Lucille had initially remained calm, but upon realizing that her son was nowhere to be found, she quickly followed the footsteps of the guests, striding in her high heels towards the upper floor.
Sabrina hurriedly followed suit, whispering with a hint of glee to Lucille, “Mother, which unlucky fool do you think had the audacity to harass Mr. Clarke’s wife? How embarrassing!”
Lucille closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. “You better pray that it’s not your brother.”
“What? My brother?” Sabrina’s face instantly turned pale. “Mother, are you joking? I heard a few rich boys say that my brother went to the restroom.”
“If it’s not your brother, it’s for the best,” Lucille continued expressionlessly as she continued up the stairs.
Sabrina dared not say anything further.
The group arrived on the upper floor and witnessed a woman fiercely beating a man who cowered and tried to escape. Meanwhile, a one-year-old baby sat on the nearby couch, crying loudly.
Amidst the sound of the baby’s cries, the man wailed in agony, “Please stop! It was not intentional!”
“I’ll beat you to death, you scoundrel! I specifically came to the lounge to breastfeed, and you dare to follow me!”
“You have no shame! Haven’t you seen a breastfeeding woman before? Huh?”
Clare, as the host, quickly approached to try and intervene. “Mrs. Clarke, what is happening here? Please refrain from further violence.”
Mrs. Clarke angrily shouted, “My baby is almost a year old, but still breastfeeding. I thought it would be less embarrassing upstairs in the lounge. But I didn’t expect this scoundrel to follow me.”
“I have never experienced such humiliation before. What kind of guests does the Hipps Family invite? Such trash with no manners.”
Mr. Clarke hurried over to protect his wife and also picked up their crying son to comfort him. “Mr. Hipps, my wife hasn’t been able to socialize since she became pregnant and gave birth over a year ago. We thought it would be nice to bring her out now that our child is older. But we encountered this situation. We must call the police; we cannot tolerate such harassment of women.”
Clare felt extremely embarrassed that such an incident occurred at her own party.
It was truly disgraceful.
Marco had not expected that almost all of the guests would come upstairs and witness the incident.
He was so angry that he covered his face with his coat and didn’t dare to show himself. What should he do now? Everyone knew it was him; even if he jumped into the Yellow River, he couldn’t wash away the fact that he was a scoundrel.
He was desperate but had no way out.
He could only hide in a corner, trembling with fear.
Lucille immediately recognized her son hiding in the corner and was so furious that she almost fainted.
She had dominated the world for her whole life, but she had never imagined that she would face such humiliation.
How could she have given birth to such an unruly son who tormented her?
Sabrina also recognized Marco and her face turned pale. “Mother…”
“Shut up!” Lucille coldly reprimanded her in a low voice. “Don’t say anything.”
Sabrina felt indignant. It wasn’t her fault; why was her mother so harsh on her?
“Let me see who this scoundrel is! Take him to the police station!” Mr. Clarke shouted angrily as he rushed over to Marco, who was still hiding in the corner.
One of the rich boys who had been chatting with Marco earlier couldn’t help but exclaim, “Hey, it looks like that man is Mr. Hogan!”
“Mr. Clarke, please don’t act impulsively. There may be some misunderstanding.”
“That’s right! What if it really is Mr. Hogan?”
Mr. Clarke couldn’t care less about anything at this point. “A scoundrel is a scoundrel! Are you all trying to protect him?”
Franklin smirked and looked at Lucille. “Mr. Hogan is such a distinguished person; how could he possibly do something so scoundrel-like? Isn’t that right, Lucille?”
Lucille’s face turned pale as she forced a stiff smile. “Franklin, there are things in this world that are hard to say for certain. After all, people can sometimes make mistakes or fall into traps set by others.”
“Is that so? Mr. Clarke, you should go and check. It would be best to give this scoundrel a few punches to let off some steam,” Franklin coolly suggested. “A man like this deserves a beating.”
After Franklin’s comment, Mr. Clarke felt even more confident as he quickly walked over and started throwing punches at Marco, who didn’t dare to fight back.
All Marco could do was cry out in pain, “Mother, Mother, save me! It’s all a misunderstanding!”
“Mother, I really didn’t mean it.”
Hearing Marco’s familiar voice, the crowd immediately erupted into discussion. “Oh my God! It really sounds like Mr. Hogan’s voice.”
“Is he really a scoundrel?”
“Haven’t we seen him in tabloid headlines recently?”
“Mr. Clarke’s wife hasn’t been socializing for these past two years due to pregnancy and childbirth; maybe she doesn’t recognize Mr. Hogan…”
Everyone discussed fervently; at this point, they had no choice but to acknowledge this foolish son!
