.
As soon as he said this, the atmosphere in the room became tense.
âNo!â
âNo way!â
Joel and Tanyaâs voices were heard at the same time, making Heather frown. She didnât dare speak to Joel, but instead looked directly at Tanya. âHow can you talk to your mother-in-law like that? Even though that woman wasnât your birth mother, you grew up with the Joneses. You should know basic manners, shouldnât you, who taught you to address your elders in such a loud manner?â
Tanyaâs chest rose and fell as she looked at Heather and said slowly, âI know youâre unhappy with me, but Mia is the daughter Iâve been looking for for five years. Iâm definitely not going to part with her now.â
Heather lowered her head. âSpeaking of which, I have to criticize you even more. Tanya, how can you call yourself a mother? How could you lose the child and let Hillary carry her? You helped her cheat our family for so many years! Besides, I heard that she even abused the child?! This is all because you didnât take good care of the child!â
Every word he said was like a knife, a knife that stabbed into Tanyaâs heart.
She had felt guilty for five years.
She had even wanted to torture Hillary after seeing Miaâs woundsâ¦..
Although Hillary was now dead, Tanya still had frequent nightmares. She often dreamed that Mia was lost again. She would usually wake up in the middle of the night and run to Miaâs room. She would only calm down when she saw Mia safe and sound.
Therefore, he had no way to refute this sentence!
Seeing her stutter, Heather was about to continue talking when Joel pounced on Tanya and said, âIâm the girlâs father. The child grew up under my guardianship, but I didnât protect her well. In that case, Iâm more responsible! Are you going to scold me now?â.
How could Heather dare to scold him like that?
Their relationship hadnât been terrible since Joel was young. After Joel became the leader, her aura became stronger, AND she didnât dare offend him!
She told him, âYouâre too busy with work and you have to take care of the company. Itâs okay for you to be a little careless. Besides, if Tanya hadnât lost the child, this wouldnât have happened. How can you be blamed? Tanya is not a qualified mother.â
âHey!â
Joel then scoffed. âSo, are you a qualified mother? What right do you have to criticize Tanya?â
Heather pursed her lips.
Amos instantly tossed the teacup he was holding onto the coffee table. âJoel, how can you talk to your mother like that, weâre doing this for Miaâs sake! Weâre her grandparents, how can we hurt her? Besides, youâre not by our side all year and you follow Ian around every day â shouldnât your daughter be living with us?â
Hearing this, Joel scoffed.
He looked down and suddenly said, âAre you sure you want to take Mia abroad for her own good? To keep her company? Isnât it so that you can ask me for money?â
His words pierced through her thoughts.
Heatherâs face instantly turned red.
Amos stood up angrily. âJoel, how can you say that, do we have such a crude image in your heart?â
âDonât we?â
A sarcastic smile hung on Joelâs lips.
Nora, who was standing in the doorway, understood instantly.
It turned out that Amos and Heather had insisted on taking Mia with them because they were worried that, after going abroad, Joel wouldnât give them moneyâ¦.
As long as Mia was by their side, they wouldnât be afraid that Joel wouldnât recognize them as his parents, would they?
Nora frowned-what kind of strange parents were they?
It was no wonder her brother didnât have a good relationship with his parents. Joel looked directly at Amos, whose aura weakened againâ¦. Just at that momentâ¦
Bam!
Ian suddenly crashed the teacup in his hand hard against the floor with a loud clatter.
He slowly raised his head and looked at Amos with a pair of eagle-sharp eyes. His voice was very cold. âAmos, I didnât expect you to still be so shameless after all these years! When you leave, the Smiths will undoubtedly give you a great deal of money. No matter how much you spend in this life, it will be enough! Why are you still so greedy?â
When Amos heard this, he swallowed hard and said slowly, âIan, thatâs not what I mean. Everyone knows that the days of the side family gets worse with every generation. Your sister-in-law and I adopted another daughter. She will also marry in the future. We must give the money to her and her childrenâ¦â
At that moment, Heather jabbed him in the arm.
Amos finally realized that he had gone too far.
Indeed, it was unreasonable to ask Joel for money and leave it to his adopted daughter.
Therefore, he shut his mouth.
