"That's enough, Alia…" Simon warned in a low voice. "You shouldn't speak of Carla like that."
"Why can't I do that?" the woman scowled, her eyes wide with indignance. "I'm telling the truth, aren't I? Why do you keep trying to stand up for her?"
"You…"
"Dad, don't stick your nose into this! Go upstairs first, " Lola said, pushing her father away. "Mom will discipline this wench on behalf of all of us!"
"Who's the real wench here? Who's the one who has no shame?" Carla challenged. "You know perfectly well what happened four years ago, don't you? Don't you dare act stupid!"
"You… What nonsense are you spouting now? What happened four years ago?" Lola asked, looking a little panicked. "It was your foolish idea to go down to Stifling Night and hire a gigolo, and you were the one who made the choice to have his children! Why are you slandering me now?"
"Who was the one who dragged me to Stifling Night? Who was the one who told me to find another man to make Harry jealous so he would go up against his family and marry me? It was you, Lola! You tricked Harry and I into breaking up before turning around and marrying him instead! And you still insist that you had nothing to do with it? What rubbish!"
"Shut up!" Alia rushed forward and gave Carla a slap across the face.
The latter's head jerked sideways with the force of the slap as blood gashed out of a wound on her lip.
She looked down, her eyes glinting with a wave of savage anger beneath her mop of untidy hair.
"Excellent! I hope that knocked some sense into you, " Lola said, gritting her teeth.
Alia wasn't finished. She raised her hand to strike Carla across the face again…
"Alia, " Simon said hurriedly as he held her back, "what are you doing? Talk things out nicely. Why do you need to resort to violence?"
"Oh, get out of my way!" She threw him aside and pointed at Carla, her chest heaving up and down with rage.
"You made the choice to do something so shameless and disgusting, and now you want to blame it on my daughter? I'll have you know that I invited you here today so you could face reality—Lola and Harry are already married with kids. If you dare to seduce Harry again, I'll give you a good beating!"
"Alia Whyte…" Carla whispered, gritting her teeth angrily, "I'll make sure you pay the price for your words today!"
"Wow, that's funny. Are you trying to threaten me?" The woman rushed forward to slap her again.
At that moment, an angry roar erupted. "Stop right there!"
"Harry…" When Lola spotted her husband, guilt washed over her. She wondered if he had overheard her heated conversation with Carla just now.
The man gazed deeply at Carla, pity written over his face. However, he didn't make his way over to her—instead, he turned to his driver Wenoma and said, "Wenoma, send Carla home."
"Yes, sir." Wenoma wheeled Carla out of the room as instructed and left with her.
Simon hurried after them to send them off to the car.
Soon, only Alia, Lola, and Harry remained in the house.
The tension in the air was thick.
Lola grabbed hold of Harry's hand and pleaded in a whiny voice, "Harry, you have to believe me. What Carla said isn't true…"
"Lola!" Her mother snapped warningly, telling her to shut up.
That made the woman fall quiet immediately.
"Harry, I wasn't trying to make things difficult for Carla on purpose, " Alia explained soothingly. "Those relatives of ours were concerned about her and tried to inquire after her situation, but she threw a tantrum and smashed things around. She even injured my hand, look…"
She shoved her arm in Harry's face and continued, "As her elder, I was merely trying to discipline her…"
"Is that how an elder disciplines his charge?" the man retorted politely. "Whenever you disciplined Lola, you always took care to be respectful and restrained with your punishments. But when you spoke to Carla, you made sure that every word cut deep in her heart! Don't you think you were doing a little too much?"
"Harry, what do you mean by that?" Lola asked shrilly. "Are you going to start a fight with my mother because of Carla?"
"I was only discussing appropriate punishments with my mother-in-law, " Harry replied coolly. "Mom, don't you think I'm right?"
"Yes, of course you are." Alia was an intelligent woman, and she knew when to admit defeat. Changing her attitude completely, she said, "I wasn't thinking straight just now. I must have done that because Carla smashed some things, ruined dinner for everyone, then proceeded to slander my daughter…"
"Was she really slandering Lola?" Harry asked, shooting a dark look at his wife.
"What's the meaning of that? Are you suspecting me now?" Lola was so angry that she was practically shaking. "I'm your wife and the mother of your son. Why do you always believe other people instead of me?"
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