The Million-Dollar Heart (Percival and Vivienne)
Chapter 97

At first, Dorian was unsure about his inner doubts, but after seeing Beatrice's response, his icy heart was now covered in even more frost.

"Mom, since you know what's really going on, why pretend to be clueless? Does Arabella really have the cash to hire all these people to cause trouble? Can you really assure me you had nothing to do with all this?"

"I couldn't care less!" Beatrice brusquely interrupted Dorian. "The bottom line is that this mess was cooked up by Vivienne and the Ellington family. Vivienne has to clean it up. She's a Hawthorn too!" "Oh, Mom, remember how you stopped me from acknowledging Vivienne? Now suddenly she's a Hawthorn again?" Disappointment filled Dorian's eyes as he looked at Beatrice. "I won't interfere with Vivienne's decisions."

Dorian felt nothing but pain after recalling how Evelyn and Vivienne had been humiliated and driven out of the Hawthorn family. He coldly spoke to Beatrice. "Mom, we've cut ties, okay? I came to see you today because we're still family. You're my mother, even if it's just in name. And frankly, I'm not enjoying this visit, so I'm out of here."

With that, he turned around and left without hesitation.

"That ungrateful brat!" Beatrice was so mad that she pounded the bed. "I should've strangled him when he was born!"

"Mom, did you really send people to make trouble at Dorian's place?" Michael Hawthorn asked.

In the past, no matter how Beatrice bullied Dorian, he would never intervene. He even enjoyed it. But with the Hawthorn family in such a bad state, his voice was now tinged with resentment. Beatrice kept quiet.

"What do we do now?" Joseph Hawthorn asked urgently. "Vivienne won't see Mom; the Ellingtons show us no respect, and let's not even think about begging Percival. We went through so much trouble to get that formula from Dorian. We were almost back on top, and now this happens!"

Just as Beatrice was about to speak, footsteps were heard outside the room. She immediately sneered. "Finally decided to come back..."

The door opened, and she was stunned. In came a beautiful middle-aged woman in a white suit.

Beatrice was thrilled. "Iris! You're back!"

"Mom." Iris Hawthorn walked in with a bag of fruit and glanced at the spilled coffee and coffee cup on the floor. "What happened? I just got back and heard that something happened at home. How come you're in the hospital?"

Iris was Beatrice's only daughter. She rarely returned home since moving to Ozoria with her husband ten years ago.

Beatrice had always doted on her only daughter. Seeing Iris made tears fill her eyes.

"It's all because of Vivienne and Dorian!"

"Is Vivienne really back?"

Iris was slightly surprised. When she'd heard Evelyn and Vivienne had been thrown out of the Hawthorn family, she always felt pained whenever she thought about it. She had come back this time because she'd heard about this and wanted to see her niece, Vivienne, whom she'd always been concerned about.

"Dorian should've never brought that troublemaker back!" Beatrice said bitterly.

Iris frowned slightly and asked for a detailed account of what happened.

Although Beatrice and the two brothers exaggerated and were biased, Iris managed to discern the truth.

Her originally gentle voice became somewhat heavy. "Clearly, Arabella was in the wrong. She should clarify and apologize. Where is she? You spoil her too much. You're sick, so why isn't she here taking care of you?"

At Cloudcrest High School, after Vivienne and Percival had lunch, they went to the school.

As soon as they arrived, Vivienne was surrounded by some of Arabella's supporters.

"Vivienne, have you no shame? Not only did you steal Arabella's man, you're also trying to take credit for her healing Ms. Faye!"

"Exactly. You're a teacher, but you're taking credit from your own sister. Have you no morals?"

"Right..."

However, the students of Class Eighteen firmly stood by Vivienne.

Logan had long regarded Vivienne as his idol. He couldn't stand anyone badmouthing Vivienne. He immediately and angrily stood up for her. "Nonsense! Are you guys brainless? Is whatever Arabella says the gospel truth?"

Charlotte Redwood also snorted. "Exactly, it's all Arabella's one-sided story! The Baker family has issued a statement saying Arabella didn't heal Ms. Faye at all. In fact, she almost killed her. If it wasn't for Ms. Vivienne, she'd be a murderer right now!"

The Baker family did indeed issue a statement right away to help Vivienne clarify the truth.

But people online, influenced by Arabella's earlier tweets, didn't believe the Baker family's statement, thinking it was just them trying to appease Vivienne.

And this group of high school students who were accusing Vivienne seemed to share the same view.

Sure enough, someone immediately chimed in. "Pfft, the Baker family is biased too, right? They're obviously siding with Vivienne because she's the daughter of the Hawthorn family and has ties to the Ellington family. They're just twisting the truth and helping Vivienne to suppress Arabella, all to curry favor with the Ellingtons."

"Yeah, Arabella is Dr. William's top student. Even if she can't cure people, she wouldn't nearly kill them, right? The Baker family's statement is clearly flawed."

"I think that the claim that Vivienne cured the young miss of the Ellington family is probably a lie too. It's just Percival trying to hype up his fiancée and promote her."

Then Arabella walked over. She glanced at Vivienne and Percival, suppressed the malice in her eyes, and then put on a pitiful face, saying to Vivienne, "Sis, I've always been yielding to you, but this time, I don't want to yield anymore. You owe me an explanation."

Vivienne smiled at her. "Are you still living in a dream?"

The Hawthorn family was almost bankrupt, and this lady was still demanding explanations from her?

Where was her brain?

Arabella was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

At that moment, a classmate next to her tugged at Arabella and handed her a phone. "Arabella, something's happened to the Hawthorn family."

Arabella took the phone, looking puzzled. When she saw the news about the family crisis and the old lady being hospitalized, her eyes widened in shock. She looked at Vivienne in disbelief and then shouted, "Sis! You clearly did something wrong! I could have forgiven you if you had apologized, but you showed no remorse, and even..."

Arabella turned to look at Percival. "...Even used the power of the Ellington family to suppress us. You're just a puppet to the Ellingtons. Do you really think you can control everything by yourself? How long car you rely on the Ellingtons?"

"Hmph." Vivienne snorted lightly. Why did everyone think she was depending on the Ellington family?

She slightly raised the corner of her mouth, revealing a mocking smile. "What's wrong with me relying on the Ellingtons? If they can back me up, I can do whatever I want. You want to rely on them too, but you can't. Are you angry?"

"Really angry!" Charlotte smacked her thigh loudly as she chimed in.