Tanya Sinclair remained calm, showing no trace of panic.
"Yvonne, you can eat whatever you want, but you can’t speak carelessly. You say I stole something, do you have any evidence?"
Yvonne Hawthorne laughed angrily, "Still pretending here, Joy said everything!"
Tanya’s expression darkened, and she spoke with a hint of heartbreak, "Joy, are you saying that you saw Mommy steal Auntie’s diamond bracelet?"
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Joy, who was sitting on Vincent’s lap, curl up like a little ostrich, burying her head in Vincent’s arms, too guilty to look at her.
But to the other members of The Hawthorne Family, Joy’s actions seemed more like a frightened child.
Mother Hawthorne comforted Joy, "Joy darling, don’t be afraid, huh? This is The Hawthorne Family, how could my precious granddaughter be scared by an outsider?"
The term ’outsider’ was emphasized heavily, and she glanced at Tanya Sinclair with a meaningful look.
In The Hawthorne Family, Tanya Sinclair would always be an outsider!
Tanya Sinclair stood there, quietly listening, without any extra expression on her face.
Being accepted and recognized by The Hawthorne Family was something she had always looked forward to.
But now, she couldn’t care less! Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
Vincent Hawthorne finally spoke, "Tanya, if you accidentally took Yvonne’s bracelet, why not return it now."
Even he didn’t believe her.
Tanya lowered her eyes, sarcastically curling her lips.
She had known Vincent since she was twelve, spending half her life with him, walking through the gates of hell for him several times, giving up a million-dollar partnership opportunity for him.
He was even the closest person to her at one point.
She thought, even if Vincent didn’t love her, he would at least have a shred of trust in her...
But now, she sees she was too naive.
Vincent said helplessly, "Tanya, that bracelet has special meaning for Yvonne, if you really want it, I can buy you one of the same value..."
Tanya could no longer listen and interrupted coldly, "I didn’t take it!"
Vincent looked at her with disappointment, frowning, "Tanya, how did you become ?"
"If you didn’t take it, do you mean Joy deliberately wronged you?! She’s only five, what does she know?" Mother Hawthorne saw she was still being stubborn, and directly instructed the servant, "Snatch her bag for me!"
"No need for you to do it, I’ll do it myself!"
Tanya knew very well this was The Hawthorne Family’s territory, she was alone and had no room to resist.
She held onto a last shred of hope, asking Joy, "Joy, Mommy is asking you one last time, are you sure I took Auntie’s diamond bracelet?"
As long as Joy realized the gravity of the situation now, admitted her mistake and bravely told the truth, this matter could end here...
Joy shrank into Vincent’s arms, unconsciously biting her fingers, as she would whenever she was nervous.
She burrowed into Vincent’s arms, seeing the red marks on Auntie’s hand made by Tanya, and connected them to Cindy’s injury.
Joy, feeling guilty, stubbornly said, "I really saw it."
The last bit of hope Tanya had utterly shattered.
Today, she must give her daughter a good lesson!
Lying and stealing were wrong, and refusing to repent made it even worse!
Tanya took a deep breath and directly, in front of everyone, opened her bag, turned the pocket upside down, and emptied all its contents, including the conspicuous diamond bracelet!
Aunt Flora covered her mouth in disbelief at what she saw.
Did Ma’am... did she really steal the diamond bracelet?
Yvonne looked triumphant, "Caught in the act, Tanya Sinclair, let’s see how you deny it now!"
"I didn’t do it, so there’s no need to admit it." Tanya stood there with her back straight, as straight as bamboo, exuding an aura of invincibility, "You all can report it to the police and have them check for my fingerprints on this bracelet!"
She knew what fingerprints were; her brother taught her, each person’s fingerprints are unique. Once you touch something, you leave your unique fingerprints on it.
So... Auntie’s diamond bracelet won’t have this bad woman Tanya Sinclair’s fingerprints on it, only hers!
Tanya noticed the panic and fear on Joy’s little face, feeling a twinge of compassion in her heart.
As a mother, she didn’t want her daughter to be afraid, but without consequences for wrongdoing, she wouldn’t learn!
Tanya forced herself to be resolute.
She would report this to the police even if The Hawthorne Family did not!
Yvonne sneered at Tanya’s fearless demeanor.
"Tanya Sinclair, don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking. Our Hawthorne Family is well-respected in Aris, if we really reported this to the police, it would be our family’s reputation on the line. You’re just relying on our family’s need for face to act so brazenly, aren’t you?"
Tanya found her stupidity laughable and couldn’t be bothered to respond.
But Yvonne’s words did get through to Vincent Hawthorne.
Indeed, The Hawthorne Family had always had a good reputation in Aris, esteemed in the eyes of outsiders.
It was unexpected that Tanya could harbor such thoughts!
Had he been wrong about her all these years?
Vincent frowned; just as he was about to say something, the phone on the nearby sofa vibrated, surprising him.
The message was from his son, Caden.
Vincent looked around and indeed didn’t see Caden in the living room.
He puzzledly picked up the phone, opened the video Caden sent, which was actually surveillance footage from Yvonne’s room.
Caden: [Dad, this is the surveillance from Auntie’s room, take a look. The bracelet wasn’t stolen by her...]
No one knew from whom he inherited it, but Caden had an astounding talent for computer programming, adeptly breaching ordinary firewalls to retrieve surveillance footage.
Vincent moved his fingers, opened the surveillance video, and as he watched, his expression became increasingly grim...