Chapter 205
Dahlia frowned
slightly, slowly coming back to her senses. Looking at Florence hop aroun
d energetically, she was astounded. "Mom, I thought you said you broke yo
ur hands and feet? How can you still stand?"
"Huh?" Florence's face froze, and she forced a smile. "When I saw Julie,
I got a little too emotional and temporarily forgot about the pain. I sho
uld lie back down and get some rest right away."
With that, she limped to the bed.
But those horrible acting skills fooled no one.
"Mom, are you actually
actually fine and were just pretending to be hurt in front of me?!" Dahli
a's face sank.
"How can I be fine? Didn't you see how Dustin hit me? Ouch held her head
and began to put on a show again.
My head is starting to hurt again!" Florence
"You said you have a concussion and broken limbs. Well, where's the case
file from the hospital? Show it to me!" Dahlia demanded.
"Well…" Florence and James both looked at each other, speechless.
Seeing their reaction, of course. Dahlia caught on.
"So you two have been lying to me all along? All for what?" She bit the b
ottom of her lip.
"Fine. I'm not hurt! So what? Seeing that her ruse was up, Florence stopp
ed pretending.
She
said indignantly, "Although I didn't get hurt, it's still true that that
animal beat us up. You saw what happened in the video. Could that be fake
d?"
"That's right! Dahlia, look at the injuries
on my face. He did this to me!" James played along.
"Give me your phone!" Dahlia demanded, her gaze cold.
"W–
what do you want my phone for?" James felt a niggling sense of guilt.
"Just give it to me!"
Without another word, Dahlia snatched the phone from his
hands. She looked for the
full video and played it with the volume turned up.
After grasping the entire situation, her body began to tremble from head
to toe. She finally understood why her brother had been beaten up.
Dustin wasn't the ungrateful one. It was her mother and brother who cross
ed the line and went to his doorstep to kick up a fuss!
"Why? Why did you guys lie to me?!" Dahlia was extremely upset.
"Dahlia, we didn't lie to you. That animal was wrong to hit us. Even if w
e started it, he had no right to hit us back! So what if we hit
him? We're older than him; can't we teach him a lesson?! Florence argued
righteously as if her actions were justified,
"You–
you guys are really unbelievable!" Dahlia was furious. She didn't expect
that her mother would be so unreasonable and evil.
It was clearly her own fault, but she still pinned the blame on Dustin, d
eliberately twisting the truth and misleading her. 1
"Fine! Even if we were impulsive this time, it doesn't mean that ass wasn
't responsible for this as well. If he hadn't framed Julie, would we have
gone over to pick a light? In the end, he had it coming for him!" Floren
ce shouted with conviction, her hands on her waist.
As soon as she said that, a middle–
aged man in uniform alighted from the police car that stopped in front of
their door.
"You must be Julie Amberson's family, am I right? I am Chief Aspen Cruise
r. Regarding Julie's case of medicine theft, although Mr.
Rhys has decided not to pursue
the matter, you still need to make sure she learned her lesson and won't
make the same mistake again. If Mr. Rhys hadn't said anything today, Juli
e would probably have remained in there for a few more years. Do you unde
rstand?" Aspen said, giving them a stern verbal warning.
"Mr. Rhys?"
Florence and the others looked at each other. "Wasn't it Mr. Laney Sr. wh
o helped Julie?"
"Who's that? I've never heard of him," Aspen replied, stone–faced.
As soon as he said that, everyone's eyes llicked over to Matt.
After everything that happened, it wasn't even Phineas Laney who helped.
Then, had they thanked the wrong person?
Being on the receiving end of everyone's gazes, Matt felt his face
flush, as if he'd been slapped on both cheeks.
This was fucking humiliating!
"Chief Cruiser, may I ask who this "Mr. Rhys' is that you're talking abou
t?" Florence still couldn't believe it.
Aspen raised an eyebrow. "Who else could it be? Of course, it's Dustin Rh
ys. Who else would help you out?"
As soon as he said that, the entire room fell dead silent…
"D–
Dustin Rhys? How could it be him?!" After learning the truth, Florence an
d the others looked at each other for a while, disbelief written on their
faces.
Never in a million years
had they considered that it wasn't Matt who saved
Julie, but the person they had dubbed ungrateful.
This was simply a slap in the face!
"So Dustin never framed Julie in the first place, and it was you guys pur
posely slinging mud at him?" Dahlia stood rooted to the ground, expressio
nless.
Her face was as white as a sheet.
"W–
who slung mud at him? I bet he's feeling guilty because he knows what he
did wrong, so he's trying to make things up to us!" Florence insisted stu
bbornly.
She was used to bossing people around; of course, she would never admit t
hat she had gotten the wrong idea
about Dustin.
That would be too humiliating.
"Mom, things have already come to this, and you still want to justify you
rself?" Dahlia bit her lip. Even her
heart was clenching.
"How am I justifying myself? If that Rhys bastard hadn't framed Julie, wh
y would he have saved her? In the end, he was just feeling guilty for doi
ng something wrong!" Florence insisted indignantly.
"That's right! If he didn't do it, why did he save her?" James echoed.
"I've really had enough of you guys!" Dahlia's emotions finally exploded.
"Why? Why do you always have to pick on Dustin? What exactly did he do to
you? Must you purposely
pick fights with him? In our three years of marriage, he has always been
honest and agreeable, but you have always had a prejudice against him. Ev
en though he had never done anything wrong, you kept pushing blame on him
again and again. Could you really be so blinded to how good he is?"
She was basically roaring by the end of her tirade.
Everyone was scared stiff.
After that spiel, Dahlia couldn't stand it anymore. She threw the door op
en and left.
She got in her car and sped down the road.
Her tears, however, couldn't stop falling.
She regretted it.
She really regretted it.
She regretted being so impulsive; she regretted believing her mother's wo
rds; and she regretted misunderstanding Dustin.
"You–
you guys are really unbelievable!" Dahlia was furious. She didn't expect
that her mother would be so unreasonable and evil.
It was clearly her own fault, but she still pinned
the blame on Dustin, deliberately twisting the truth and misleading her.
"Fine! Even if we were impulsive this time, it doesn't mean that ass wasn
't responsible for this as well. If he hadn't framed Julie, would we have
gone over to pick a fight? In the end, he had it coming for him!" Floren
ce shouted with conviction, her hands on her waist.
As soon as she said that, a middle–
aged man in uniform alighted from the police car that stopped in front of
their door.
"You must be Julie Amberson's family, am I right? I am Chief Aspen Cruise
r, Regarding Julie's case of medicine theft, although Mr. Rhys has decide
d not
to pursue the matter, you still need to make sure she learned her lesson
and
won't make the same mistake again. If Mr. Rhys hadn't said anything today
. Julie would probably have remained in there for a few more years. Do yo
u understand?" Aspen said, giving them a stern verbal warning.
"Mr. Rhys?"
Florence and the others looked at each other. "Wasn't it Mr. Laney Sr. wh
o helped Julie?"
"Who's that? I've never heard of him," Aspen replied, stone–faced.
As soon as he said that, everyone's eyes flicked over to Matt.
After everything that happened, it wasn't even Phineas Laney who helped.
Then, had they thanked the wrong person?
Being on the receiving end of everyone's gazes, Matt
felt his face flush, as if he'd been slapped on both cheeks.
This was fucking humiliating!
"Chief Cruiser, may I ask who this "Mr. Rhys' is that you're talking abou
t?" Florence still couldn't believe it.
Aspen raised an eyebrow. "Who else could it be? Of course, it's Dustin Rh
ys. Who else would help you out?"
As soon as he said that, the entire room fell dead silent —