Chapter 82
"Why did you fire all the servants?!" Dahlia barged into the living room, looking angry, followed closely by Polly, who looked annoyed.
Hudson looked at his mother, whose face was red from her rage. He sneered inwardly. He knew the head housekeeper would call his mother and complain because he had told the agency not to let anyone hire them anymore.
It was basically the same as cutting off the source of their income and forcing them to go back to their hometown or move to another country to work, but he couldn't let others be subjected to their cruel treatment.
Coming from someone as powerful as Hudson, the agency knew those maids had to have made severe mistakes and that they should know better than not to do what he ordered them to do.NôvelDrama.Org is the owner.
"It was high time for me to get rid of them," Hudson replied calmly, his voice cold.
"What do you mean by that?" Dahlia snapped at him.
"I'm sure you know, Mother, that they had abused Cherise since you were the one who allowed them to do it." Hudson narrowed his eyes on his mother.
"So?" Instead of feeling guilty, Dahlia glared at him as she folded her arms across her torso.
"So you should know, Mother, that physical abuse is not tolerated under any of my houses and I'm sure any other household, especially when the servants did them to their Master or Madam," Hudson still spoke calmly, his tone getting colder, but Dahlia, because of her rage, didn't hear it.
"Anyone who gets abused deserves it, just like Cherise," Dahlia sneered. "She's a gold digger who only wants your money."
An angry laugh escaped Hudson's lips. His mother felt no remorse at all and was a lost cause.
"Have you forgotten you were a gold digger too, Mother?" He emphasized the word 'mother' as if mocking her for that title.
"How dare you say that to me!" she yelled.
"Am I wrong?" Hudson sneered. "Everyone knew what kind of woman you were. The shallow and vain social climber who would do anything to catch the biggest fish, who unfortunately was my father."
"Take that back, you ungrateful bastard!" Dahlia hissed, her face getting redder with her rage.
"Ungrateful bastard, huh?" Hudson looked at his mother with disdain. "Good to know how you feel about your son."
"What are you if you are not ungrateful-"
"What actually have you done for me and Luis?" Hudson snapped. "You've done nothing. You left us in the care of the nannies, our dad, and grandmother while you showed off and belittled everyone else like you were above them when, in fact, you came from a middle-class family."
Hudson knew he was being disrespectful to his own mother, but he hated her. He hated how she trapped his father and sucked the life and money out of him, and he felt like he needed to remind her of her origin and how vile she was.
"I carried you and Luis for nine months in my belly, and you should know how hard it was!" Dahlia's voice kept rising, just like her rage.
She knew Hudson hated her, but she never thought he, her own son, would humiliate her like this.
Hudson sneered again. "And do you remember how you got pregnant with Luis and me, Mother?"
Dahlia was now shaking with anger, her eyes throwing daggers at her son. Of course, she remembered how she ended up pregnant with Luis and Hudson.
"Since you seem reluctant to say it, then let me remind you," Hudson said with a voice colder than the ice. "You drugged my father and had your way with him."
"Hudson, you should be thankful for Mom!" Polly, who has been quiet, suddenly sided with her mom. "If not for her, you and Luis wouldn't be born."
Hudson ignored his sister, who had obviously been corrupted by their mother. He kept his cold gaze toward Dahlia and said, "Do you know what it would be called if a man did what you did to my dad, Mother?" He deliberately paused for a few seconds before continuing, "It would be called r**e."
Polly gasped and protested, "Hudson, you can't say that to Mom!"
"Whether I can say that or not, it is still a fact," he said coldly.
"Men can't be raped by women," Dahlia practically growled at him.
Hudson laughed angrily again. "We can go to the police and ask their view about it."
"How dare you threaten your own mother!" Dahlia yelled at him again.
"Oh, I just did, Mother." Hudson flicked an invisible lint from his sleeve as if a son threatening to jail his mother was a usual thing to do.
"You ungrateful bas-"
"If I really were ungrateful, I wouldn't have bought this villa for you when Dad didn't even include you in his will. I wouldn't have given you a monthly allowance or even allowed you to use me as an ATM machine even though I was forced to spend the nine months in your belly against Dad's or my will," he cut her mid-sentence coldly.
He'd had enough of his time here, so he stood up, smoothed out his suit, and said, "Since the two of you do not feel any remorse at all about physically abusing Cherise, I have no choice but to cut both your allowance in half."
He turned around to leave and heard his mother cursing at him at the top of her voice while he felt his sister rushing toward him to grab his arm.
"Hudson, you can't do this to me!" she said, her voice filled with panic.
Hudson looked at Polly and removed her hands from his arm. "I had better hopes for you, Polly, but unfortunately, you chose to be like Mother. Be grateful that you two are hay family, or I would have shipped you off overseas rather than just cut your allowance." "But I can't live with that little amount of money," she said, still panicking.
Hudson sighed inwardly. Even if he took half of their allowances, they would still live lavishly. It seemed he had spoiled them too much.
He ignored her and started leaving again, but she grabbed his arm again. "But what about the servants? Mom and I can't live without servants."
Once again, he removed her hand and said coldly, "Since. you like to treat Cherise, who at that time was my wife, as a servant, I think you and Mother would be happy doing household chores by yourself." Then he walked briskly toward his car without looking back or giving Polly another chance to stop him.
Dahlia screamed and smashed anything she could get her hands on to the floor. She couldn't comprehend what spells Cherise had put on her son to make him change so much. Polly looked at her mom, who looked like a crazy woman right now and rushed toward her.
