A Matter of Wife and Love
Chapter 274

Melissa seized Jodie's arm and expressed her dislike for her daughter's hot temper. "Get a hold of yourself! I'm the one who wants Foxy to marry your brother, which has nothing to do with her." She then sat Jodie down on the couch and said, "You need to keep your temper in check and think straight."

"I have every reason to lose my temper about that," Jodie responded in frustration, her eyes filled with tears. "Foxy wouldn't stop getting in my way during the show, yet now, you're inviting her to be a part of our family. How is that fair?!" Her tears began to roll down her eyes as she complained.

Melissa reacted by helplessly shaking her head, giving a look of disappointment to her daughter, who she thought was too comfortable with her life to deal with any setback. However, she still went on to patiently explain her point, "But you can't deny the fact that Foxy is indeed an internet celebrity. Now that times are different than before, I have to change my thinking as well. Don't you think so?" She patted Jodie's knee and continued her words, "Look. Foxy has over a hundred million followers, and what does that seem to you? A gold mine is what it seems to me. If your brother marries her, we're going to be even richer and more influential than ever before."

As a graduate of Mass Communication herself, Jodie quickly understood Melissa's point, not to mention her desire to become an internet celebrity like Foxy as well. A hundred million followers? I could make several times more than an average office lady ever could in a few months or even a year by just going live every night if I was an internet celebrity with that many followers. That's not even inclusive of any sales made during those live shows, so if I do that, I could even make billions. That's right! Mom has a point. Foxy is a mine with unlimited gold in it.

The more she thought about that, the more excited and thrilled she felt about her mother's suggestion.

"I may be helping Leo, but I'm also giving you a chance to prove your worth at the same time. Haven't you always wanted to become an internet celebrity? Now is your chance. You could ask her for her guidance and make your dream come true. Even if you can't be as successful as her in the end, I'm sure you'll accumulate at least thousands or millions of fans with her help." Melissa tried to talk some sense into her daughter's head.

Who says I need Foxy's help?!

Despite the thought of that, Jodie somehow did not feel as disgusted as she used to before when she heard Foxy's name from Melissa. Soon, she rolled her eyes sinisterly and began to think that Melissa's suggestion was not a bad idea. After all, she reckoned she could seize the opportunity to woo Blake while Foxy was busy dating Leo. Then, she would replace a chance to ruin Leo and Foxy's relationship later once she became an item with Blake.

As her ego got the better of her, she did not care how Foxy could strengthen the Alston Family's influence or help her become an internet celebrity because all she cared about was to have Blake for herself and ruin Foxy's life.

Meanwhile, Elyse was sitting in front of the television in Michael's room when she happened to see the part of the show, in which Leo appeared. However, the admiration on her beautiful face slowly faded away before it was replaced by a look of hatred and jealousy. After all, she knew better than anyone else that he did not join the show because of her but Amelie.

What kind of trick has that b*tch used to put those men under her spell? Why are the two most successful men ever known in their respective areas of expertise so crazy over her?

At the thought of how popular Amelie was, Elyse's jealousy filled her mind with so much rage and hatred that she wished she could splash some sulfuric acid at Amelie's face and destroy her good looks. This is annoying!

She stood up irritably and saw her reflection in the mirror, taking a second to admire her pretty looks, though her terrible mood was overwhelming at that moment. Then, she gently rubbed her cheeks with her fingers, asking herself why no man was interested in her despite her beauty.

Just when Amelie was engrossed in her train of thought, she suddenly felt a slight pain caused by what felt like something hitting her finger joint. As she turned around, she met Ellen's innocent eyes and saw her holding a tennis racket in an unsightly posture that made her look silly. At the same time, she realized the impact that she felt in her finger joint was caused by a tennis ball.

Seeing the ball still bouncing up and down on the floor, Elyse allowed her anger to get the better of her and charged at Ellen before slapping her in the face. "Are you blind?! I was standing there, so why did you hit the ball my way?" Despite having slapped Ellen in the face, Elyse still did not think it was enough as she grabbed her sister by the collar and shoved her to the wall.

