Beau Shelby looked at the mother and daughter, and the image of Raina’s elegant yet aloof face flashed through his mind, making him feel immensely weary all of a sudden.
After returning to The North Family, he took advantage of everyone’s absence and said to Claire North, "Claire, wouldn’t it be better if Raina and I stayed out of each other’s way, leaving each other in peace?"
Claire North’s eyes were red: "Beau, do you think I can’t stand to see my sister doing well, that I’m jealous she married well?"
Beau Shelby didn’t say a word.
Claire North immediately started crying in grievance: "Beau, do you think I want to provoke my sister? She’s the one who won’t let us be. You saw it too, she’s changed. She’s back to take revenge, to take Northwind, to take you, to take everything from me. I’m not jealous of her, nor am I unable to see her succeed; I just want to protect what’s mine. Is that wrong?"
"I’ll talk to Raina, ask her to give up on Northwind. After all, we are one family, and I don’t see the need for total destruction."
"Beau, do you... still love my sister?"
Beau Shelby frowned deeply: "Claire, what are you talking about? Raina is already married."
"What if she wasn’t married?" Claire North pressed on.
"Claire, stop being unreasonable. It was over between Raina and me long ago."
"Am I being unreasonable, or is there something between you and her? Why haven’t you proposed to me in these five years? Ever since my sister returned, your eyes haven’t left her. How can I believe it’s truly over between you two?"
"Claire, when did you become so aggressive? I thought you’d understand me," Beau Shelby suddenly felt intensely agitated, "Forget it, you just got out of the police station, you need to rest. We’ll talk some other day."
As soon as Beau Shelby left, Brenda Adler came in.
"What’s going on? Why are you and Beau fighting?"
Claire North angrily smashed the cup in front of her: "It’s all because of Raina, that bitch. Mom, do you know? Elias Hawthorne isn’t crippled at all, and my sister must have known long ago, deliberately keeping it to herself."
This was the knot Claire North could never untie in her heart.
A bastard whose father is unknown, how could Raina be worthy of marrying such an exceptional man.
Yet the man she barely managed to win over had his mind and eyes full of Raina.
"What! I knew it, when we asked her to marry in your place, why that wretched girl went along so easily." Brenda Adler exploded in anger upon hearing this.
"Mom, what should we do? The Shelby Family can’t compare to The Hawthorne Family at all. Even if I marry into The Shelby Family, I’ll still be under Raina’s shadow, and I can’t accept that." Thɪs chapter is updated by novel·fiɾe·net
"Claire, calm down, the one Hawthorne wanted to marry was you; Raina was just a substitute, an impostor. Do you think The Hawthorne Family will still keep her once they know?" Brenda Adler was even more unwilling to let Raina marry well than Claire. Don’t think the old man and Gideon North hiding it from her kept her in the dark; she knew Raina was the illegitimate daughter of Gideon North and Rosalind Rivers, that bitch who stole her man and her child, causing her to be separated from her own flesh and blood for more than a decade. How could she let them go!
After comforting Claire North, Brenda Adler walked out.
"Flora, go find out why The Hawthorne Family initially came to The North Family to propose."