Chapter 576:
“You are being deceived,” Matriarch Sullivan whispered. “Elias… he is blinded. But you… you are the guardian of the Thorne legacy. You must know the truth about that woman.”
“That woman has a name,” Lady Thorne said. “Aurora.”
“She is a predator!” Matriarch Sullivan hissed. She pulled out the photo album and opened it to a page marked with a sticky note. “Look!” She thrust a photo at Lady Thorne.
It was the photo of Aurora outside the clinic, looking pale and distraught.
“This was taken three years ago,” Matriarch Sullivan said gravely. “We have evidence that Aurora Vance suffers from severe psychological instability. Just like her mother. She was attending this clinic for… violent episodes. Sterling didn’t divorce her because they drifted apart. He divorced her because he was afraid of her! She is mentally unfit to be in society, let alone the Thorne family!”
Lady Thorne looked at the photo. She picked it up with two fingers, as if it were slightly sticky.
She peered at it.
“My goodness,” Lady Thorne said. “Is that the St. Jude’s Charity Clinic? I recognize the brickwork.”
Matriarch Sullivan blinked. “What? No! It’s a… a mental institution!”
“It’s a clinic for underprivileged children,” Lady Thorne said, dropping the photo back onto the table. “I donate to them annually. And Aurora wasn’t there for ‘violent episodes.’ She was volunteering. I saw the donor list years ago. She gave them her grocery money when she had nothing.”
Matriarch Sullivan’s mouth fell open. “But… but look at her face! She looks crazy!”
“She looks exhausted,” Lady Thorne snapped. “Because unlike you, Margaret, she actually works.”
“But the marriage! Matriarch Sullivan grasped at straws. “She was married to Sterling! It’s incestuous! It’s—”
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“I know about the marriage,” Lady Thorne interrupted, her voice dropping an octave. “I didn’t attend, of course—Sterling was too ashamed of his own choices to invite me—but I saw the paperwork. And do you know why that marriage failed? Not because she was crazy. But because Sterling was a fool who couldn’t see the diamond in his hand until he threw it in the mud.”
She pointed a finger at Matriarch Sullivan. “And now Elias has picked it up. He has polished it. And I will not have you smearing dirt on it again.”
Matriarch Sullivan recoiled. “But… she’s a Vance! A nobody!”
“She is a Kensington,” Lady Thorne corrected. “And even if she were a nobody, she has more class in her little finger than you have in your entire lineage.”
Lady Thorne picked up a bell on the table and rang it. Ding.
“Henderson!”
The butler appeared instantly.
“Show Mrs. Sullivan out,” Lady Thorne said, picking up her iPad again. “And this time, make sure the gate is locked. If she comes back, release the hounds.”
“The hounds, Madam?” Henderson asked. “We don’t currently have any guard dogs on patrol.”
“Then borrow Aurora’s dog,” Lady Thorne said. “That beast has excellent instincts for sniffing out trash.”
Matriarch Sullivan screamed. She grabbed her briefcase, spilling photos everywhere, and scrambled for the door. Spencer didn’t even wait for her; he was already running.
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