Chapter 417

After soothing the baby, Mrs. Vance, Melody Summers, and Joyce Lawson left the bedroom, closing the door behind them and heading into the living room.

Joyce Lawson was the first to speak. "I’ve been keeping a close watch these past few days. Ever since they found out I ran away, the Suttons went straight to 1501. They knocked on the door for a long time, but no one answered."

Yvonne York had been the matchmaker for Joyce Lawson and Ethan Sutton’s engagement. Now that Joyce was missing, Margaret Adler and Sean Sutton had, of course, gone straight to Yvonne York.

What Margaret Adler and Sean Sutton didn’t know, however, was that Yvonne York was in no position to open the door for them—she was still tied up in her bedroom.

And Noelle Quillan certainly wasn’t going to open the door. Following Melody Summers’ instructions, she had barricaded the door with a sofa and a cabinet. No matter how much they knocked, she ignored it. Her days were spent watching Gene Young and his wife, and making food without a care in the world.

Unable to get anyone in 1501 to open the door and unable to contact Yvonne York, Margaret Adler and Sean Sutton had no choice but to go upstairs to 1601 to find Joyce Lawson’s mother, Yvonne York.

Margaret Adler and Sean Sutton felt that since they had given Yvonne York such a generous betrothal gift, it couldn’t all be for nothing. If Yvonne York couldn’t produce Joyce Lawson, then she would have to return all the gifts and the money.

But no matter how hard they knocked, no one at 1601 answered either. The couple was both furious and frantic, but there was nothing they could do. The hallway was freezing, so they could only retreat home in defeat.

Joyce Lawson remarked, "I brought all those betrothal gifts they gave me down here. There’s a lot of good stuff. Tsk, tsk. They really spared no expense to buy a wife for their son."

Melody Summers immediately corrected her. "Those aren’t betrothal gifts, that’s blood money from human trafficking!"

Mrs. Vance pursed her lips. "That couple is just despicable. Back where I’m from, we’d tie up human traffickers and throw them in the river! Letting them off the hook like this is far too easy on them!"

A smile touched Melody Summers’ lips. She said to Mrs. Vance, "Don’t you worry. They won’t get off easy. Their suffering has only just begun."

Melody thought to herself, ’As they say, it takes a villain to deal with a villain. When it comes to people like the Suttons, Joanne White is the one for the job.’

******

「Meanwhile, in the living room of 1506.」

Joanne White and Margaret Adler stood in the living room. The floor was a complete mess, strewn with shattered porcelain and food.

Joanne White stared at the overturned tray on the floor, a bewildered look on her face.

Margaret Adler, however, just snorted. "Are your arms made of noodles?" she sneered. "Can’t even hold a tray steady?"

Before Joanne White could say a word, Sean Sutton came out of the bedroom, having heard the noise.

Seeing the shattered mess on the floor and then the hurt, helpless expression on Joanne White’s face, Sean Sutton immediately scowled.

Without even asking what had happened, he looked directly at Margaret Adler and said wearily, "What is it now? What kind of scene are you making?"

Margaret Adler’s face flooded with disbelief. She stared at Sean Sutton. "Me? Making a scene? You didn’t even ask, and you immediately assume it’s me?"

Margaret Adler pointed at Joanne White. "That little bitch dropped it herself! What does it have to do with me?!"

Sean Sutton’s face darkened. "Margaret, that’s enough," he said, displeased. "How can you talk like that? Calling her a ’little bitch’? Where did your good breeding go?"

A sarcastic smile touched Margaret Adler’s lips. "I have no breeding?" she said, her voice dripping with scorn. "After what the two of you have done, you have the gall to talk to me about breeding?"

At this, Sean Sutton’s expression grew even darker.

Before he could speak, Joanne White, who had been standing silently to the side, seemed to snap out of a daze. She rushed to Margaret Adler’s side and said in a placating tone, "Miss Adler, please don’t be angry. It was all my fault, I dropped the tray by accident. Sutton was just worried about me. Please don’t fight with him."

Miss Adler?

Sutton?

Margaret Adler felt her fury instantly erupt.

Forgetting all about her high-society decorum, she shoved Joanne White hard and roared, "Get away from me! You little bitch! Have you no shame?!"

Thrown off balance by the shove, Joanne White cried out and stumbled backward.

Seeing this, Sean Sutton rushed forward and caught Joanne White, pulling her firmly into his embrace.

Looking at Joanne White’s shaken expression, Sean Sutton asked with deep concern, "Joanne, are you okay?"

Then, Sean Sutton looked up at Margaret Adler, his eyes filled with weariness and disapproval. "Margaret," he said coldly, "you know perfectly well that Joanne is pregnant, and yet you still treat her like this. Are you determined to leave me without an heir?"

Margaret Adler’s eyes flew wide open, her lips trembling. "You—you’re saying *I* want to leave you without an heir? Have you no conscience? Have you forgotten that I gave you two sons?!"

"Now Elias is gone, and with what’s happened to Ethan, you don’t care about me at all. Instead, you cheat on me with this little bitch and knock her up with a bastard! How could you do this to me?"

Hearing the word "bastard," the disapproval in Sean Sutton’s eyes deepened.

Margaret Adler, oblivious to the change in his expression, continued with tears welling in her eyes, "When the Sutton family was mired in debt, I married you without a second thought. I stood by you every step of the way to get you where you are today. Have you forgotten all that...?"

"Do you even remember what you said at our wedding? You said you would never have another woman in your life. You said you would be devoted to me forever. So why... why would you do something like this now?"

Faced with Margaret Adler’s heart-wrenching accusations, Sean Sutton would have normally backed down.

But today, for some reason, as he felt the soft, slender, trembling body of Joanne White in his arms and looked at the furious glare of Margaret Adler, all Sean Sutton felt was irritation.

He frowned, his voice laced with irritation. "Alright, I haven’t forgotten any of it. How many more times do you need to bring it up?"

Seeing him like this, the anger in Margaret Adler’s eyes gave way to a flash of stunned confusion. She stared at the impatient man before her and murmured, "You... you find me annoying now...?"

Margaret Adler couldn’t understand. It felt absurd.

Joanne White, nestled in Sean Sutton’s arms, almost laughed out loud as she listened to their exchange.

She thought, ’Even now, Margaret Adler is still trying to make Sean Sutton feel guilty. She really has no idea. A man’s guilt is the most unreliable thing in the world, especially a cheating man’s. They might feel guilty for a few days after getting caught, but that’s the most you’ll ever get.’

’Once that short period of guilt is over, they start to get annoyed by the woman who won’t stop nagging them about it.’

’Joanne White couldn’t believe Margaret Adler didn’t even understand something so simple. And to think she’d once believed Margaret was some formidable character. Turns out she was nothing special at all...’

’Expecting Sean Sutton to have a conscience? A man with a conscience wouldn’t have cheated in the first place...’