wall and looked at Beulah coldly. “Is this how you’ve been raising our daughter?”

Beulah stood up and wrung her hands. “Randolph, Annabelle doesn’t want to see me suffer for shame. She doesn’t know what she’s doing. She’s still young,” she explained as she tugged Annabelle up. “Apologize to your father now.”

Annabelle was reluctant to do so as she didn’t think she had done anything wrong.

“Do it now!”

Beulah spoke softly. Annabelle’s attitude would have been fine if it had been any other time, but they couldn’t afford to be stubborn now. If Annabelle continued to be so stubborn, it would only anger Randolph even more.

If Randolph turned his back on them, they would meet their doom.

Annabelle was flailing wildly, unwilling to back down. Beulah was getting more and more nervous as she slapped Annabelle’s back hard.

“Is this how I taught you to behave? Apologize to your father now! Quickly!”

As Beulah continued to coax her daughter, she was also trying to hint at her with her eyes.

Annabelle was still unwilling to change her stance, but finally sensed the gravity of the current situation, “Dad, I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

Randolph didn’t want to argue with them anymore and turned away from them both. “Prepare more dishes for dinner.”

Immediately after the conversation he left for work, as he still had a lot of business to attend to at the company.

As he reached the door, Randolph turned and looked at them one last time. “You two do nothing to help me with company business. All you know how to do is spend my money. What good are you two to me if you can’t do something as simple as apologize to someone we need?”

Randolph was still a heartless man when it came down to it even though, deep down, he still loved Beulah. He could tell the difference very clearly between hard benefits and feelings.

Annabelle ground her teeth when Randolph left. “Is Dad crazy?” Beulah plopped down on the couch and replied sarcastically. “He’s not crazy in the least. He’s the sanest person I know. Now that Dolores has gained Matthew’s trust, his scheming mind is planning to manipulate her to lure Matthew to his side so he doesn’t have to worry about losing the company.”

Annabelle was even more enraged to hear that. “If I were the one who ended up marrying Matthew, Dad would never have treated us in such a terrible way!”

Beulah stared at her daughter and nodded. Annabelle was as good as Dolores, if not better.

Beulah pulled Annabelle to her side and tried to calm her down. “Now is not the time to get upset over such trivial matters,” Beulah reprimanded as she stared into Annabelle’s eyes, “Do you like Matthew?”

Why ask the obvious? At the thought of Matthew, Annabelle couldn’t help but blush. She was still young, so she wasn’t good at hiding her emotions. She merely lowered her head shyly as she mumbled a silent reply.

Beulah gripped her daughter’s hand tightly. “You might still have a chance with him.”

“What chance are you talking about?” asked Annabelle, slightly surprised.

Beulah already had a plan in mind. She looked at her daughter. “You don’t have to worry about that now. You just need to get yourself all dressed up and leave everything else to me.”

Before leaving work, Dolores received a call from Randolph asking her to join them for dinner with the family. He was asking her to bring Matthew. Dolores couldn’t gauge Randolph’s motivations at all. Was he suspicious of her? He was already prying into her relationship with Matthew. If Randolph found out that Matthew didn’t really favor her, it was very likely that she wouldn’t be able to get everything and seek revenge against Beulah for what she had done to him. On the other hand, the idea of inviting Matthew to visit the Flores Family sounded even more ridiculous.

After finishing her last translation, Dolores sat at her desk deep in thought. She thought about how to convince Matthew to come home with her. After thinking for a long time, she couldn’t think of anything.

Helen wasn’t in the office, so Dolores jumped at the opportunity, wanting to have a conversation with Matthew.

She got up from her seat and racked her brain for a reason to enter his office. When her eyes fell on one of the translated documents, she picked it up immediately. All along Helen had been eliminating any contact between Matthew and Dolores. Helen always picked up Dolores’ translated papers and took them to Matthew herself.

When Dolores stood in front of Matthew’s office door, she inhaled deeply, and after a while….

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