“You want to marry Nana?”
In an instant, Mrs. Waters sat up from the bed and angrily stared at Carl, asking, “Who agreed to your marriage? Did you ask for my opinion?”
Seeing his mother’s strong reaction, Carl was mentally prepared before coming home.
With patience and composure, he responded, “I’m discussing it with you right now. In a few days, Janelle will turn one month old, and I plan to celebrate her recovery from the illness and also marry Nana on that day.”
Listening to Carl’s blissful thoughts, Mrs. Waters exploded.
“No! I don’t agree!”
Her face turned ugly, and her voice rose as she prevented him, saying, “I won’t allow you to marry Nana. That money-losing woman doesn’t deserve a celebration for Janelle’s full moon!”
The series of outbursts made Carl’s head buzz.
He was momentarily stunned but maintained his calmness and asked in return, “Why? Just because you don’t like Nana?”
At this moment, Mrs. Waters looked resolute and fierce, affirming with dominance, “Exactly! That fox Nana has turned us against each other. How could I let her into the family?”
At the same time, Grace stepped back and observed coldly from the window.
Although she hadn’t said a word since Carl entered, her heart was in turmoil.
She had a premonition that a war was about to break out, and she sensed Carl’s determination. It seemed that nothing could stop him from marrying Nana.
And indeed, Carl shook his head helplessly, answering word by word, “Mom, I beg you to adjust your mindset. First of all, we haven’t turned against each other. You will always be my mother. Secondly, Nana and I have a child together. We can’t let Janelle be born into a single-parent family, right?”
“I don’t care!”
Before Carl could finish his words, Mrs. Waters forcefully interrupted.
She pointed to her left chest, threatening indignantly, “If you want to marry Nana, I’ll die right away to show you!”
Mrs. Waters apparently felt that words alone lacked deterrent power. She simply jumped off the bed and took out a fruit knife from the drawer.
“Today, you can only choose one person between me and Nana!”
Wearing an expression of being prepared to die, she wanted to completely make Carl give up the idea of marrying Nana.
Unexpectedly, Mrs. Waters resorted to such extreme measures, and Carl’s temples began to throb.
“Mom, what are you doing? Is it necessary to be so impulsive?”
He took a step forward, intending to snatch the weapon from his mother’s hand, but he realized that she had pressed the fruit knife against her own neck.
Grace was also frightened by the scene and hurriedly pleaded, “Mrs. Waters, please calm down. Let’s sit down and talk about it.”
But Mrs. Waters continued to exert pressure, angrily shouting with a resentful face, “Today, no one can stop me! Since my son doesn’t even want his mother, what’s the point of me being alive?”
When anger reaches its peak, it turns into sadness, and Mrs. Waters finished shouting and burst into tears.
Carl saw his mother wiping her tears with her hand and swiftly moved forward to snatch the fruit knife away.
“Mom, stop making a scene. Nobody is forcing you to do something foolish. Why do you have to suffer like this?”
Carl’s eyelids twitched, and his attitude softened as he patiently explained and persuaded, “You are the closest person to me in my life. Don’t you want me to be happy? Is it wrong for me to marry the woman I love?”
These words, full of deep affection, reached Grace’s ears, and her anxious face suddenly became tinged with resentment.
“Mrs. Waters, let it go. Since Carl has someone he loves, you shouldn’t force him anymore.”
At this point, Grace’s eyes teared up, and she feigned a pitiful appearance.
“I know how I appear in Carl’s eyes. I’m just a woman who deluded herself and stole someone else’s nest!”
Mrs. Waters was already furious, but hearing Grace’s sobbing made her even angrier.
“Carl, look at Grace. Even at this moment, she’s still thinking about you. Do you have no conscience?”
Mrs. Waters scolded him angrily and even thought about forcefully arranging for Grace to marry Carl that day, hoping to have them married within a week.
Unfortunately, Carl had his own principles. He remained unmoved and deeply disgusted by his mother’s crying, tantrums, and threats of self-harm.
“Enough! Maybe, as you said, I really have no conscience.”
Carl laughed self-deprecatingly, his expression indifferent as he informed them, “Actually, I came back just to inform you that I am going to marry Nana, not to discuss whether I can marry her or not.”
Upon hearing Carl’s stubbornness, Mrs. Waters was so angry that she almost fainted.
“You, you…”
She pointed at her son, wanting to curse at him, but she couldn’t complete her sentence.
At that moment, Carl took out his wallet from the hidden pocket of his coat and handed a brand new card to Grace.
“Grace, no matter what, I appreciate the time you spent with my mother during this period.”
Carl smiled relievedly and spoke calmly, “But there is no love between you and me. In fact, my mother forced us together, and our future will also end in separation. Honestly, I don’t want to hold you back.”
“So, please keep this card. There is five million inside, and the password is written on the back. It’s not a large sum of money, consider it compensation from me to you.”
That night, the two of them got drunk and spent the night in a blur, but Carl never had the thought of evading responsibility.
Originally, he planned to give Grace a compensation of ten million, but due to the large amount of the contract termination fee he recently paid to the company, his finances had become tight.
Of course, five million was still a huge sum for an ordinary family.
As Carl handed the card to Grace, she clenched her lips tightly.
She felt unwilling, not wanting the time and effort she had invested to be dismissed with a few million.
“Carl, what do you take me for?” Grace sobbed as she asked.
For a moment, Carl was at a loss for words. In his eyes, let alone being husband and wife with Grace, they couldn’t even be considered friends.
At most, they were acquaintances. That was how he saw Grace.
However, he couldn’t say such harsh words, so he changed the topic to appease her. “You don’t need to dwell on this issue. In any case, I am grateful to you, and I wish you a happy life!”
After Carl finished speaking, he turned his gaze to his mother. “Mom, I know you’re really angry right now, but I still hope you can attend my wedding with Nana!”
Then he prepared to leave the villa and return to Nana as soon as possible.
But before Carl could take a step, he felt a push from behind.
“I don’t need your blessings! I don’t want your filthy money either!”
Grace had tears streaming down her face as she forcefully threw the bank card at Carl’s chest.
“Since I’m not worthy in your eyes, then I’ll just leave!”
With those words, Grace covered her face and ran out sobbing.
Seeing his potential daughter-in-law being driven away, Mrs. Waters lost all hope and fell into a hysterical state.
“You ungrateful child! You, you!”
Mrs. Waters sat on the bed, crying and cursing for a while, and then started packing her belongings under Carl’s gaze.