When Mia arrived at the Holman house, she could hear a sharp female voice piercing the roof of the mansion.
"You have to be joking, Ben. How could you do such a thing to me? You and I have been married for more than twenty years and now you are telling me that you —" There was a sudden crash and Mia knew that the large vase that sat against the tall, white pillar had been smashed into bits. "You brought him home?!"
"I already told you that you needed to restrain your son! How many times did I ask you to make Henry back off and stop associating with that woman? Did you listen to a word that I told you? No. I warned you and Henry."
"You were the ones who took my words lightly."
Mia didn't want to step inside the mansion when there was a heated battle going on but before she could think of turning around and leaving, the butler who noticed her standing outside stepped forward and dutifully said, "Miss Wills, you should enter the house. The master has been waiting for you."
Annoyed that she had been caught before she could sneak out of the mansion, Mia had no choice but to follow the butler inside. She was taken to the main hall, where Benjamin and Allegra were staring at one another with red faces and panting heavily.
Who knows how long they have been arguing?
Hearing the sound of footsteps, the two of them turned to look at Mia.
While Benjamin was truly happy to see her, Allegra's face turned sour as if she were fighting the desire to physically throw Mia out of the house.
"Came here to see how my life has turned into a joke?" Allegra asked with a sneer on her face.
"Uncle Ben called me, Mrs. Holman," Mia replied politely. She had no idea why Allegra hated her but this woman had never liked her, not even when she was not married to Henry.
"Didn't dare to ask why?" Allegra continued in a harsh voice. "I must say that you are quite a naive one at your age."
"Enough, Allegra," Benjamin turned to look at his wife and reproachfully said to her, "Mia is speaking the truth. I didn't tell her the entire situation and called her here. If you want to say something, then say it to me instead of harassing the poor girl."
"Poor girl?" Allegra's words were dripping with poison as she turned to look at her husband. With her arms crossed and her well-manicured nails digging in her forearms, she snapped, "You know how to care for this girl who is no longer the part of our family, but you cannot take a look at how upset and angry your wife is?"
"Who is poor here?! She? Or me? I married you when I was eighteen. I gave you all of my youth and what did you give me in return? A fucking betrayal! If that was not enough, you had to bring that bastard home!?"
Mia felt her heart skidding to a halt for a few seconds as she tuned to look at Benjamin. She had always thought of him as a smart and kind family man. Thus, this piece of information that he had an illegitimate child made her wonder if there were any good men left in the world.
"You don't need to yell. Even if you were to shriek until the entire neighbourhood hears your voice, nothing is going to change," stated Benjamin in a cold and hard voice. "Lucas is my son and he will be staying with our family."
Allegra's face, if possible, turned even blotchy as she picked up the telephone sitting on the small table beside the couch and hurled it at her husband.
"Like hell he will! I am never going to let that bastard take what belongs to my son."
Benjamin didn't seem even the slightest bit bothered. In fact, he seemed completely unimpressed with the way Allegra was behaving.
He said, "Break it; continue breaking everything. You might as well break everything in the house. Because that's what you do the best. Instead of raising your nose and looking down at almost everyone. If you had paid half the attention you pay to your socialite parties, then your son would have learnt better than chasing after a woman. He blew up an entire deal because he was busy with that woman. Do you think that running a company is as easy as child's play?"
"I told you it was a mistake!" Henry's angry voice echoed behind Mia and she turned to look at the man rushing inside the manor. Beside him was Jamie, who seemed to have miraculously gotten better in just a few days.
The two of them ignored Mia as they brushed past her. In the past, Mia would have felt hurt or angry but now she was completely calm, which proved that what was left between her and Henry had been completely burnt out last night.
"A mistake? Just as it was a mistake for you to drug Mia and throw her in the hands of a stranger? She is your childhood friend; even if you cannot love her, you could have shown her some ounce of respect!"
"What kind of respect? Hher father harmed Jamie!" He turned to look at Mia and sneered, "Didn't you say that you were done entangling with me? Why are you here to tattle then? I never thought you were such a shameless bitch!"
"She didn't tell me anything!" Benjamin raised his voice. "I already knew everything. Do you think just because I passed the company in your hands, I have let go completely? No. I still have my connections there and I know what you have been up to."
Henry didn't look the slightest bit abashed and shrugged. "It was just tit for tat, dad."
Mia clenched her fists, wishing she could slap the foolish man but before she could do that, someone else moved even faster.
Benjamin fluidly stepped forward and slapped Henry in the face.
"Tit for Tat? Since when did you become the judge of a court?" sneered Benjamin. "And even if you became one, I have never seen a judge as foolish as yours."
"You slapped me? Dad, you fucking slapped me for her?" Henry found it hilarious that his dad was willing to go to this degree to protect Mia.
"I slapped you because you are a fool!"
"How am I a fool? I was protecting my woman."
"From what?" Benjamin questioned through gritted teeth. "As far as I can see, there is enough evidence to prove what you did to Mia but there is not a shred of evidence to prove that Toby did anything to her. Other than her words, of course."
"And unlike you, my boy. I believe in evidence rather than empty words. Because you might have forgotten your brain in the womb of your mother, I brought mine with me."