Bell Family
After returning home, Mina Bell consoled her parents, "Dad, Mom, don't be angry with my sister. It's all my fault. If I hadn't failed to control my emotions, none of this would have happened."
"This has nothing to do with you!" Kevin Bell suppressed his anger.
Vivi Lange patted her daughter's shoulder, "Alright, go back to your room and rest."
Although Mina Bell said to her parents not to be too angry, she was secretly delighted in her heart.
The moment the bedroom door closed, she laughed out loud.
No wonder the housemaids all despised her. She couldn't seize the opportunity presented to her. This Zoe Bell...
Truly useless!
——
Zoe Bell, however, was summoned by Kevin Bell to the study, where she faced a torrent of angry rebukes.
"Zoe Bell, what on earth do you want?" Kevin Bell glared at her, his gaze icy, "So many people were watching, and you showed no regard for the face of both families. That's one thing, but you dared to hit someone? You've crossed the line!"
"It was you who said that I should break off the engagement, and I've done as you wished," Zoe Bell responded indifferently.
"Dare to talk back to me?" Kevin Bell scoffed, "Relying on someone to back you up? Or do you think that because the Stone Family is set on you, I wouldn't dare do anything to you?"
"If Mina Bell likes it, let her marry into their family."
"You..."
Kevin Bell felt his head buzzing.
He believed Zoe Bell was doing this on purpose, aware that under the current circumstances, the Stone Family wouldn't want Mina Bell, yet she still uttered such cold words to provoke him.
"An unfilial ingrate!"
"Zoe Bell, don't think that just because William Hale spoke a few words for you, you can do whatever you want," he said.
"Stone Family, whether you want to marry into it or not, you will marry!"
Facing his fury, Zoe Bell's expression remained calm, "I've said it, I won't marry."
"You're such a scoundrel, have you eaten the heart of a bear or the gall of a leopard to speak to me like this?" Kevin Bell said. Zoe Bell was somewhat proud and sometimes argued a bit, but she never confronted him like she did today.
"Zoe, what's wrong with you?" Vivi Lange, on the sidelines, also felt that Zoe Bell was not acting normally.
She was usually...
Easy to control!
Zoe Bell bit her teeth hard, struggling to contain her emotions, and after taking several deep breaths, she tried to suppress her trembling voice:
"My leg back then, it could have been treated, right?"
Kevin Bell and his wife did not expect her to suddenly bring up this matter and were simultaneously stunned.
"Brandon Stone said that it was all orchestrated by you. Why? Over these years, whatever you asked me to do, I did. Haven't I been obedient enough?" Zoe Bell asked furiously, her eyes red with rage.
"Destroying my life, crushing everything I have, is this what you wanted?"
Suddenly, Kevin Bell picked up the agate incense burner beside him and hurled it at her.
It missed her and shattered against the wall of the hallway behind her; agate shards sprayed in all directions.
The incense contained within also scattered around, with the scent of sandalwood drifting through the air.
"You ingrate, what we do is none of your business to question!"
Vivi Lange let out a cry of alarm, afraid her husband would do something rash. She hurriedly restrained him, not out of concern for Zoe Bell, but said, "Mina has gone to rest, she hasn't been sleeping well lately, let's not disturb her."
Zoe Bell looked at the incense burner and gave a self-mocking laugh.
That smile was scornful and fearless.
Kevin Bell trembled with rage, she even dared to mock him?
"Get out!"
"You eat what I provide, wear what I give, use what I buy. I spent money for you to learn ballet, and you really think you're some kind of swan? I'd like to see what you have left if you leave this house!"
"Without me, would you have your today? Ruining your life? If it weren't for you, our Bell Family wouldn't have..."
"Kevin!" Vivi Lange stopped him from going on.
Kevin Bell's tone shifted, laughing coldly:
"Your life, that's something I have given you!"
"If I want to take it back, I will!"
"It's just the sacrifice of a leg, not as if you are crippled and unable to walk."
Zoe Bell clenched her hands and looked at Kevin Bell, fearless, "In your eyes, it's just... a leg?"
"Are you questioning me?"
Kevin Bell felt that his authority as the head of the family was being challenged!
"I shouldn't have adopted you in the first place. A man like William Hale took pity on you and lent you a hand, and now you think so highly of yourself that you dare talk back to me?"
"Who do you think you are? Get out of the Bell Family!"
"Kevin," Vivi Lange tried to stop him, "it's so late, and it's raining outside, what are you talking about?"
"Let her leave!"
When Kevin Bell was home, his word was law.
And Zoe Bell had long understood that once they truly fell out, there would be no chance for her to stay in this house.
This...
This place that never belonged to her!
Before she left, Kevin Bell had even instructed the servants to check her luggage.
"Anything that belongs to our family, don't even think about taking it with you!"
"Dad, Mom, what's going on?"
Mina Bell hadn't been sleeping and came out of her bedroom upon hearing the commotion, seeing her parents and the servants gathered at the door of Zoe's room, with various clothes scattered on the floor, she naturally understood what had happened.
"Mina, this has nothing to do with you, stay out of it," Kevin Bell scoffed.
"Go through her room thoroughly, check if anything is missing!"
Zoe Bell was not favored, her bedroom was simple, and the jewelry she wore to events was returned to Vivi Lange right after, leaving only some inexpensive accessories in her jewelry box, and aside from books, there were some neatly packaged jars in her closet.
Mina Bell heard that in her free time, she liked to make her own spices at home.
When she first returned to the Bell Family, Zoe had once given her an Incense Card, which smelled quite nice, but Vivi Lange had secretly thrown it away.
Kevin Bell glanced at the jars filled with various substances and sneered, "Really not fit for society, just picking up trash. Throw all of this out!"
Trash?
Zoe's hands clenched.
She remembered the sandalwood she had made by hand, the selected Incense Burner he had casually smashed.
Now, her collection of spices was thrown outside by him, the sound of shattering glass jars swallowed by the noise of the rain.
Her belongings were thrown onto the ground by the servants, including her undergarments, trampled like trash.
Just like she was, in this family, always disposable.
"It's getting late, let my sister have some rest. Besides... I don't really want to marry Brandon Stone, and the one who was engaged to him was my sister, not me."
Although Mina Bell said this, her expression was as if she was about to cry.
Even a fool could see she liked Brandon Stone.
From her previous life, she never had access to someone as wealthy, handsome, and considerate as him; how could she not be moved?
Besides...
This was originally hers!
If Zoe, an adopted daughter, was worthy of marrying into the Stone Family, why couldn't she?
Kevin Bell's face was expressionless: "Originally hers? What does she have?"
"It was me, I gave her everything, who gave her the audacity to raise her voice at me."
"All of this was given to her by me, she had nothing to begin with!"
This was the truth,
But it was very hurtful!
Under the urging of two servants, Zoe Bell stepped out of the Bell Family's front door.
"Dad, the rain outside is heavy..."
Mina Bell stood by the window, watching her figure gradually swallowed by the rain.
"I just want her to know that everything she has today is given by who, if I hadn't taken her out of the orphanage back then, would she have today? Without teaching her a lesson, she'll just keep climbing over your head in the future."
Kevin Bell watched Zoe in the rain, without a trace of pity.
Vivi Lange comforted her daughter, "Let's go, mom will accompany you back to your room to sleep."
In the end, aside from the clothes she was wearing and her identity documents, Kevin Bell didn't allow Zoe Bell to take anything with her.
Except for...
William Hale's overcoat!
Which became her only luggage.