She tilted back her head and closed her eyes with a sigh.

‘Theodore, that bewitching man, tempting without even realizing it!’

Vanessa hailed a cab back to the Fitzroy residence, where Mr. and Mrs. Fitzroy were enjoying a leisurely stroll in the yard. Spotting Vanessa’s return, Mrs. Fitzroy called out to her. “Vanessa, come here a minute.”

Pausing in her tracks, Vanessa turned and walked towards her parents. “Mom, how have you been feeling these past few days? Any trouble with your heart?”

Mrs. Fitzroy nodded slightly and said, “You remember my student Michael, right? He just got back from studying abroad and he asked about you when he heard you’re single. He’d like to take you out.”

The smile vanished from Vanessa’s face as if it had never been there. “Mom, I’ve told you, no blind dates for me. Theodore is the only one I’ll marry.”

“You!” Mrs. Fitzroy’s face turned sour with anger.

Mr. Fitzroy intervened to calm the situation, “Come on, honey, no need to get upset. Vanessa, is that the way to talk to your mother?”

Vanessa, fearing she might trigger a serious reaction in her mother, bit her lip and said, “I refuse to see him. No one but Theodore.”

“Why are you so stubborn? Theodore’s married now. You really want to be some shameful mistress?” Mrs. Fitzroy scolded.

Visiting the Reynolds’ family home, Mrs. Reynolds had escorted Vanessa to the restroom, lamenting they couldn’t bond through marriage but always defending Phoebe in her words.

Moreover, at the dinner table, it was clear that old lady Reynolds adored Phoebe too – Phoebe had become an integral part of the Reynolds clan.

Love might be between two people, but marriage binds two families. Vanessa was single-minded in trying to break up Theodore and Phoebe, but even putting aside Theodore’s wishes, with the Reynolds showing such affection for Phoebe, was a divorce even plausible?

Vanessa clenched her jaw, “Mistress or otherwise, once they divorce, I’ll be the legitimate wife. No one will dare gossip in front of me.”

With a resounding “slap,” Vanessa’s head reeled from a slap by Mr. Fitzroy. Her cheek flared with pain, swelling instantly.

Mr. Fitzroy seemed shocked by his own reaction, but what pained him more was seeing what his daughter had become.

His voice quivering, he said, “Vanessa, to think you’d stoop to being a mistress or worse. Where would that leave the Fitzroy family’s honor, huh?”

Vanessa, face stinging, touched her cheek and stared directly at Mr. Fitzroy. “If I’m such an embarrassment, you might as well disown me from the Fitzroy family, but I won’t give up on Theodore.”

Mr. Fitzroy let out a heavy sigh. “Is making me angry enough for a heart bypass surgery your way of being content?”

“Dad!” Vanessa looked at Mr. Fitzroy in disbelief. “Theo is my life. If I had known that the moment I stepped away three years ago, Phoebe would swoop in on him, I’d never have left his side. He’s mine. It was Phoebe who shamelessly stole him away, and all I did was take back what was rightfully mine. Why are you all pressuring me so much?”

Mr. Fitzroy trembled with anger, and Mrs. Fitzroy, her complexion turning from pale to ashen. Forgetting to scold his daughter, Mr. Fitzroy frantically fished out nitroglycerin tablets from his pocket and popped them into his mouth. “Mom, Mom, don’t scare me, please!” Vanessa fell to her knees, wailing as she clutched her mother’s hand. “I was wrong, Mom!”

Selfish as Vanessa was, she couldn’t bear the thought of her mother dying because of her.

Her mother swallowed the medicine, catching her breath. She withdrew her hand from Vanessa’s grasp; her voice was weak but firm, “You’re grown up now, with a mind of your own. We can’t control your life forever…” After a bout of coughing, she continued. “You should move out. From now on, your life has nothing to do with us… We’ll live as if we never had you as our daughter!”

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