Isabelle Everett was stirring her coffee at the dining table.
Seeing Grace Grant enter, she smiled.
“Grace, you’re back.
Come, have some breakfast.”
Grace suppressed her anger and walked over to Isabelle.
“Mom,” she said, “I saw a car parked outside when I came back just now.
I thought it might be Mr.
Zane, that guy who used to pursue me, here to take me to dinner.
But when I asked, it turned out he was looking for my sister.”
“Claire Grant?” Isabelle’s brow furrowed.
“She just arrived in Norbright.
Who could she possibly know?”
She thought for a moment, then said with a displeased frown, “It must be some of her good-for-nothing, shady friends.”
Seeing her mother wasn’t paying it much mind, Grace bit her lip and suddenly smiled.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought at first, too.”
“But then it felt like something was wrong.” Her tone shifted, and she frowned.
“If it were just a friend, that would be fine.
But it would be awful if she got involved with some unsavory characters.
She is, in name, the Lowell family’s fiancée, after all.
If she’s really messing around and word gets out, it will ruin her name.
I can’t imagine what people will say about the daughters of the Grant family.”
After Grace finished, Isabelle slammed her cup on the table, and scalding coffee splashed across its surface.
Isabelle said coldly, “If she dares to mess around and jeopardize the marriage alliance between the Grant and Lowell families, I’ll break her legs!”
Grace pressed her lips together to hide a smile and rested a hand on Isabelle’s wrist.
“There, there, Mom.
It was just a guess.
Maybe my sister isn’t that kind of person.”
Isabelle’s frown deepened.
She was now clearly convinced that Claire was exactly that type of promiscuous woman.
On the third floor, Claire finished getting ready, picked up the prepared medical kit, and walked out of her room.
When she got downstairs, she saw Isabelle and Grace, mother and daughter, eating at the dining table.
‘What a heartwarming scene.’
Her gaze lingered for only a second before she looked away.
“Stop,” Isabelle called out sharply as Claire headed for the door.
Claire stopped but didn’t turn.
“What is it?”
Isabelle’s expression was grim, as if she were about to lecture her at any moment.
She demanded, “Where are you rushing off to so early in the morning?
To meet some lover?”
Claire froze for a second.
She turned to face her mother, then her eyes shifted to Grace, who was standing nearby.
Grace met her cold gaze.
At first, she could return the look as if nothing was wrong, but soon she found herself faltering under Claire’s intangible pressure.
She swallowed and looked away.
Claire scoffed, her gaze returning to Isabelle.
“If you’re going to frame someone, you should at least have some finesse.
Having a mouth doesn’t give you the right to spout baseless accusations.”
Isabelle slammed the table, stood up, and pointed at her, yelling, “This is how you talk to me when I’m trying to discipline you?!”
“‘Discipline me?’ Claire retorted.
‘What right do you have to discipline me?'”
Isabelle’s anger peaked at Claire’s audacity to humiliate her in front of Grace.
“‘What right do I have?’ she seethed.
‘I have every right!
I’m your mother!'”
‘How laughable.’
Claire did laugh, but it was a scornful sound.
“So you do remember you’re my mother.
I was starting to think you were only a mother to Grace and Colton.
You don’t believe a word I say, but you treat everything that comes out of their mouths like gospel.”
With that, Claire glanced at Grace and said with a smirk, “Drop the act.
The person here to pick me up is Mason Lowell’s driver.
You’re still young, so you should learn to watch your mouth and stop thinking about sordid men all day long.”
She was mocking Grace for the things she had deliberately said to Isabelle.
As it happened, she had overheard bits and pieces of their conversation from upstairs just before coming down.
Her words were brutally blunt.
Grace’s face went pale in an instant.
She still wanted to maintain her sweet, obedient act for Isabelle, so she didn’t dare to retort.
All she could do was start crying pitifully.
But Claire didn’t even give her a chance to shed a tear.
“Save the crocodile tears,” Claire snapped.
“I’m the one you slandered, and I’m not crying.
What right do you have to cry when you’re the one making false accusations?
What?
Do you actually feel wronged?
Do you think I shouldn’t have called you out?”
“Hah…”
Claire gave a low chuckle.
She didn’t have time to waste on this mother-daughter pair.
She left them with nothing but the sight of her cold, retreating back.
Grace was seething.
She never expected Claire to be so sharp-tongued.
As for Isabelle, Claire’s words had left her feeling deeply uncomfortable.
‘She knew she was biased, but some things, once set in motion, were impossible to reverse.’
‘The person Claire had become made her feel not only guilt, but also a faint, indefinable dislike.’
‘Perhaps it was because Claire’s stubbornness was so reminiscent of her late mother-in-law.’
“Mom…” Seeing the flicker of guilt in Isabelle’s eyes, Grace grew anxious.
She was afraid her mother’s guilt would lead her to treat Claire better, stealing the affection that was rightfully hers.
But Grace didn’t realize that while Isabelle understood her intentions perfectly well, she still subconsciously took her side.
Claire got into the car with her medical kit and, before long, arrived at the address Mason Lowell had given her.
The driver said respectfully, “Miss Grant, the young master is waiting for you inside the hospital.”
She looked at the private hospital before her.
Claire fell silent for a moment.
‘Hadn’t she told Mason Lowell on WeChat that they would start with traditional Chinese medicine for the initial phase of treatment?’
‘So why were they at a hospital for treatment today?’
Pushing her questions aside, she went to the VIP suite on the top floor to meet Mason.
After some consideration, Mason had decided to trust Claire.
Gary Lynch had come along to observe.
He hadn’t been able to find Evelyn for Mason, and he was deeply uneasy about entrusting Mason’s care to someone who, by all accounts, knew nothing about medicine.
He’d claimed he was there to assist Claire, but in reality, he was prepared to take over the surgery completely at a moment’s notice.
The two men waited in the room.
A moment later, there was a knock at the door.
Mason said, “Come in.”
Gary’s eyes were fixed on the doorway as the door swung open.
A woman in a V-neck sweater and stonewashed jeans walked in.
She had a slender yet well-proportioned figure, and her fair-skinned face was strikingly beautiful.
She was an exceptionally striking woman.
He could tell she wasn’t wearing any makeup, yet it was hard to look away.
Her eyes, in particular, were remarkably clear and bright.
Gary, for once, was taken aback.
It wasn’t until she walked right up to them and offered a greeting that he noticed the traditional medicine kit in her hand.
Gary asked, astonished, “You’re Claire Grant?”
Seeing him with Mason, Claire gave a polite nod.
Gary was utterly stunned.
‘Who the hell said the eldest Miss Grant was ugly?
Or plain?
You call this plain?’
‘But this wasn’t the time to be distracted by that.
His biggest concern was Mason’s surgery.
Seeing her carrying a traditional medicine kit, however, made him feel that something was very wrong.’
“Weren’t we supposed to do the surgery today?”
Mason also looked at Claire, puzzled.
Claire glanced at Gary, then turned back to Mason.
“Didn’t I say we’d start with a course of traditional Chinese medicine first, and then proceed with the surgery when the time is right?
It’s the safer approach.
Do you want to check our chat history again?”