In the meantime, Ellen was sent flying to the wall by Elyse's force, hitting it with her back. However, due to the great inertia, the back of her head bumped into the concrete, accompanied by a loud bang. "Ouch! It hurts!" Ellen knitted her eyebrows and curled up in agony, touching her head while gazing at Elyse fearfully. Her eyes filled with tears and terror, which indicated that she was afraid of Elyse. Nevertheless, the sight of Ellen's pitiful expression only served to annoy Elyse even more. Thus, she landed a few more kicks on her sister to vent her anger. "What're you looking at?! What're you looking at?! What have you been doing all this time? Why didn't you just die?!" As she went on to scold Ellen harshly, her rude and aggressive behavior made her look just like an uncivilized battleax, unlike her decent reputation as a celebrity.

While Ellen continued to back away and put up with Elyse's abuse, Michael suddenly showed up and stepped in. "Oh my god! What in the world are you doing?!" The man was seen to be wearing an apron with a spade in his hand.

Ever since Ellen returned home, he had dedicated all his time to looking after her, even taking care of the house chores, although he hardly did them in the past few decades. "Couldn't you have sorted things out with her nicely? You didn't have to get physical with her at all." He pulled Ellen away and approached Elyse, dusting Ellen's clothes while making sure she was unhurt as if she was a rare treasure he just found. "You could have hurt her. Did you know that?!" The man lectured Elyse for her violence.

Elyse stared at Michael, annoyed with the fact her father was giving all his attention to Ellen. "She is nothing but a piece of useless crap, so why do you care so much about her? Just abandon her for good!" This woman is such an unpleasant eyesore!

"Abandon her?" Michael disagreed with her and gave her a strange look. "Are you out of your mind?"

Only a fool would leave a gold mine and walk away.

"What are you going to do with her? Keep her until Christmas so we can all celebrate the occasion together? She's mentally handicapped. What else can she do besides giggle like a fool? Don't tell me you're counting on her to seduce Leo and win his heart! He's not even going to look at her!" Elyse mocked her father with a smirk and glared at Ellen, intimidating her so much that she immediately hid behind him. Michael then patted Ellen's skinny shoulder and patiently explained to Elyse his point of view, "Oh, girl. Does Leo Alston seem like an ordinary man to you? Do you think a man like him would abandon his pride and fall for this woman, who's mentally handicapped, as you described? No, I don't think so, but guess what? Mr. Alston seems to care a lot about this lady. Look, Ellen only came back not long ago, but he's already given us a few million because of that. Thus, you can't deny that this is good money because we didn't have to work like a donkey to earn it. So, what's your take? I, for one, will not say no to that." To Michael, a life like that was too good for him to let go. "Besides, Mr. Alston's assistant also promised on his behalf that we can ask them for financial assistance whenever Ellen needs it. Also, she was given a credit card with no spending limit yesterday, which means I won't have to worry about the price anymore before I buy anything!"

Back then, he never dared to even think about having a comfortable life like that as he was complacent with all he had, despite his greed. Nevertheless, he was now happy he could finally kiss his poor life goodbye, recalling the old days in which he had to steal just to make tens of thousands when he was working for Steven.

"From now on, you will forget about whatever ideas you have in your mind and help me take care of our 'gold mine'." Forget about whatever ideas I have in my mind. How can I forget that Leo and Amelie are getting closer day by day?

Elyse blinked bitterly while her jealousy gnawed at her with the thought of Leo and Amelie growing closer to each other on set. While he did not even care to hide his feelings for Amelie, their intimate interaction on TV always made Elyse go crazy, as if someone was reminding her that Amelie took him away from her. Due to that, her wild imagination intensified in the last few days and almost drove her nuts.

"I'm the woman Leo loves! I'm the only woman who can have him!" She gritted her teeth and swore to herself, thinking that having Leo mattered more than anything to her, including the amount of fortune that Ellen could bring them.

"Leo is mine, and no one can take him away from me!" She got so agitated that she clenched her fists and jaw tightly until a loud bang was heard. Before she could figure out what hit her, her vision started to black out just when the pain began to kick in.