“I don’t know much about the setup here, but if someone wanted to do something, they would likely have scouted the place beforehand. After all, in twenty minutes of going upstairs, finding the location of Grandma’s ashes, smashing it, and then throwing my unconscious sister in there is not a simple task.”
The butler was left speechless but sought Zebulon’s approval.
Seeing Zebulon nod, he reluctantly returned to check again.
Evelyn casually turned her head, savoring the nervous expressions of Mia and Scarlett. Their emotions were like riding a roller coaster.
Evelyn intentionally deleted that segment of surveillance to be cautious. Just now, she took the opportunity to check the previous footage outside, discovering something interesting…
Watching Evelyn’s confident expression, Mia felt even more uneasy. She prayed that all the surveillance videos were lost, but then she saw the butler, looking grim, coming out of the monitoring room.
He held a laptop and brought it to Zebulon.
“Mr. Taylor, Miss Evelyn is innocent.”
Zebulon seemed unsurprised, nodded, and, as he watched the entire footage, he trembled.
“Mia!” He roared angrily.
Mia was so frightened that she knelt down with a thud.
“Grandpa… Grandpa…”
“Do you still have the face to talk to me?” Zebulon approached. Without mercy, he delivered a hard slap to Mia’s face, “This slap is from me on behalf of your Grandma.”
Mia’s ears buzzed, and she felt a dizzying sensation. The world seemed to fade away, leaving only the harsh ringing.
“Grandpa, my ears, my head, it hurts so much!” She lifted her head, grabbed Zebulon’s sleeve, and weakly complained.
Zebulon, still furious, shook her off.
Mia stumbled backward, her body tilting, and with a loud thud, she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Scarlett rushed forward, exclaiming, “Dad, why are you so ruthless? James, quickly call a doctor, Mia!”
Watching the swelling on Mia’s face and arms from the beating, James panicked and trembled as he prepared to call an ambulance.
“Don’t call an ambulance, you drive.” Scarlett urged James to pick Mia up.
Ethan and Shirley also hurried forward, escorting the two downstairs.
Before everyone could react, Scarlett stood up, cast a venomous glance at Evelyn, then turned to Zebulon.
After taking a deep breath, Scarlett spoke with every word sharp and piercing, “Dad, it’s your prerogative to discipline your granddaughter. But I must remind you that Mia is already half a member of The Reid family. If Jasper learns about this, I’m not sure if he can stay calm.”
These words were blatant threats and provocations.
Zebulon glared at Scarlett, angrily saying, “Get out, all of you. Without my permission, no one is allowed to step into this house again.”
“Dad, at your age, you shouldn’t have such a bad temper. It’s bad for your health.” Scarlett said lightly, then turned and walked away.
No one dared to speak in the corridor, and it was the butler who finally stepped forward, dispersing the crowd.
“Miss Evelyn, I apologize for this inconvenience. The old master is not in a good mood. Perhaps you should come back another time.”
Evelyn, hearing this, did not refuse, “I understand. Please take good care of the him.”
“Sure, I will.”
As she walked to the staircase, she looked back, frowned slightly, as if she had figured something out, then descended the stairs and left.
The butler sighed, “Miss Evelyn is a good child. It’s a pity you haven’t been close to her often.”
Zebulon remained silen…
…
On her way back to the mansion, Evelyn sent a message to Gavin, signaling him to keep an eye on Mia’s condition in real-time.
Despite Zebulon’s advanced age, his well-exercised body was not to be underestimated. She suspected that Mia might have suffered physical harm.
Just as she was contemplating this, a message from Gavin arrived, and Evelyn couldn’t help but sneer.
A severely perforated eardrum in the left ear, significant hearing loss.
Just the left ear?
That’s not enough…
She tapped the driver’s seat, “Head to the hospital.”
…
At this moment, inside the hospital room, Mia completely fell apart. She started throwing things, hitting anyone in reach, and howling, turning the whole room into chaos.
“Mom, they say I’m going deaf, it’s absolute nonsense. I can clearly hear you talking, how could it be…”
After a moment of daze, Mia’s face changed suddenly, “I get it. You’re all brought here by that bitch Evelyn, trying to mentally break me.”
“Mom, get these people out.”
As Mia spoke, she stared at Scarlett’s mouth, eager to confirm everything.
Scarlett spoke, saying a sentence with triple the usual volume, “Alright.”
