Emily frowned and walked over to open the door when she heard Azalea’s voice.
Azalea’s face was haggard. When she saw Emily, she asked, “Auntie, why didn’t you answer my call?”
“What’s the matter?” Emily did not let Azalea in and she was still reflecting on her mistakes ever since Azalea’s fake suicide incident.
Why could Thomas grow up to be so capable even when he grew up in adversity? His personality and talent were extremely hard to come by, but Azalea had no capabilities at all. Even so, she had always been ambitious and she would use any means to get what she wanted.
Emily felt that Azalea turned out like this because she loved and gave in to Azalea too much. Thomas had to live under another person’s roof and he had experienced many hardships since she was young. He knew that he had to stand up and fight for himself.
But Azalea was different. She had been living under Emily’s care since she was a child. Although she didn’t live a luxurious life, she didn’t worry about food and clothing. Emily had done everything she could for Azalea, to the point that the latter had turned out this way.
After Emily pondered about it, she felt that she couldn’t indulge Azalea anymore. She had to let Azalea learn how to rely on herself from now on.
Therefore, Emily did not pay attention to Azalea during this period of time and she ignored Azalea’s calls or messages. However, she did not expect that Azalea would dare to come to her door.
“Can’t I meet you for fun? Didn’t you say that I can come to you at any time?” Azalea retorted.
“That was before because I thought you at least knew what’s good for you. I didn’t expect you to cross the line, so I have to take back what I said before,” Emily’s tone was cold.
Azalea had never seen Emily being so strict before. She knew that she had done something shameful, so she had to back down first. Emily would always satisfy her requests every time she acted cutely before, so Azalea was planning on doing that again this time.
Azalea immediately began to put on an act and her eyes were brimming with tears. “Auntie, I was wrong last time. I didn’t want to scare you or lie to you, but I really didn’t want to live at that time. I couldn’t deal with it as I felt hopeless and I lost all of my motivation! Believe me! If it weren’t for my mother, I would really…”
“That’s enough! I don’t want to hear any of that. If you’re just here to explain your fake suicide, then you can leave!” Emily ordered her to leave when she saw that Azalea still did not realize that she had made a mistake.
Azalea began to panic when she saw that Emily was still unconvinced, and she thought that Thomas had said something bad about her.
She was blocked by Emily at the door, so she couldn’t see the situation inside the house. Naturally, she didn’t know that Thomas was in the house, so she began to slander him. “Auntie, did Thomas say anything to you? He has always disliked me and he is always against me. He must have said something bad about me in front of you, right? Auntie, you must not believe Thomas, he is not a good person…”
Azalea continued her insults, but she stopped when she saw Thomas. “You… Why are you here?”
“Why can’t I be here? I won’t be able to see your performance otherwise. You’re a natural actress, and you can even cry or laugh at will. What a professional!”
Thomas looked at Azalea sarcastically. “Even so, you are still trying to deceive Auntie, so don’t blame me for doing this. Let’s talk about what you have done today!”
“What… What are you trying to say?”
“Let’s not discuss the future, you can just tell me about your suicide the other day. Didn’t you say that you can’t live any longer? Well, you look fine to me right now.”
Thomas slowly took out his mobile phone and opened it. He found a video, which showed Azalea and her mother, Madelyn, sitting on the sofa discussing how to make a phone call to cheat Emily.
The video was in high-resolution and their voices were also very clear. It completely depicted the situation at the time.
Azalea was dumbfounded. “This… How did you get this?”
“I can’t tell you! After watching the video, what else do you have to say?” Thomas asked slowly. “Are you going to say that you can’t bear to live any longer? And that your mother saved you? Huh?”
Azalea’s face was covered in a furious blush and she couldn’t say a word.
Thomas looked at her coldly. “Get out now! If I find out about your plans to scam Auntie again in the future, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”
The evidence was conclusive, so Azalea was humiliated and she left in embarrassment.
Emily kept silent throughout the entire ordeal. Truthfully, Emily was shocked by the video as well. Thomas closed the door after Azalea left and Emily said, “Thomas, how did you get this video?”
Thomas touched his head. “Auntie, don’t get angry after I tell you. I’m worried about you. I’m worried that Azalea will do something bad to you. For safety reasons, I secretly set up a surveillance camera in your place, but I didn’t expect that their conversation would be recorded. Auntie, you won’t blame me, right?”
Emily sighed heavily. “Of course, not! I know that you are kind to me!”
Although she said this, she felt incredibly upset. She always thought that Thomas and Azalea would get along well and help each other, but things didn’t turn out as she had expected.
Azalea had grown up to be cunning and vicious, so it would be difficult to get her back on the right track. If Emily had known that this would happen, she would have let the Floyd family bring Azalea back at that time. That could at least let her keep her pride.
However, that wasn’t quite right. Azalea would have died long ago if she went back to the Floyd family.
How could Veronica accept Emily and Callum’s child? At least Azalea was still alive at this moment and it was the best decision Emily could’ve taken.
Meanwhile, in the Howard family’s old estate, Valeria woke up at 9 o’clock after William had left.
The staff had prepared a sumptuous breakfast for her and she sent William a message while she ate. “Dear, I just woke up and I’ll go visit Grandpa and Grandma after breakfast. How’s it going at your place?”
“I’m almost done here. I’ll go straight to the hotel later and we’ll meet there.”
After Valeria read Hayden’s reply, Hayden came in with his hands clasped behind his back. His expression was cheerful and he seemed to be in a good mood. Valeria immediately greeted him and said, “Dad, why are you so happy?”
“I just went to the playground. The more I watched the children play, the happier I became. I can’t wait for grandsons to be born so they can play with the other children.”
Valeria grinned. That’ll take some time. Even after they’ve been born, they can only play when they’re almost a year old, right?”
“That’s right. What are you having for lunch? I’ll ask Auntie to cook tonic soup for you. You seem to have lost weight recently. Why do you have dark circles under your eyes?”
“Dad, I’m not eating at home today. I’m going to meet Grandpa and Grandma!” When Valeria saw that Hayden’s expression had turned sour, she immediately added, “William and I will bring you to watch your favourite opera performance tomorrow. I’ve already booked the tickets!”