After hanging up the phone, Dorothy told Belle that Germaine was looking for her so she needed to head out. The little girl was very sensible. She waved her hands and said sweetly, “Goodbye, Mommy. Come back as soon as you can.”
Dorothy lowered her head, kissed her daughter’s little face and said, “Alright, Belle, be a good girl while I’m gone. I’ll come back after I have everything settled.”
Just as she walked out of the ICU, she collided head-on with Credence. He frowned when he saw her holding her black bag and phone. The anxiety in her eyes was concerning too. “Did something happen?” He asked.
“Oh, it’s nothing. Germaine just called and asked me to go see her.”
“I’m free now, I can send you over.”
Dorothy refused the offer without a second thought, “No, it’s fine. I can hail a taxi when I get out. It won’t take long.”
After that, she walked pass him without a second glance and entered the elevator in a hurry.
Credence’s face darkened after that bout of rejection. He tightened his thin lips and watched Dorothy leave with a solemn expression.
The elevator door closed quickly, and the man with the indescribable expression was shut out just like that.
A few minutes later, Dorothy walked out of the elevator, past the lobby, and reached the gates to leave the hospital. Not long after she stood at the crossroad, she managed to find a taxi. She told the driver the address as soon as she got in.
On the way, Dorothy kept pushing the taxi driver to speed up, “Mister, a life is on the line here. Could you please hurry up.”
The driver was angry upon being urged so many times. However, when he heard that a life was involved, his anger quickly vanished as he followed Dorothy’s orders accordingly and really sped up.
They managed to shorten the half an hour journey to twenty minutes.
After she paid the bills, Dorothy hurriedly jumped out of the car. As soon as she stood up, she felt her heart grow leaden as if a heavy stone had settled itself on her heart, pressing it down. She felt uneasy, and even her right eye started to twitch uncontrollably.
She strode through the door and looked around. She found that since it was daytime, there weren’t many people in this shady place. The men and women were scattered into two’s and three’s.
As she did not see Germaine, Dorothy became a little flustered herself. She ran around the counter and finally found Germaine kneeling defeatedly in a dark and remote corner. There were tears in her eyes but there was a bright smile on her dazzling face. “I am nothing but a shameless woman who likes to seduce men anywhere and everywhere, Madam Sherman. This isn’t the first time you’ve known about it. What? You used to take advantage of other people’s influences in the Sherman family and had left me alone to do as I please, why are you here to intervene now?”
The Madam Sherman in question was standing right in front of Germaine. She was a very beautiful middle-aged lady that looked to be of noble descent. She had a good set of facial features that looked well-maintained, but the expression she had on at that moment made her look cold and unfeeling. She chuckled and said, “Germaine, why are you calling me Madam Sherman? I am your aunt after all. It has been so many years, yet you still don’t know your manners. I feel really sorry for your dead parents.”
“Aunt? Ha, do you think anyone else in the Sherman family has agreed for you to take on such a position?” Germaine raised her head and sneered. “My kind-hearted aunt died a long time ago because you angered her to death! If you hadn’t deceived uncle with your beautiful face, my aunt would not have been angered to the extent of her heart problem relapsing and coughing out blood.”
Her words made the middle-aged noblewoman upset and the emotions in her eyes changed rapidly and unpredictably.
Dorothy looked away and saw a handsome young man standing behind Germaine. He looked to be about 20 years old, and his hands were firmly held back by several bodyguards in black, he dared not move at all.
A brand new phone was smashed to pieces on the floor. At a glance, Dorothy could tell that this was the phone the young man had used to call her. The middle-aged lady must have noticed it, so she ordered the bodyguards to destroy it.
When she got closer, Dorothy realized that Germaine’s body was soaked in alcohol. Her long, beautiful wavy hair, and her usually flawless make up was now a mess. Her fiery red dress was also stained by multiple wine spills. One could only imagine how horribly she had been bullied and treated before Dorothy had even arrived.
This was the first time Dorothy had seen Germaine in such a helpless position.
At that moment, Dorothy clenched her fists and walked over to Germaine. She squatted down and took out a tissue to wipe her face carefully. Then, she said in an extremely calm voice, “Germaine, what’s wrong? Who is she? Why is she doing this to you?”
They had been sisters for many years, they had snuggled together for warmth and even promised to spend the rest of their lives together. However, no one knew how deep their bond ran. Germaine would give her life up for Dorothy, and Dorothy would do the same for her.
Dorothy’s voice was not that loud, but because she had spoken so calmly, there was a certain fierceness that could not be ignored. Upon noticing her, the middle-aged lady’s face darkened. She redirected her cold eyes to glare at Dorothy and asked sharply, “Who are you? It is not your place to intervene in the Sherman family’s affairs!”
Dorothy’s eyes were bloodshot red as she purposefully ignored the older woman’s biting remarks. Instead, she concentrated all her energy on getting Germaine cleaned up. She reached out to pull Germaine’s arm up behind her, then looked straight at the middle-aged woman coldly and said, “I’m her friend. Therefore, I have the right to know about her business. Isn’t she just looking for a man to drink and chat with? It’s normal for an unmarried man and an unmarried woman to have a drink and talk. How dare you treat her like this? Just because you’ve upgraded your status from a mistress to her aunt?”
The words “mistress” seriously irritated the middle-aged noble woman. She could no longer keep her cool after that. With a fierce glare, she began to shout, “Are you the friend that Germaine called for help? You are young, but you have a sharp tongue, and it seems like you are not afraid of courting death. I guess people like you are the same as Germaine. You can’t live without a man around you at all times. Women like you are extremely shameless.”
She stared back at the fierce and arrogant-looking lady and was hit by the resemblance she bore to her foster mother, Linda. Dorothy suddenly felt that this whole thing was ridiculous as her stomach churned uncomfortably.
When she was about to talk back, Germaine suddenly pulled on her wrist. Then, she was met with her best friend’s mad laughter. As she laughed, tears flowed down her face from her bright phoenix eyes. “Madam Sherman, you are an elder. You can beat and scold me as you please, but Dory is my friend. You don’t have the right to scold her at all. If there is anything you want to settle, just come at me, I am not afraid of you.
Ever since I was four, I have heard how you and my Uncle were plotting ways to anger my aunt to death. I hated you and I hated how you treated your own son more viciously than you would your enemies! To climb the social ladder, you went through great measures, and used your son as a tool for your own selfish desires! You even stepped on his flesh and blood just so you could slowly take control of the whole Sherman family.”
“I just want to ask this, do you even have a conscience? Is he even your real son?”
Germaine asked in grief and indignation, her voice echoed throughout the entire bar.
This was too much information for her to bear. It seemed that there was a big secret here that Dorothy had yet to uncover. She could not react for a moment, and stayed where she was in a startled daze.