With that, he turned around and swaggered off in the direction his father had left.
Alice narrowed her eyes. She wanted so badly to punish these two rascals, but she was afraid that it would arouse Brettley’s suspicion. How dare they trick her!
“Neil, Nellie, “
Brettley called. “In the future, you can eat dinner whenever you feel like it. You shouldn’t have to wait for me. “
He glanced at them before he added, “Children shouldn’t have to please adults. “
“Okay ! “
Nellie lowered her head and started stuffing herself with food. She gulped down her food without even bothering to chew it thoroughly.
Brettley pitied the sight ; it seemed she was awfully ravenous. Finally, he sighed and said, “If it’s not time for dinner yet, you can ask Mommy and Daddy for some fruits or dessert. You’re growing now. You need to eat more so you can grow strong and healthy.”
“Ms. Alice said that children shouldn’t have snacks– not even fruits or dessert. Otherwise, we’ll make it a habit and will be too full for our regular meals.”
Neil pursed his lips in indignation. “Who should I listen to, then? Ms. Alice or Mr. Morrison? Since you two have opposing opinions, why don’ t you fight it out and then tell us who we should obey?”
Alice could not help but roll her eyes at this. She chuckled and said, “Of course you should listen to your father. He’s the head of this family.”
Neil glanced at her. “This means we should only listen to him from now on, and we don’t have to do everything you tell us to, right?”
Alice’s face turned pale.
Brettley frowned and cast her a glance. “You still have to listen to your mother.”
“Oh.”
Neil pursed his lips again. “Well, then, I guess I don’t have to listen to her since she’s not even my mother.”
Alice’s face lost its color completely.
“Neil.”
Brettley frowned at him. “Come to my study later after dinner.”
“Okay.”
Neil gave him a childish grin. “Is Mr. Morrison planning to give me a lecture?”
Brettley shot him a glare. He placed some more food on Nellie’s plate but did not say anything further.
After dinner, Neil sauntered into Brettley’s study and plopped down on the sofa. “What do you want to say to me, Mr. Morrison?”
Brettley could not help but frown at his son’s sloppiness. “Sit properly! “
Neil rolled his eyes and leaned against the couch lazily. Brettley sighed. “It’s all Bethan’s fault. She’s spoiled you.”
“This has nothing to do with Mommy. Fine, I ‘ll sit properly. “
Neil could not stand hearing anyone talk bad about his mother, so he immediately sat up. “
Alright. What did you want to talk to me about?”
“Alice is your mother. “
Brettley gave Neil a solemn look. “She’s carried you and Nellie in her womb for ten months and even suffered a car accident during her pregnancy. Life hasn’t been easy on her. I know you both have spent a lot of time with Bethan and that she raised you, but it doesn’t mean you can act disrespectfully toward Alice. She’s your birth mother. Both of you are smart kids, so I ‘m sure you understand why she wasn’t there for you, but now that she’s back, you have to treat her with the respect she deserves.”
Neil rolled his eyes. Of course, they would respect their mother, but Alice was not their birth mother– Bethan was!
“Answer me,” insisted Brettley coldly when Neil did not respond.
Neil pursed his lips. “There always has to be an adjustment period, right, Mr. Morrison? I know you want us to respect Ms. Alice, but we don’t think she cares very much about us. In that case, why should we respect and care about her?
“She doesn’t let us eat anything outside of our regular meals, and she doesn’t let us eat dinner on time. Now, she’s teaching us that as children, we should learn to please adults. Let me ask you, Mr. Morrison: Would you want a mother like that if you’re a kid?”
Brettley’s expression grew wistful upon hearing Neil’s words. He, too, was not a person who liked to be restricted by rules. When he was younger, he hated being told what to do and being lectured by adults. Neil and Nellie reminded Brettley so much of himself…
Brettley sighed. “You’re right. I admit that Alice was wrong there. I’ll talk to her… “
Neil pursed his lips and replied, “Sure, go ahead, talk to her. If she learns how to be as good a mother as my Mommy someday, then we’ll respect her! “
Neil was very confident that Alice would never be half as good a mother as Bethan was. Like Cynthal, Alice was just another woman who wanted to take Brettley for herself. To them, Brettley’s children were obstacles that they had to get rid of.
When Nellie first arrived at Blue Bay Villa, Cynthal desperately tried to get her killed. She dared to do so because she thought that Brettley would forgive her easily since she had been with him for so many years. However, she was proven wrong.
Alice was smart enough not to make the same mistake. She did not dare do anything bad to the two children and even made a deal with them to release Bethan, afraid of being exposed more than anything. However, Neil knew that as soon as she got the chance, Alice would find a way to get rid of them as well!
Brettley let out a sneer. He lifted his gaze and shot Neil a cold glance. “Is Bethan that amazing of a mother? You two seem to love her very much.”
“Of course! “
Neil rolled his eyes at him again. “
Mommy is the kindest person in the world! “
“The kindest person in the world, huh…”
Brettley echoed. The memory of Bethan leaving the office with Theo popped up in his mind, and it made him smirk. “I guess you’re right. The kindest person in the world would go home with a man she barely knows.”
Brettley’s strange statement made Neil frown. He stared at Brettley with wide eyes. “Stop talking nonsense! “
“Nonsense?”
Brettley had watched with his own eyes as Bethan got into Theo’s car and the vehicle headed in the direction of Theo’s house. Unless he was hallucinating, there was no way all of that was fake.
Brettley glanced at the little boy sitting in front of him with an incredulous expression on his face and smirked. “Don’t you have a phone? If you don’t believe me, just call her and ask her where she is.”
Neil glanced at Brettley with a puzzled look. “I thought you told us not to contact her.”
Brettley sneered. “Since when do you even listen to me? Do you think I never noticed the new signal- jamming device you placed in the house?”
Neil immediately lowered his head in shame. When Bethan got released from jail, Brettley had ordered them not to contact her and even warned them that he would be able to track their cellular signals to detect if they talked to her behind his back.
Neil had no choice but to ask Nigel for help and installed a signal jammer within the house.
Whenever the device was switched on, the signal they used to contact their mother could not be detected.
However, Neil never expected that Brettley would discover the device.
“Okay, so… Shall I call her?” said Neil meekly, somewhat ashamed that his plan had been exposed. He turned around and tried to slip out of the room.
“Stop.”
Brettley stopped him sternly before he could leave. “You can call her right here.”
Neil pulled a face and retreated to the couch. He dialed Bethan’s number and waited for the call to be picked up.
Brettley sat on a chair across from him. “Put her on speakers,” he ordered.
Neil jolted in shock. “I don’t think that’s…”
“Why? What’s wrong with that? “
Brettley raised his eyebrows skeptically. “Don’t you want to prove to me that your ‘mother’ Bethan isn’t a promiscuous woman who goes home with every man she meets?”
Neil rolled his eyes at him; he had no choice but to do as Brettley instructed. Bethan picked up the phone almost immediately.
“Hello? “
Her voice rang out from the other end of the line. She sounded like she was in a good mood. “
Neil, why are you calling at this time? Has Brettley gone to bed already?”
Neil glanced at the scowling man sitting across from him. “Yes, he’s asleep.”
“Alright, thank God. Otherwise, you’ll get caught.”
Bethan sighed and tried to tease him. “I know that he treats Nellie well, but Nellie’s a girl, and you’re a boy. If you get caught, Mommy’s afraid he’ll beat you! “
Usually, when Bethan teased him like this, Neil would always counter by saying that he would not get caught and beaten. At that moment, however, he did not dare say anything like that in front of Brettley.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.