Chapter 394 Ophelia's Accusation
The Lockhart Mansion's hall went dead quiet, even Vivienne's sobs hit the brakes.
Vivienne kept shooting Ophelia these desperate looks, basically begging her to say something.
But Ophelia? She didn't even give Vivienne a side-eye. Her old eyes were locked on Theodore, all red and puffy.
Theodore saw those red eyes and he just couldn't keep his cool.
Yeah, Ophelia had been a real pain over the years, but when his dad kicked the bucket, he made Theodore promise to cut her some slack. Blood's thicker than water and all that jazz.
Theodore let out a big sigh and said, "Alright, I'll do what I can for Andrew. He messed up big time, swiping trade secrets from the Lockhart Group. If we can get them to go easy on him in court, maybe we can get his sentence down to less than a year. I'll have my lawyer swing by later to dig into Andrew's case."
Vivienne let out a huge sigh of relief when she heard that.
She knew playing the Ophelia card would work. Theodore's family always had a soft spot!
In her head, Vivienne was like, 'I might not have the power now, but when I do, I'm not gonna go easy on them.'
But on the outside, she was all gratitude. "Theodore, Genevieve, Cecilia, thank you so much for helping Andrew. He screwed up, but once he's out, I'll make sure he straightens up and..."
"I disagree!" Ophelia's voice cut through Vivienne's excitement like a knife.
Vivienne was stunned for a sec before she turned to Ophelia.
Ophelia's eyes were still red, but her face was dead serious.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Vivienne called out quickly. "Theodore's gonna help Andrew, so you don't need to worry."
Ophelia gave Vivienne a cold, hard look and sneered, "Vivienne, you really think I'd still plead for you and Andrew at this point?"
Vivienne was like, "What are you talking about? Haven't you been telling me to bring you here to beg for Andrew? He's your only grandson; you can't stand to see him go to jail. What are you saying now? Mom, I know you're upset about Andrew going to jail, but it's all good now. Theodore's gonna help, so nothing serious will happen to him..."
"Shut up!" Ophelia's face went dark.
She looked seriously pissed.
Vivienne was clearly freaked out by Ophelia's shout.
Theodore and Cecilia were also kinda shocked by Ophelia's sudden outburst.
Everyone's eyes were on Ophelia as she suddenly got up from the sofa, walked over to Theodore, and dropped to her knees.
Theodore's face went white as a sheet.
There was no reason for Ophelia to kneel to him.
He quickly tried to pull her up, kneeling down himself.
"Mom, what are you doing? Get up! I already said I'd help Andrew. If you think a year is too much, I'll push for probation so he won't have to do time. Please, get up." Theodore was all flustered, clearly freaked out by Ophelia's move.
Ophelia looked at Theodore, tears streaming down her face. "Theodore, I messed up big time. I had you all wrong! I thought you took all the Lockhart Group's assets just to make my life hell, so I sided with Vincent's family, thinking they actually cared about me. I thought you were the heartless one, but now I see it's Vincent's family that's cold as ice!"
"Mom." Theodore was at a loss for words.
He couldn't wrap his head around why Ophelia was suddenly bawling her eyes out.
"I get it now. Vincent's family just wanted to use me to get their hands on the Lockhart Group. They never gave a damn about me. Now that I'm useless to them, they treat me like dirt. Theodore, you have no idea what I've been through at Vivienne's place! It's been a living nightmare."
As she spoke, Ophelia's tears flowed even harder, like she was reliving all the pain.
Vivienne's face turned green as she listened to Ophelia's accusations. She quickly knelt down too and said, "Mom, how can you say that? We're broke, that's why we couldn't give you the luxury you wanted. I could only serve you simple meals! Sometimes you asked for expensive stuff we couldn't afford, and yeah, I might've snapped at you, but I had no choice..."
"Shut up!" Ophelia shouted at Vivienne. "Thank God I haven't lost my mind. If I had, no one would know the real you!"
"Mom, I know you want to go back to Theodore's family. You can go anytime, and I won't stop you. I'll visit you often, bringing Andrew and Juliana to see you as well..."
"Stop spouting nonsense!" Ophelia's face grew even darker at Vivienne's deliberate misdirection.
She seemed done wasting words with Vivienne and directly rolled up her sleeves.
Her arms, previously covered, were now revealed to be full of bruises, looking absolutely horrifying.
Theodore's face changed instantly upon seeing this.
Not just Theodore, but Genevieve and Cecilia were also stunned by the sight of Ophelia's bruises.
Cecilia knew Ophelia wasn't having a good time at Vivienne's place, but she never thought it was this bad. She had assumed it was just verbal insults, not physical harm!
At this moment, Cecilia just stood there, staying silent.
It was hard for her to feel any sympathy for this family.
"Theodore, do you see this? These are all from Vivienne's abuse! It's not just my arms; my whole body is covered. Every day she finds new ways to hurt me, and I'm not allowed to cry out in pain. If I do, she hurts me even more." Ophelia's tears flowed uncontrollably as she recounted her suffering. "And it's not just this. They make me cook for them every day. If the food isn't good, they throw it in my face. They make me wash their feet, do their laundry, and clean the house. I've been living like a slave, tortured by their entire family!"
The more Ophelia spoke, the more agitated she became.
It seemed like she finally had an opportunity to let out all her bottled-up emotions!
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