Chapter 373 Conflict Arising
Eleanor waved a hand dejectedly. “Benjamin, we’ve been at odds long enough. If you think I would be unfaithful to you with other men, we shouldn’t even remain married. Let’s get a divorce.”
At that, Benjamin’s features hardened.
“What did you say?”
“Let’s get a divorce,” she repeated. “I didn’t have the courage to say this to you twenty years ago, but I do now. I don’t understand you at all, and I don’t see the necessity of keeping this meaningless marriage going.”
Benjamin’s lips twisted into a cruel smile. “Eleanor, your illness is acting up again. I’ll have Dr. Perkins take a look at you when we get back to Saspiuburg. Your poor brain must be addled with imbalances for you to be spewing so much nonsense.”
Eleanor glared at him lividly.
“Benjamin, this child has been the cause of the wedge between us for over twenty years. You hate her, and I feel guilty about her. We will never be able to reconcile our opposing stances regarding her.” Her head drooped sadly.
Placing both his hands on her shoulders, Benjamin remarked, “Calm down, Eleanor. You are not well. When we return to Saspiuburg, I will have Dr. Perkins give you an examination.”
Eleanor stared at her husband, her mind racing with emotions she was too tired to identify.
The next moment, she smacked his hands aside and strode quickly toward the door before turning around. “Benjamin, I am extremely disappointed in you.”
Without another word, she exited the study and left him alone inside.
Benjamin clenched his fists, and his knuckles cracked menacingly. Moments later, Sean knocked on the door. “Dad.”
Looking at his son grimly, Benjamin ordered, “Sean, find out where that woman came from. I would like to see the woman brazen enough to swindle your mother like that.”
Sean entered and shut the door before approaching his father. “Dad, that girl does look a lot like Mom. If she really is our long-lost sister, why can’t we have her back in the family? It would make Mom really happy.”
“Don’t you forget who the patriarch of this family is.” Benjamin scowled at his son. “You will do as I say, you understand? Lest you forget, you and Amelia are my only children.”
Sean felt the urge to ask a question that had been burning in his heart for many years. “Dad, as early as I recall, you don’t like our sister. Why?”
“She isn’t your sister,” snapped Benjamin. “If I hear you calling her that one more time, you will be disowned.”
Sean hung his head. “Yes, Dad. I will remember that.”
“Go on, then. I want everything you have on her by tonight.”
“I’ll get it done, Dad.”
Benjamin waited for Sean to leave before striding over to the window, his thoughts imperceptible behind his steely, unperturbed gaze.
To his credit, his son carried out his task with unbelievable speed. Within half a day, he had managed to gather all the available information there was to find regarding Amelia Winters.
“Dad, these are the information you asked for.” Sean placed the freshly printed pages on a table before his father with a respectful bow.
Benjamin studied the pages, and when he arrived at the column detailing Amelia’s parents, his gaze darkened. It’s the exact same family I’d sent the brat to all those years ago. How meddlesome it is for her to come drifting back after sending her away all those years ago!
In a rage, Benjamin tore up all the papers.
“Get me your sister,” he demanded.
“Dad,” Sean pleaded, “Amelia acted out of the goodness in her heart. She is not aware of the grudges you have held. Please don’t get her involved in this?”
“Get her in here,” Benjamin repeated quietly.
“Yes, Dad.” With that, Sean strode out, defeated.
After fifteen minutes, Amelia shuffled in reluctantly. “Daddy,” she greeted him from afar.
“Why did you bring your mother to Beshya?”
“Daddy, Mom told me it has been a long time since she had come to Beshya for a vacation. That was why I brought her here.”
“Tell me the truth,” he demanded.
Amelia hesitated. “Daddy, Mom became ill over fretting for our sister over the years. Her condition became so dangerous that she was almost admitted to the asylum. As the disappearance of her daughter had been the cause of the illness, why should she be denied the opportunity to meet her? It was no small feat to locate our sister.”
“Rubbish!” Benjamin slammed the table with his hand, causing his daughter to jump backward in fright. “Amelia, I have indulged you too much and, as a result, encouraged this wayward behavior. It was you who told me you have found your sister, was it not? It was also you who was going around spreading rumors about having a sister. Only you and your brother are the heirs of the Hutton family. If it was for this reason that you had your mother travel all this way to Beshya and cause her condition to worsen, you are in deep trouble, young lady. Come back to Saspiuberg with me at once. You have a lot of life choices to rethink once we get back.”
Growing indignant, Amelia refuted, “Daddy, why are you being difficult? You know Amelia is my sister! I have even taken samples of her and Mom’s hair for a DNA test, which concluded that they have a similarity of ninety-nine point nine percent! Only a fool would deny that she is your daughter! How are you this hard-headed to ignore hard evidence laid before you?”
“Do you think that this test result is sufficient as evidence that the girl is mine?” Benjamin snarled. “For the last time, there are only two heirs of the Hutton family. If you keep feeding your mother with your fanciful ideas, you are going to have to start paying your own expenses.”
Amelia could not believe the extent of her father’s denial of refusing to recognize her long-lost sister as his daughter and even banning the servants from mentioning her.
“Daddy, she is your daughter,” Amelia insisted. “Why are you—”
“Still on the subject, are we? Do I have to whip you for the message to sink through your thick skull?”
Amelia stood petrified, unable to answer.
“You are not to speak of such nonsense to your mother again. Is that understood? She will have an appointment with her psychologist once we arrive back at Saspiuburg.”
“Daddy, how could you be so mean to Mom?” Amelia wailed. “It took her so much effort to finally locate her daughter!”
Benjamin’s face turned purple with rage. Leaping out of his chair, he strode over to Amelia and stood dangerously close to her. “Say it again.”
Amelia recoiled in fear and stumbled backward.
“Daddy,” she pleaded.
“You are a Hutton, Amelia,” proclaimed Benjamin. “If you speak the name of somebody who should not exist once more, consider yourself disowned from this family.”
Amelia’s eyes widened in shock.
“Daddy…”
“If you want an older sister so badly, you can forget about having a father. I am done dealing with your insubordination.”
“Why, Daddy? She is your own flesh and blood, for God’s sake! You know as well as anyone that Mom had almost descended into madness for her long-lost daughter. How could you-”
Slap!
Clutching her cheek, Amelia gaped at her father, horror-struck.
“How could you hit me, Daddy?” she choked. In less than a week, I’ve had both my parents slap me across the face!
“You’re grounded when we get back,” Benjamin remarked. “If you continue to be this obstinate, you can forget about having any pocket money to spend! Clearly, shopping has turned you into an idiotic little girl.”
“Daddy, you are so unreasonable!” With that, she turned her tear-soaked cheeks away and ran out of the study.
Benjamin looked murderous. His chest was heaving as if he had sprinted a mile. Clenching his fists, he once again sank into a reverie.
