Chapter 161
Chapter 161
At the same time, in Russell Manor, Eliana bolted upright from a nightmare.
Theodore, who’d been keeping a close eye on her, snapped awake instantly. Seeing the distress on her face, he asked, “What happened? is your ear bothering you?”
Eliana met his gaze, looking more fragile than he’d ever seen her. “Just had a dream about the past.”
“Something from the Therapy Center?”
She stayed silent. No, it was from Burke Manor.
She’d dreamed of Hannah, fresh off a perfect score on a test, surrounded by their parents‘ praise. Meanwhile, she, who’d also aced the exam, stood forgotten in the corner, yearning for even a single look.
Theodore climbed out of bed and fetched a glass of water. “Here, take a breath.”
“Thanks.” Eliana took a few sips.
As she set the glass down, he asked softly, “Do you want to talk about it?”
Eliana hesitated before shrugging. “It’s old news.”
“Then tell me, has your mother always been like this?”
If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would never have guessed Belinda could be so vicious. This wasn’t just favoritism. It was outright hostility.
The thought brought back memories of his own mother. Despite her short life, she’d doted on him. That was why losing her had made him despise his father so deeply.
Eliana’s voice cut through his thoughts. “You mean the slap? Yeah, that was extreme.” Usually, it was just lectures.
Theodore’s eyes turned cold. ““Extreme” doesn’t even begin to cover it,’ he thought.
He decided to teach Belinda a lesson–Eliana wasn’t the defenseless, girl she once was.
The next morning, Eliana stood in front of the bathroom mirror, gingerly peeling the gauze from her ear. Seeing no trace of blood, she let out a relieved
sigh.
She changed into her work clothes and pulled open the door, nearly colliding with Theodore. “Morning, Theodore,” she said.
His eyes went straight to her ear, Noticing the gauze was gone, he stepped closer for a careful look. “You planning to go to work?”
Eliana shifted awkwardly. “Yeah, it’s not hurting much anymore.”
Theodore pressed his lips together. He wanted to tell her she didn’t need to work as his wife, but he thought, ‘Who am I to stand in the way of her career?‘
“If you feel overwhelmed, come home and rest,” he said gently.
Relieved he wasn’t pushing back, Eliana smiled, “Will do.”
At Starlight Media, Nolan had made the same call to legal every morning these days. “Any court papers today?” he asked.
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Chapter 161
A staff member replied, “Negative, Mr. Hall.”
“All right.” Hanging up, Nolan frowned.
He thought, ‘Why hasn’t Matthew filed a lawsuit yet? It must be Theodore’s doing.”
It was the only logical explanation.
He let out a sigh. “I need to be better to Ellie.”
His secretary piped up, “Speaking of Mrs. Russell, did you hear the news?”
Nolan asked, “What news?”
“She got slapped by her mother outside the office yesterday.”
Nolan’s expression darkened. “What did you just say?”
“Over Ms. Burke’s termination, her mother came to make a scene. I think. Mr. Russell had to carry her away.”
Nolan shot to his feet. “What?”
Watching his stunned reaction, the secretary fought a grin. “Maybe you should ask Mrs. Russell about it yourself?”
Nolan took off at a run toward Eliana’s department.
Within seconds, he saw her hunched over her desk, focused on work. He cleared his throat. “Eliana, come with me a second.”
In the break room, he asked, “What’s this about your mom causing a scene here? Why didn’t you say something?”
Eliana looked up flatly. “She came looking for me.”
Nolan frowned. “She should’ve come for me. I’m the one who fired Hannah.”
Eliana dropped her gaze. “Mr. Hall, if I hadn’t stepped in, would Hannah have closed the deal with Matthew? Then she wouldn’t have gotten fired.” Then Belinda never would’ve come to hit her.
“Not a chance! Even if you hadn’t stopped her, I’d have fired Hannah the minute I found out she slept with Matthew to get that contract. Besides, you were trying to help her.” He grew more worked up. “That’s it, I’m calling your mom right now.”
Nolan became more furious. He thought, ‘How can Belinda be so blind to reason? If anyone deserves a scolding, it’s Hannah with her twisted morals.‘
Before Eliana could reply, Nolan stalked off with his phone.
-Belinda didn’t mince words and cursed Nolan, the “heartless jerk“, when she answered. “Nolan, luckily, I didn’t see you yesterday, otherwise I’d have
smacked you too!”
“You think you’re justified?” Nolan sputtered. “I respected you as an elder, and I don’t want to be rude. But let me make this clear–you’re not welcome at our company. And Hannah turned out the way she did because of how you raised her.”
When Belinda heard this, her shriek echoed through the entire break room. “You’re not welcome in our house either. Who do you think you are? Hannah’s with Julian now. She doesn’t need to put up with your bullshit at work anymore!”
At Burke Manor, Belinda slammed the phone down and turned to Hannah, who was sprawled on the sofa scrolling through her phone. “Honey, you look wiped out today. Why not ask Julian to go out and clear your head?”
Hannah put her phone aside with a vague expression. “He said he’s swamped. No time.”
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Chapter 161
Belinda pushed on “I think you should talk about manispa with this then your
Hannah snapped back aritably. “Mom, I’ll deal with this. Don’t but in
કાશે. મુખ્યપ્ય અને થત કર નેટ
“Fine, fine. I’ll go fix you some tank to boost your energy, Belinda said cherthanore dinge the virtues.
Alesse, Hannah’s expression scurred She’d noticed Julian Ewing told these pad days why ass and he have his f bad Eliana and Nolan had messed that up.
But Matthew’s clearly a sleazy creep i can only get short–term gains from him to ve Karyatty fang farms, I have hard the through
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At Russell Group. Theodore turned to Stanley, who was packing up board meeting files, after the masting ended. “Book fue movie tiket
Stanley let out a confused “Huh?”