Hearing the normal volume in her ear, Mia smiled satisfactorily, “I told you I can hear. Mom, I can hear…”
Not knowing how to break the news to her in a gentler way, Scarlett and James had to leave first, letting Mia calm down alone.
When Evelyn arrived, Mia was on a call with Jasper. However, her expression was even worse than when Scarlett was present. She watched the call duration increase while her left ear could only pick up a hissing sound.
With trembling fingers, Mia tried putting the phone to her right ear, and finally, Jasper’s voice came through.
Her mental state completely collapsed.
“Jasper, I’m a bit tired, want to take a break. You must take good care of yourself when I’m not around.”
Without waiting for his response, she hung up the call.
“Ah!” Mia roared and violently threw the phone towards the door.
Seeing this, Evelyn slowly pushed open the door, picked up the shattered phone, and sighed, “Mia, why haven’t you learned to be thrifty?”
“The most important thing for disabled people is to learn to live. After all, constantly changing hearing aids can be quite costly.”
She walked up to Mia, placed the phone down, and a hint of mockery on her face instantly triggered all of Mia’s negative emotions.
“You wretched woman, it’s all because of you…”
Like a madwoman, Mia charged at Evelyn, but unfortunately, before she could even touch Evelyn’s clothes, she was forcefully pushed back. The impact sent her back onto the bed with a loud thud.
“Ah..!” She groaned in pain.
Evelyn suddenly raised her hand, landing it precisely on Mia’s right cheek, gently caressing…
“Ah, Evelyn, what the hell are you doing? My ear might be damaged, but I’m not dead. If you dare touch me, both The Taylor family and The Reid family won’t let you off.”
Evelyn paused for a moment and sneered, “The Taylor family? Are you referring to James or Grandpa?”
“For your information, after you left, Grandpa has announced that none of you are allowed to step into the mansion.”
Mia was first shocked, then shook her head dully, “Impossible. Grandpa has always favored me the most since childhood. He would never treat me like this.”
She became resolute again, “Even if I cut ties with him, so what? If you hurt me, The Reid family will never let you go.”
The mockery in Evelyn’s eyes deepened, “With The Reid family’s position in the capital, do you think they would accept a deaf woman as the mistress of the house?”
Mia, feeling stung, roared, “I’m not deaf, my hearing loss is only temporary.”
“That’s okay. It’ll soon become permanent.”
Evelyn rubbed her hands together, took a step forward, and the shadow enveloped Mia within it.
Mia shivered and looked at Evelyn with fear in her eyes, restraining herself to avoid making a sound. She felt terrified, realizing for the first time that Evelyn could be so formidable.
Evelyn’s raised hand crossed the shadow, startling Mia back to reality. She curled up, staring vigilantly at Evelyn. “You can’t do this. Jasper, he…”
Before she could finish, Evelyn’s hand mercilessly slapped Mia’s face, fueled by resentment from their previous life, exerting all her strength.
A loud ‘snap’ echoed through the room. Mia once again tasted the pain from the ringing in her ears. Immediately, her body curled up involuntarily on the hospital bed.
As the last bit of sound disappeared from her ears, her world fell into complete silence. But this silence was terrifying.
Was she really unable to hear anymore?
Mia pounded on the bed railing in a frenzy. No matter how hard she tried, there was no sound in her ears.
“You, wretch! Even if I die, I’ll drag you down with me… Ah…”
Seeing Evelyn so close, Mia rushed forward, intending to ruin Evelyn’s face.
However, Evelyn had been on guard. With a slight movement, Mia, unable to find a foothold, fell heavily from the bed.
Evelyn clapped her hands, initially just attempting a test, but the slap unexpectedly succeeded.
Seeing Mia still struggling on the floor, Evelyn walked over and pressed her high-heeled shoe onto Mia’s arm, looking down on her from a higher vantage point.
“There’s a saying that fits this situation well. You reap what you sow. Mia, your retribution has finally arrived. Enjoy it to the fullest,” Evelyn declared without caring about Mia’s reaction and turned away.
Once outside the hospital, she found a corner and used a miniature computer to infiltrate the hospital’s surveillance system, deleting all the videos that captured her presence.
As the sky gradually darkened, gazing at the pitch-black heavens, Evelyn, at this moment, was oblivious to any trace of chill, instead experiencing a sense of exhilaration.
…