On the other hand, Heather suddenly said, âIan, itâs not really that Amos and I are unreasonable. Itâs just that itâs really inappropriate for Mia to stay in the country. I have a video here for you to watch.â
With that, he pulled out his phone and opened a video before handing it to Ian.
Joel and Tanya walked behind Ian and watched it together.
Nora raised her eyebrows and slowly walked over as well. She wanted to see what Heather was doing now.
The video was of Miaâs daycare.
A group of children were playing with Legosâ¦.
Mia was sitting alone in a small corner, building a princess toy.
However, she was missing some pieces. She got up and walked over to the Lego box. She set out to find the missing pieces.
However, as soon as she got close, the children immediately scattered.
âMiaâs grandfather is a murderer! We donât want to play with her.â
âMy mother used to say that murderers have madness in their genes. Itâs contagious. Mia, get away from us!â
âThatâs right! Stay away from us!â
âA murdererâs granddaughter is a little murderer. Will Mia kill people in the future?â
âMy mother said she would. She might go crazy someday!â
âAh, itâs too scary! Boohoo, I donât want to die!â
The children chattered and screamed. No one attacked Mia, but their actions made her feel hurt.
The little girl stared dazedly at the group of people. She waved her hands. âDonât be afraid. Iâm not going to kill anyone. Iâm really⦠Iâm really not going to kill anyoneâ¦â
âI donât believe you! Anyway, Iâm not going to play with you! I wonât be your friend either!â
âMe too. Mia, go away. We donât want to talk to you!â
The world of children was very simple, so her words were even more hurtful.
If it were between adults, Tanya wouldnât mind these words, but Mia would. She was already sensitive and fragile. Mia lowered her head and felt like she would never be able to lift it up.
Then Mia sighed quietly and returned to her seat. As soon as she returned, however, she realized that someone had broken the lego toy she had made.
She looked at it in a daze. Finally, she sat alone in a corner and lowered her head in frustration. She said nothing more.
That little girl softened oneâs heart.
Nora sighed silently.
Even her heart ached to see this, not to mention Tanya!
When Nora looked up, she saw that Tanyaâs eyes were already red. She struggled to control her emotions as her body trembled slightly.
In the past few days, while Karl had been in prison, she had turned her full attention to him.
When Mia had said she wanted to go to the garden with Pete, Tanya had let her go. She had also told Joel to pay more attention to her daughter. However, he hadnât expected his daughter to be harassed in the gardenâ¦.
Joel hugged her shoulder and gently patted her as if to give her strength. âDonât worry.â Even though Mia was rejected, she was better than the other children. She was one of the Smiths, so those people didnât dare touch her.
It was just psychological isolation.
Joel had learned about Miaâs situation long ago. He knew all about it.
Joel looked at Heather and asked coldly, âWhat do you mean by showing us this?â
Heather said directly, âIâm telling you the child is not happy in the garden! She needs to come with us! Leave this place and move to a new environment. Live well in a place where no one knows her.â
She said sincerely, âJoel, you are in charge of the company, so you definitely canât leave. Tanya is your wife. You are newlyweds and you are not ready to separate. Therefore, weâd better take Mia overseas. Besides, if you really canât bear to leave the child, then the two of you can have another oneâ¦â
Joel felt that these words were really stinging. âWhat are children to you â are they commodities? Or are they pets? If Mia leaves, can I have another one?â
Heather pursed her lips. âNo matter what you say, Iâm doing this for your own good! Youâve seen it too, Miaâs being put away and isolated in the garden! Youâre still her parents, doesnât your heart ache?â
Joel lowered his eyes. âMia is growing up. Her issues will work out just fine. Donât worry about this. She wonât mind this in the future.â
Instantly, Heather pointed at his nose and scolded him, âWhat do you know, do you think Mia is as ruthless as you? Do you think Mia is just like you, that she doesnât care at all about other peopleâs opinions? Let me tell you that in this country, with her grandfather in jail, Mia will be despised for the rest of her life. Something big will happen sooner or later! Either you let Mia go with us or you divorce this murdererâs daughter.â
Nora couldnât listen to this anymore. She said, âWho said Karl is a criminal!â
Heather scoffed. âHeâs already in jail and theyâre not going to let him go. They must have enough evidence to keep him there. They canât keep him there just to make friends, can they?â
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