101: Chapter 101

Chapter 101

"Master, Madam Gray has been waiting for you."1

"What does she want?" 

"Madam doesn't tell, Master. She just wants you to come."

"Fine, this better be important because I have lots to do."

Vincent walked through the many corridors, heading to his mother's room. 

He grew up here and knew every corner of this big mansion. Vincent stopped in front of her mother's room, and the butler who had been following him for a while knocked on the door and opened it, allowing Vincent to enter. 

Vincent entered, and as he expected, his mother was sitting on a chair with a long gown, a phone in her right hand, and a cigarette in her left. He remembered that his mother had often worn this long gown since he was a kid. She said it was to maintain her figure, so she would quickly notice when she got a little fat. 

"What is it, Mom?" Vincent asked as he approached her and sat on the opposite seat. He rarely got a call from his mother, so he knew it would be important once she told him to come. 

Dorothea put her cigarette in the ashtray and stared at her first son. She sighed and said, "I heard from the maid that worked in your house. Your wife actually left with my favorite granddaughter, right?"

…

Vincent didn't want to confirm it because if he did, he had been defeated by a woman. To be left alone by a dumb woman was a big blow to his pride as a man. 

"Do you know where they are now?" Dorothea asked.

"Vaguely," Vincent finally replied, but he did it in self-defense, "She suddenly left while filing for divorce, waiting for me to sign it. I know that she is still around New York, but I don't know her exact location and whom she was entangled with."

"Can't you just use our connection to start searching for her? You can call the head of the New York police department and start searching for them. If they need a reason, just say that Chloe ran away with your daughter, and you want to retrieve your daughter at least," Dorothea said, laying a solid plan for Vincent. "I don't care about your wife, but I want my granddaughter back. If she can't take care of Mackie, I will do it."

…

"I can't believe you hadn't thought about using this strategy," Dorothea sneered at her son. "You're the son of Vaughn Gray, right? He will get this idea faster than I ever could."

"Of course, I have that in my mind, Mom," Vincent sighed. "I already thought about using the police force to search for her."

"And why don't you do it already? Why are you so incompetent?"

Vincent's gaze darkened as he saw how his mother looked at him so lowly, just because he didn't do what she thought was right. 

"Mom, do you ever leave Dad's side when he was still alive?"

"Never, I'm not like your wife, who is just an ungrateful bitch. I'm faithful to him," Dorothea answered with pride. 

"Then Dad never has the same problem as I did because he doesn't have an ungrateful woman by his side," Vincent tried to defend himself as well. He thought his mother's scolding was unjustified because he faced a problem that had never happened in the Gray family before. 

"I have to deal with a woman like Chloe, who has no gratitude. I picked her from that slum, gave her all the nice things, but she just ran away," Vincent said. 

Now, Dorothea was the one who went silent. Because Vincent was correct. Vaughn— Dorothea's late husband, had never experienced the similar problem that Vincent had. 

Because there was never a threat of Dorothea leaving him, even when he was on his deathbed. Dorothea stayed faithful to her husband, despite all of his cheating problems.

Though, Dorothea never specified whether she was happy or not when Vaughn was still alive. But alas, she got his money, wasn't that the most important thing in life?

"Why did she leave you again?" Dorothea asked. "Is it because you sleep with a few women outside?"

"Yes," Vincent replied without hesitation. "Mom, can you believe that? She left me just because I slept with women outside. What kind of unreasonable woman she is? Can't she tolerate her own husband?"

"She is not as good as me. I'm faithful to your Dad until his passing, and stay widowed, probably until my death. But, shouldn't you account for her upbringing and education?" Dorothea said, reminding Vincent that Chloe wasn't like them, who were smart and sensible about the world.

"She grew up in a poor family, and she only had an undergraduate degree. She is never a good woman to marry, to begin with. But you insist on marrying her back then."

"I know…" Vincent nodded. "But it's not my fault that I saw her as a perfect woman back then. She took care of Vernon!"

…

Dorothea went silent again. Because she acknowledged her negligence towards Vernon. She was too busy dealing with her own problem as Vaughn's cheating worsened in his later years. She spent her time partying and spending all the money her husband gave her as compensation, so she would always go home either drunk or covered with gold, literally. 

As Vaughn's health constantly declined, so did her attention towards Vernon. She barely checked on her second son and hired at least a dozen nannies to care for him.

Which resigned after a week or two since Vernon was too much to handle for them.

Dorothea hated admitting that Chloe was the only one Vernon accepted as his caretaker. Hence, she was the one present in Vernon's life for half of his life, growing up from a kid to a teenager. 

"You're right, Vincent. I accepted her into our family because she took care of Vernon. I've never liked that lowly woman. She is too dumb to realize that she married the heir of the Gray family."

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