CHAPTER 406: CHAPTER 406: HARMING HER

Mrs. Hawthorne trembled as she watched the needle inching towards her.

"Paige Sterling, are you crazy?! I am the matriarch of The Hawthorne Family, and you dare to do this? Where did you get the nerve? Stop it right now!"

Are her two sons dead? She’s yelling so loudly, yet they can’t hear her?

"Heh, you’re the matriarch of The Hawthorne Family? Look at yourself, shouting so loud. Is anyone coming to look after you? You’ve never considered yourself part of The Hawthorne Family, so why do you think they’d protect you? Do you really think the world revolves around you and everyone should unconditionally forgive your mistakes?"

Mrs. Hawthorne’s expression involuntarily went rigid. She knew full well that, aside from Simon Hawthorne, who still valued her, no one else in the Hawthorne family cared.

Old Master Hawthorne despised her for causing his son’s death, and Julian Hawthorne hated her just as much...

She had long lost her voice in the Hawthorne family. Any courtesy from Old Master Hawthorne was only for show.

But that didn’t matter, she told herself, as long as she was the mother of Julian and Simon Hawthorne, and as long as she could disregard those looks, nobody would dare to ignore her.

"I will call the police, Paige! If you dare to do this, I’ll call the cops!"

Paige Sterling, "Call the police? Do you dare? Do you dare let the police know about your connections with the organizations researching unethical prohibited drugs in secret?"

"Not me, I have nothing to do with them, nothing..."

Paige chuckled, "Denial won’t work. Someone from their organization has already passed that information to me."

Mrs. Hawthorne stared at Paige in disbelief. She had misjudged; Paige was not someone she could manipulate. This woman was terrifying.

Paige continued smiling at Mrs. Hawthorne, "You know, someone like me who does research often has some private channels. That person told me that over ten years ago, their organization lost two vials of base drug. They’ve been tracing them ever since, trying to catch the thief. So, what if I tell them you were the one who stole the drugs..."

Mrs. Hawthorne shuddered, "It wasn’t me, I didn’t steal them. Someone gave them to me, it has nothing to do with me..."

No wonder Mrs. Hawthorne indulged in tormenting Julian back then; the thrill of abusing someone was truly intoxicating.

Although Paige wanted to teach Mrs. Hawthorne a lesson, she did not wish to indulge herself, in case she ended up becoming like Mrs. Hawthorne.

So she tossed the syringe aside, "Auntie, look how frightened you are. I was just joking with you..."

Yet Mrs. Hawthorne remained horrified.

At this moment, the door opened, and Julian and Simon Hawthorne walked in, with Dora Upton following behind.

"Big cousin, second cousin, this woman abused auntie! Look at auntie’s face, she’s the one who hit her!"

Julian didn’t even glance at Mrs. Hawthorne. He walked straight to Paige, only looking at her.

Simon, however, noticed Mrs. Hawthorne’s swollen face and frightened expression at once.

He stared at Paige in disbelief.

Paige, however, said helplessly, "Sorry, Auntie got a bit agitated just now. I was worried she’d hurt herself, so I tried to snap her out of it. I didn’t expect it’d be so effective; she calmed down, though it seems I’ve hit her too hard, and now she’s a bit scared of me..."

Dora Upton, "...", what an impeccable damsel in distress.

Mrs. Hawthorne and Dora thought, surely Simon wouldn’t believe such an obvious lie.

But unexpectedly, Simon looked entirely understanding.

"Mom, sister-in-law was really doing it for your good. Don’t blame her."

Dora was shocked, looking at Simon.

Despite being hit like this, it’s for auntie’s good? Does her second cousin have a screw loose?

And as for big cousin...

Not worth relying on at all.

Dora suddenly started to question reality, "She’s beaten auntie like this, and you’re still buying her lies?"

Simon said, "If sister-in-law truly wanted to hit mom, it wouldn’t just be a swollen face..."

Wouldn’t it just flatten and take your head off?

So Simon genuinely believed Paige’s actions were meant to calm his mom, not deliberately hurt her.

Dora thought Simon was brain-dead to believe such nonsense.

Then she noticed the syringe on the table and quickly picked it up.

"And what’s with this? What were you going to inject into my aunt? You’re such a vile woman..."

Paige, "This is medication the psychologist prescribed for auntie. I saw auntie getting agitated and wanted to give her an injection. If you don’t believe me, you can ask the psychologist."

Paige sighed, "Since auntie came back, her mental state seems even worse. Maybe she should go abroad for continued psychological treatment, lest her condition worsens..."

Mrs. Hawthorne suddenly snapped back, staring hard at Paige.

"You want to kick me out? What right do you have to throw me out?"

Paige looked directly into Mrs. Hawthorne’s eyes, penetrating her soul, "Auntie, you’ve misunderstood. Since you don’t wish to go abroad and seeing me agitates you, for the sake of your health, I should move out to avoid making you more upset."

Even though Simon was now pained by his mother’s condition, it was her fault for making the mother-in-law-daughter-in-law relationship so tense. Besides, his sister-in-law had come so far, Simon felt he had no grounds to blame his sister-in-law.

"Sister-in-law, actually my mom..."

Paige, "It’s alright, I understand. Don’t worry, I won’t blame auntie."

Then Paige and Julian left, leaving Simon feeling grateful.

"Mom, sister-in-law is truly a good woman..."

Mrs. Hawthorne and Dora, "..."

The next day, Paige and Julian departed from The Hawthorne Family.

She had gotten what she wanted, and Mrs. Hawthorne only knew so much. Staying longer would just lead to more mutual annoyance.

She had no interest in bickering over trivial matters with Mrs. Hawthorne.

And without The Hawthorne Family, what power did Mrs. Hawthorne have over her?

Perhaps Mrs. Hawthorne was so frightened by Paige that her emotions were unstable for a while after.

In the family, only Simon stayed by her side every day; the rest didn’t care whether Mrs. Hawthorne lived or died and only hired a psychologist for her.

Dora thought The Hawthorne Family was truly too heartless to Mrs. Hawthorne.

She called her parents, thinking they should stand up for her aunt.

But her parents advised her not to meddle in other people’s affairs and told her to come back quickly.

Suddenly, Dora felt her aunt was even more pitiful, with unsupportive sons and neglectful siblings-in-law. If she didn’t stand up for her aunt, wouldn’t her aunt suffer even more?

And the one who put her aunt in such a state was Paige, so naturally, she decided to confront Paige.

Dora ran to Penson, but as expected, she couldn’t meet with Paige.

So she waited outside Penson until she finally saw Paige.

Furious, she charged at Paige.

"Paige Sterling, you devil, what have you done to my aunt? You’ve driven her insane!"

Even now, Mrs. Hawthorne didn’t dare leave the house, constantly screaming that someone was trying to kill her.

Mrs. Hawthorne had always been extreme, spending so many years becoming a seemingly normal person, and now she was on the verge of madness again.

But the members of The Hawthorne Family all believed it wasn’t Paige’s doing. When she said it was Paige, they all seemed to think she was being unreasonable.

She felt everyone around her was insane, and only she was clear-headed, only she could see this female demon’s true nature.

Paige, seeing her agitation, remained calm, "You’re so young yet have such a temper. You’ll get pimples."

Dora subconsciously touched the two pimples that had appeared recently, "None of your business, you female devil, you just want to harm my aunt. I won’t let you succeed!"

Paige retorted, "Does your aunt have money? Power? Any talent worth exploiting?"

Dora, "..."

Paige, "She has nothing. What’s there for me to gain by harming her?"