Chapter 388: Hitting a Nerve

Chapter 388: Chapter 388: Hitting a Nerve

Mr. and Mrs. Croft were startled by the sudden, unfamiliar voice. Only then did they notice a girl, not much older than the two children, standing beside them.

"Who are you? We’re talking to our own grandchildren. What right does an outsider like you have to butt in?"

The moment Mrs. Croft spoke, Sean Donovan shot back loudly, "She’s our cousin from our uncle’s family! She’s not an outsider!"

"Cousin?" The old couple looked Arabella Donovan up and down, as if trying to figure out which of Sean’s uncles was her father.

"So what if she’s a cousin? A distant one, at that. How can some cousin be closer than their own grandparents? Our family’s business is none of your concern. It’s not your place, as a junior from another branch of the family, to tell us what to do."

"Your family?" Arabella Donovan dodged the hand that was nearly poking her in the face and chuckled. "As I recall, my aunt recently got a divorce. And if I’m not mistaken, her ex-husband married into her family, didn’t he? So, whether it was before or after the divorce, the two children logically belong to the Donovan Family, not your Croft Family. Even their surname is Donovan."

Arabella deliberately brought up the fact that the children’s surname was Donovan to push the old couple’s buttons. After all, their own son, the one with the Croft name, was now destined to have no biological heirs. Their schemes of ten or twenty years had all gone down the drain. With her prodding them like this, they were bound to explode.

And once they exploded, they were more likely to slip up and show their true colors in front of so many people.

Sure enough, the moment Mrs. Croft heard this, her face fell. "What does it matter if he married into the family or not? They have the blood of the Crofts flowing in their veins, so they are Croft children! Now that their father isn’t around, they should be supporting us two old folks. That’s the way of the world! No one can say otherwise!"

"Support?" Arabella Donovan raised an eyebrow. "Fourth Sister, if I remember correctly, the law states that the obligation of support only exists between immediate family members—that is, between parents and children. There’s no law saying grandchildren have to support their grandparents, is there?"

Eloise Donovan glanced at her younger sister and chimed in at the right moment, "That’s generally true, yes. But there are exceptions."

"What exceptions?"

"If the children are deceased or incapable of providing support. In other words, if their son were dead or unable to support them in their old age, they could indeed ask their grandchildren to help support them."

"Oh, so that’s how it is. Does that mean their son is dead? That beast of an ex-husband of my aunt’s is gone? Well, that’s just wicked people getting what they deserve! A cause for celebration! A real cause for celebration!"

Mrs. Croft couldn’t stand hearing anyone speak ill of her son. Arabella’s words hit her biggest sore spot, and she flew into a rage on the spot.

"Your son is the one who’s dead! Your whole family is dead!"

Arabella feigned a startled jump and instinctively dodged behind her sister. "Hey, why are you resorting to personal attacks? He’s not dead? Then why are you coming to my younger cousins to support you?"

Eloise cast an indulgent glance at her and said with a faint smile, "Because he’s in prison."

Only then did Arabella put on a look of sudden realization. "Oh, look at my memory! I almost forgot. Their son went to prison, so he’s certainly incapable of supporting them anymore. But... what was he in prison for again?"

"Because he already had a wife and child back home, but he still tricked our aunt into marrying him, claiming they were his sister and nephew. After marrying into our aunt’s family, he transferred her assets to support this so-called ’sister’ and ’nephew.’ He even planned to kill his wife and abandon his children to seize the inheritance Third Grandpa left for our aunt, all to give it to his ’sister’ and the ’nephew’ he had with her. After our aunt sued, the court convicted him of bigamy. And that’s how he ended up in there, isn’t it?"

The two sisters, playing off each other in perfect harmony, dropped the most explosive gossip in the calmest of tones.

Because the elderly couple had come to cause a scene several times before, the school security guards were already familiar with them and the children. For the past few days, all they had heard was the two old folks wailing and making a racket, while the two little ones stood by like timid quails, anxious and angry but unable to articulate why.

The guards had thought the children’s mother must be a terrible daughter-in-law. No matter what, she shouldn’t prevent the children from seeing their own grandparents.

But now, hearing what Arabella and her sister had to say, the guards’ faces showed the shock of someone who had just heard some major gossip.

It was just after school let out, and the school gate was bustling with people. Hearing the commotion from Arabella’s group, a crowd had unknowingly formed, and more people on the periphery were still gathering closer.

The two Croft elders had chosen this specific time to corner the children at school precisely because they knew there would be many people around. They wanted to use the pressure from the crowd to get what they wanted from the kids.

Who would have thought that Arabella would appear as an unexpected variable? All their careful scheming had backfired on them. They had truly been hoist by their own petard.

Hearing Arabella and her sister mention his son’s imprisonment, Mr. Croft’s face turned ashen. In any era, a child going to prison and getting a criminal record was an extremely shameful thing.

He immediately put on a stern face and began to defend his son. "It’s only natural for a man to make a few mistakes while trying to support his family. Besides, Julian already let the two children she bore take her family’s surname. What more could she be unsatisfied with? She just had to cling to his past, use her money and power for malicious revenge, and throw my perfectly good son into that dark, sunless place. She’s utterly vicious and cruel."

He spoke as if Lillian Donovan were the one bullying the weak, preying on "innocent" and honest people like them. Hearing this, both Sean and his sibling clenched their fists.

But Mrs. Croft thought her husband was right. "She’s just a worthless girl. The fact that my son was willing to let the two children she bore take her surname was already a tremendous blessing! Her family line gets to continue, but we can’t let the Croft line die out. What did my son do that was so wrong?"

The more Mrs. Croft spoke, the more worked up she got, until she completely forgot to hide her true feelings and blurted out everything she was thinking.

"If you really want to get technical, Willow married Julian and had a child with him first. So if we’re going by first-come, first-served, she’s the one in the wrong! But oh no, you give her an inch and she takes a mile! She actually had the nerve to come after us and ruin our family like this. I’ve lived a long time, and I’ve never seen such a vicious woman who doesn’t know what’s good for her. If this were back in our hometown, a woman like her would’ve been dragged out and taught a lesson long ago! How could she be allowed to parade around and show her face in public like this!"

As soon as Mrs. Croft said this, a wave of shocked murmurs rippled through the crowd.

Some people who had been unaware of the full story and had spoken up for them in the past few days now had strange expressions on their faces. They instinctively shut their mouths, took a couple of steps back, and tried to shrink into the background, terrified of being recognized and suffering a public humiliation alongside these two old fools.