Lucille felt as if she were being roasted over an open fire, experiencing immense pain and discomfort.
She was so angry that she closed her eyes and took a step forward, snatching Marco from Mr. Clarke’s hands and slapping him across the face. “You disobedient child!”
“Mother!” Marco had already been beaten by Mr. Clarke, his face bruised and swollen. Now he received another slap from Lucille, making his face even more unbearable to look at.
Earlier, Mrs. Clarke had also beaten him while he hid in the corner, enduring several blows from chairs.
“Why did you come upstairs when you have nothing better to do?” Lucille glared at him with hatred, wishing she could send him back to the womb and start over again. It would save them from this embarrassing situation.
It really was Marco!
Mr. and Mrs. Clarke were dumbfounded.
They had just beaten Marco so severely? Offending Lucille? How… how would they continue living in Capital City?
Would Lucille completely destroy their Clarke Family?
“… Lucille, we didn’t know it was Mr. Hogan; if we had known… we definitely wouldn’t have laid a hand on him…” Mr. Clarke’s voice trembled as he explained while signaling his wife with his eyes. “Isn’t there some misunderstanding here?”
Although Mrs. Clarke hadn’t been socializing much due to her focus on raising their child and hadn’t kept up with tabloids or online videos much… she had heard of Marco’s name.
She was on the verge of tears, feeling both aggrieved and distressed. Marco’s lecherous gaze had haunted her like a nightmare, but for the sake of their entire family, she had to compromise.
She knew her grievances were insignificant; she opened her mouth but could only look at Lucille with reddened eyes. “I… I…”
She couldn’t explain for Marco; she was a woman who had been harassed and was now a victim herself. Yet she had to personally yield to the hands of the powerful for the sake of her family, defending this scoundrel and making excuses for him.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
At that moment, a cold voice rang out in the crowd as an extraordinary woman walked slowly towards Mrs. Clarke while holding a laptop in her hands.
A USB drive was inserted into the laptop; she smiled faintly at Lucille and said, “When Lucille was furious earlier, I accessed my home’s surveillance system. After all… this banquet hall is considered a public place and almost certainly has surveillance cameras installed. To clear Mr. Hogan’s name, why don’t I play back the surveillance footage?”
“Sylvia! You!” Lucille trembled with anger; she wished she could smash that laptop into pieces! She rarely felt so pressured by someone.
And it happened to be by a young woman much younger than herself!
She would remember this debt!
“Lucille, don’t you agree? After all, this is your son; clearing his name is of utmost importance, isn’t it?” Sylvia said with a smile as she opened the laptop and played back the surveillance video.
Everyone stared wide-eyed at the laptop screen; those standing at the back strained their necks to get a better view.
They saw Mrs. Clarke lifting her shirt in the lounge while Sylvia considerately blurred out certain parts.
She smiled playfully as she teased her son in her arms. Then someone pushed open the door to the lounge; Marco entered with a lecherous expression on his face-everyone could see it clearly.
Accompanied by his creepy laughter, it sounded particularly distinct in the silent lounge.
Everyone heard it loud and clear.
Irrefutable proof!
No one could deny that he was indeed a scoundrel!
He approached Mrs. Clarke with his lecherous gaze, prompting her to scream and then pick up a nearby stool and throw it at Marco…
She broke down in tears.
“Lucille, did you see clearly?” Sylvia closed her laptop and looked calmly at Lucille’s almost sinister expression. “I never expected Mr. Hogan to be this kind of person.”
Lucille shot Sylvia an icy glare that could kill; Sylvia would have died hundreds of times by now if looks could kill. Lucille’s voice dripped with anger as she said, “Sylvia, is this amusing to you? He’s still young and foolish; he simply made a mistake that any man would make. This is an issue between our Hogan Family and Clarke Family. So now, Mr. Clarke and Mrs. Clarke, please come with me back to Hogan Family to discuss how we can resolve this matter. Alright?”
If they went to Hogan Family… would they even survive?
Mr. Clarke suddenly felt anxious; he desperately looked at Franklin and Sylvia, hoping they would save his Clarke Family out of their long-standing friendship.
Lucille made it clear that she wanted to pressure Clarke Family into letting this incident pass.
He couldn’t say or do anything; could he only wait for death?
A sense of despair filled his heart.
“What’s wrong, Mr. Clarke? Why aren’t you answering me?” Lucille continued pressuring Mr. Clarke. “Or perhaps… you don’t want to resolve this matter?”
“Since this incident happened at Hipps Family’s event, Lucille, our Hipps Family is also involved; why not resolve it here?” Sylvia calmly suggested.