“Are you... Cayden's girlfriend?” inquired Lily with teary eyes. “Is your family powerful? Can they help
you if you were to get bullied after marrying into this family?”
Avery had no idea how to respond to that.
Since Kendrick mentioned that he was Cayden's stepbrother and that he and Cayden shared the same
father, Avery assumed the middle-aged woman talking to her was Kendrick's mother.
After glancing at her family, Lily staggered toward Avery.
“Careful,” reminded Avery as she swiftly reached out to support the middle-aged woman. With Lily's
arm around her neck, Avery helped the drunk woman onto the couch.
“I can tell from your clothes that you come from a regular family. Listen to me and stay away from the
Moores,” advised Lily with a grimace.
“Go back to your room now!” roared Jeffrey, boiling with anger.
“No!” responded Lily fiercely to Jeffrey. “The one who should leave is Allie! I'm Bruce's official wife, not
her!” Even though she had shouted those words many times, she would always repeat them whenever
she got drunk.
Lily's eyes turned red with anger as she pointed at Allie and cursed, “You b*tch! Do you think staying
quiet makes you seem high-class or something? You're nothing but a good-for-nothing dancer who's
slept with countless men before marrying into this family. What the heck was Bruce thinking marrying a
cheap woman like you?”
Dumbfounded, Avery glanced at Cayden, who remained calmly seated on the couch.
Even though he was frowning, the man did not say anything to stop Lily. Instead, he lighted a cigarette
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtand shut his eyes while taking a drag.
Suddenly, Avery remembered what Cayden had told her over the phone.
“No pressure. My background isn't any better than yours. Heck, it's probably worse than yours.” That
was what the man had said to her.
“Are you sure you want to marry into this family?” inquired Lily concernedly. “It's true that the Moores is
a prestigious family in this city and that their reputation is unparalleled, but being a part of them is no
different than being dead. Your husband won't care about you, and his family won't pity you.”
Lily then grabbed Avery's hand before continuing, “To make things worse, he'll fool around with another
woman no matter who she is or what she does for a living. Even if she's no better than a hooker, he'll
treat her as if she's a diamond in the rough. As for us, the wives, we'll have no choice but to stay at
home and be understanding enough to ask if our husbands have had a good time.”
“You're stepping out of line!” Jeffrey furiously hit the ground with his cane to warn Lily before turning to
speak with Avery in a softer tone. “Please don't mind her, Ery. She's just had a little too much to drink.”
Avery looked at Jeffrey but said nothing in response.
“So you're defending your son and belittling your daughter-in-law? You're the perfect role model, aren't
you?” mocked Lily disrespectfully.
“That's enough, Mom!” To stop Lily from worsening the situation, Kendrick grabbed his mother and tried
to drag her to her room.
The housekeeper was asked to help, and only after much effort did they finally manage to bring Lily
upstairs.
Even though Avery was a floor below, she could hear the noise of things getting smashed violently.
Kendrick did not return after going upstairs, so Avery guessed he was worried about leaving his mother
alone.
When a pitiful crying sound suddenly filled the Moore residence, Cayden gestured for Avery to bring
the children outside to play.
There was a garden outside the house where bees worked tirelessly to gather nectar even at dusk.
Rory stared at one of the bees and asked, “Will it eat the honey right away, Ms. Ery? It keeps making
this buzzing sound.”
However, Avery was too distracted by the situation in the house to hear Rory's question.
“Ms. Ery?” Rory, who was squatting, lifted her head to call out to Avery.
“Yes?” responded the woman after returning to her senses.
“Ms. Ery, what's a hooker, and why did Step-grandma say that Grandma was no better than a hooker?”
questioned Rory innocently.
Step-grandma seemed really upset. She even cried! But she poured juice onto Grandma's face. Rory
was confused, unsure which one of them was more pitiable.
Avery lowered herself to embrace Rory and kiss the girl on the cheek. “It's better if you just forget about
the grown-ups' argument. What do you say we count to three and pretend as if we didn't hear
anything?”
“Okay!” Rory gladly agreed with Avery before closing her eyes for the countdown. “One, two, three!
That's it, Ms. Ery. I've completely forgotten about it!”
“Good girl.” After tightening her arms around Rory, Avery reached out to hold the silent Zachary's hand.
“You have to forget too, okay?”
Even though the boy nodded, his eyebrows remained knitted.
Avery did not care about the adults, only the children beside her. They're supposed to be innocent and
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carefree at their age but were forced to listen to those foul words. There's nothing wrong with adults
expressing their feelings, but they should learn to pick the right place and time to do it.
After witnessing the unfortunate turn of events in the prestigious family, Avery could not help but
wonder if her own child was living with a similar kind of family. The woman hugged the two children in
front of her and prayed that her kid would have a different childhood.
Cayden did not think it was a good idea to stay for dinner, so Jeffrey simply expressed his desire to
have him and Avery over again when the time was right.
“Do you want to stay home or go out with Ms. Ery?” After walking outside along with Allie, Cayden
asked the children, who continued to cling to Avery.
The man immediately got the answer to his question when he saw how their little hands refused to let
go of Avery.
“I like you, and I'm sorry you had to see that. Oh, you still haven't told me your full name. All I know is
that everybody calls you Ery.” Allie had already cleaned herself up and changed into a fresh set of
clothes, looking as elegant and beautiful as usual.
“It's Avery Rumpley,” replied Avery gladly.
What was supposed to be a smiling face suddenly turned grim when Allie heard that. “What? Did you
say your last name was Rumpley?”
Avery nodded in response to that.
Somewhat annoyed by Allie's reaction, Cayden inquired, “What's wrong with her last name?”
The man thought Allie was asking too many questions. I'm the one Avery's going to spend the rest of
her life with, so I don't see why she has to put up with my weird family. I've done more than enough by
introducing her to them.