Dean hobbled over with his cane. âEllinor, donât worry, Iâll sort this out. Theyâll pay for what theyâve done to you.â
Ellinor gave a small smile. âThanks, Grandpa Dean, for believing in me.â
Tracy and Sheila, on the other hand, were scared stiff when they heard Dean was going to handle the situation and thought they were going to be punished. They wanted to bolt.
Tracy forced a smile, saying, âUh⦠Sorry, somethingâs come up at home, so weâve gotta bounce,â
Sheila nervously clung to her motherâs arm. âWeâre out.â
Tracy and Sheila booked it out of there, and the Howard familyâs servants didnât stop them since they hadnât been told to.
Dean and his wife never really gave two hoots about Tracy and her daughter. They were more concerned about Xenia and Patricia, who had embarrassed them.
They sat down with stern faces. Dean frowned at Xenia and Patricia, grunting. âWhatâve you got to say for yourselves?â
Patricia was obviously scared witless and couldnât find her voice.
But Xenia wasnât ready to throw in the towel just yet. She gritted her teeth in anger. If Ellinor was going to oust her and her daughter from the Howard family, then she wouldnât let Ellinor off scot-free.
âDad, even if Patricia did find Ms. Mendozaâs stepmother and had her spill the beans online about Ms.
Mendozaâs scandals, how can we prove theyâre all lies? Maybe Patricia just wanted to show everyone the real Ms. Mendoza.â
Patricia, hearing her mother, quickly collected herself and chimed in, âGrandpa, Grandma, okay, I admit I found Ellinorâs stepmother. I had her share the mother and daughterâs story.
I heard that Ellinor seriously screwed them over, and I couldnât stand them not getting any compensation.
I didnât admit it before because I was afraid youâd give me a hard time for meddling.â
Patricia, quite the drama queen, started crying and shaking as she spoke.
Xenia, feigning sympathy for her daughter, comforted her and shot Ellinor a hateful look, âMs. Mendoza keeps insisting that those rumors are false, but why hasnât she cleared her name? Why hasnât she proved that she didnât do those things?â
Suddenly, all eyes were on Ellinor again.
Ellinor raised an eyebrow, âMrs. Howard, the Internet has been buzzing with this scandal. Do you really think anyone would believe me if I tried to clear my name now?â
Xenia snorted, âIf you could provide solid evidence that youâre innocent, people would believe you! But if itâs just talk with no proof, why would anyone believe you, Ms. Mendoza? Or is it that you donât have any evidence?â
Ellinor replied, âI indeed donât have evidence.â
Xenia scoffed, âWell, if you have no proof, then you canât blame people for believing that poor mother and daughterâs story!â