From Ashes of Scandal to His Embrace (Laurinda) novel Chapter 271

“Pearce, you heard me. She’s my girlfriend. If I don’t stand up for her, who am I supposed to protect? Someone else? Let her get bullied?”

Adolphus moved forward, blocking Laurinda from Pearce’s glare. He met Pearce’s furious stare with a cool, almost mocking smile.

“So, you really think Adah did nothing wrong?”

“That’s ridiculous. She’s the one who got bullied so badly. How could she possibly be at fault? Pearce, out of respect for your parents, I can let it slide that you spoke back to me. But Laurinda has to apologize to Thalia today.”

Pearce clenched his jaw. He couldn’t believe that even after bringing up Adolphus’s grandparents, Adolphus would still ignore their family ties and refuse to give him any face.

If Adolphus dared to talk back again, Pearce was ready. He’d use it as an excuse to stir up drama, ruin Adolphus’s reputation in Cabinda, and maybe even make sure he could never go back to the Lane family.

Locke could barely hold back his anger. Pearce was actually threatening Adolphus by dragging family into this. The Charles family clearly thought they could walk all over them.

Just as Locke was about to step up for Adolphus and Laurinda, Thalia’s shrill, filthy insults suddenly filled the hall. Every word was so crude, the crowd was stunned. No one had ever heard someone curse like this before.

“Turn it off! Turn it off right now! Who did this? Who’s messing with the speakers? Turn them off!”

Thalia hadn’t expected her rant against Cathleen and Laurinda to go public. She was panicking now, completely forgetting about her stomachache, and screaming at the sound system.

But no matter how loud she shouted, the audio kept playing. With everyone staring at her in disgust, Thalia looked helplessly at Pearce.

“Pearce, it wasn’t me! It wasn’t! It was her! They’re framing me!”

Jed went straight to Cathleen, frowning at the stain on her dress. Then he looked up at Pearce.

“My granddaughter has always been polite and well-behaved. She’s never the one to start trouble. But somehow, trouble keeps finding her. First, your darling daughter Adah went out of her way to insult my granddaughter, saying she was boring and not good enough for Sam.”

“Cathleen is sensitive and anxious. Adah’s words pushed her into depression, and in the end, she had no choice but to break off her engagement to Sam.”

“Even then, our family let it go. We didn’t come to the Charles family with accusations when we had no proof. What, did you think we’re that easy to push around? And now you send another daughter to bully my granddaughter?”

“Just listen to what she said. Honestly, if you shoved her head in a toilet, you’d be insulting the toilet.”

When Jed finished, the whole place went dead silent. Even Pearce, who’d been so arrogant a moment ago, couldn’t bring himself to say a single word.