"Mom, stop it!" She grabbed Dahlia's arm to stop her from reaching out to smash another item and pleaded at her. "We have no servants now and can't afford to break anything." Polly's words seemed to bring some clarity to Dahlia's mind, but her face was still twisted into an ugly expression.
"This is all because of that bitch, Cherise," Dahlia snarled. "If she thought she could hide behind Hudson's protection, then she was wrong. Don't think I'll stop before making her life suffer more than before." Inside his car, Hudson ordered Miles to drive him to the Crescent Villa. He rubbed his temple, his headache settling when he thought of his mother and sister.
He knew his mother was a lost cause, but he was disappointed by Polly. Should he separate them so Dahlia wouldn't corrupt her? He wished he could, but he was sure they would put up an ugly fight with him. It wasn't that he was afraid of getting into verbal arguments with them. After all, he had just disrespected and demeaned his mother, but he felt tired.
Then it hit him that, at this time, he wished Cherise was with him so he could hold her tight and smell her calming scent.
Soon, he thought. Soon, he could feel her in his arms again.
Soon, he would get her back, and he promised himself he would cherish her.
They arrived at the Crescent Villa, much to the staff's surprise, just like during his visit to the Moonlight Villa.
Without saying another word, he asked everyone to gather before him.
The staff were confused but obeyed their Young Master without question.
"What do you think of Cherise?" Hudson asked then; his sharp gaze fell onto each of the staff so he wouldn't miss any signs of them lying to him. Everyone was hesitant to speak because they didn't want to be the end of their Young Master's wrath if they said they loved their former Young Madam. "Speak the truth," Hudson ordered calmly.
The head housekeeper looked at Miles, who stood behind Hudson, and when she saw Miles give her an encouraging nod, she began telling him the truth. Hudson listened to the maids speak about Cherise and could see the real fondness in their expressions, just like Miles had told him they all loved Cherise. After they finished praising Cherise and fell silent, Hudson asked them the important question.
"I gather any of you never abused her physically?"
The maids gasped and looked horrified at the thought.
"Oh no, we would never do that to Madam Cherise." The head housekeeper shook her head. "Young Madam was lovely to us. We would never hurt her."
Miles heard the head housekeeper and the rest of the maids refer to Miss Cherise as Young Madam, and his boss didn't stop them or get angry at them. Maybe his boss really had fallen in love with Madam Cherise! Hudson nodded, knowing they were telling him the truth, but he was still compelled to ask another question.
"When my mother and Polly came, did they do anything to her?"
The staff looked at each other, unsure of what to say. Could they say Madam Dahlia and Miss Polly abused Young Madam Cherise to the Young Master?
Sensing their hesitation, Hudson told them, "I fired all the staff at the Moonlight Villa because they abused Young Madam."
His words seemed to break down their defenses, and the head housekeeper said cautiously, "Madam Dahlia and Miss Polly always created trouble for Young Madam whenever they were here. They would ask Young Madam to cook for them but then spat out the food, dumped it on the floor, and asked Young Madam to clean it."
"And they would drenched her in tea or drink they were having while Young Madam was cleaning the floor."
"And Miss Polly liked to kick Young Madam's ribs while
Madam Dahlia stepped on her back with her heels."
The more Hudson listened, the more ashamed he felt. Not only was Cherise not safe in his mother's house, but she wasn't even safe in their house, which she should be.
"Why didn't any of you help her?" Hudson growled.
"We.. We wanted to help," the head housekeeper said nervously. "But Madam Dahlia and Miss Polly are your family."
A pang of guilt hit Hudson's heart again. It was because of him. They didn't help her because Dahlia and Polly were his"But we always helped Young Madam to tend to her wounds," a maid said in a rush.
"How bad were her injuries usually?" Hudson's voice came out hoarse.
"Madam Dahlia and Miss Polly mostly left Young Madam bruised," a young maid said, and she fished out her phone from her uniform pocket. "I took pictures of Young Madam's injuries every time."
Hudson looked at her, and the young maid quickly knelt before him, apologizing because she thought Hudson was mad at her. Visit Job ni b.com to read the complete chapters for free. If you are not reading this novel on Job ni b .c om, some sentences are incomplete."I'm sorry, Young Master. I just thought it could be evidence in case Young Madam decided to press charges.
I was abused when I was younger, and my mom always told me to take pictures of any injuries resulting from the abuse."
"Stand up," Hudson ordered; his voice was even hoarser because he was about to see the extent of her mother and sister's cruelty toward Cherise.
The maid quickly stood up and placed her phone on Hudson's outstretched palm.
Hudson gasped and felt sick as he saw the pictures. He gave the phone to Miles and ordered him to send those pictures to his phone.
After Miles had done so and given back the phone to the young maid, Hudson stood up to leave.
But before leaving, Hudson looked at the staff and opened his mouth to express his gratitude.
"Thank you for being there for the Young Madam."
The staff looked bewildered because they never thought there would ever come a day when their Young Master would thank them for being nice to his ex-wife. "Miles, move the meeting tonight to tomorrow," Hudson said as they walked toward the car.
Miles balked but did as ordered, hoping the foreign businessman would have time for them the following day or even would still be in the country.
After dealing with the staff at the Moonlight Villa, his mother, and Polly and seeing the pictures, Hudson didn't think he would be able to discuss business.
What he needed was to have a strong drink, so he texted Keith and Finley to meet him at their usual hangout spot.
When Keith and Finley arrived at their usual private room in their favorite club, they saw many unopened liquor bottles on the table and knew Hudson wanted to get hammered tonight to escape his mind.