Jonathan pressed, “Just how many times have you misjudged people? I told you to stay abroad, but you had to stir up trouble for me. Otherwise, you would accuse me of mistreating you or not being a good son. And what about Teresa’s sister, Jennifer? What did you do with her?”

Hearing this, Irene couldn’t hold it in anymore. The frustration and grievance she had bottled up finally burst out.

She cried, “Jennifer said I caused your dad’s death, and that I’m a curse for you, too. She even hit me. How could I just let that slide? Am I just supposed to be the villain here and never stand up for myself?”

Jonathan fell silent.

Irene started crying even harder, feeling even more wronged.

She sobbed, “I’ve felt guilty about your dad for years. What happened back then wasn’t intentional, and I’ve been tormented ever since. But Jennifer keeps adding insult to injury. Besides, she did fake your report, which kept you and Mike apart. That’s the truth. I had every right to sue her.”

Jonathan suddenly didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t fair to only blame Irene. After all, no one could stand by and let an outsider insult his parents. If it weren’t for Teresa, Jonathan would probably hate Jennifer, too. He only chose to let Jennifer’s matter be shelved temporarily because of Teresa. He didn’t want to make things difficult or painful for her.

“Alright,” Jonathan said with a helpless sigh. “Since you’ve filed the lawsuit, let it be. Don’t get involved anymore. Just leave the rest with the lawyer.”

Just then, the doorbell rang. It was Heidi and George coming. Jonathan told the security guard to let them in.

Irene wanted to keep up appearances, so she said, “Heidi is here? Let me go wash my face.”

Heidi and George came in one after the other.

George cried out with tears all over his face, “Jonathan, I had no idea Spencer would pull something like this. I always told him about your kindness to him and our family, and warned him to work hard and be grateful.”

“Alright. That’s enough,” Heidi cut in. “What’s the use of saying all this now? The real question is, how are we going to make it up to Jonathan?”

Jonathan remained silent. After Heidi played the tough one and George played the soft one to beg him, Jonathan finally strolled over to George and covered the cap of the eye drops, which was sticking out of George’s pocket, back in.

George felt very awkward. With traces of eye drops lingering at the corners of his eyes, he said, “Jonathan, well, I just…”

“George, save it, Spencer has to pay back every cent he cost the company. I won’t forgive him. Of course, you can cover for him if you want. You’ve always doted on him, haven’t you?” Jonathan’s voice was calm, but his words were sharp.

George’s face went pale in an instant. He said, “Jonathan, Spencer doesn’t have that much money.”

Jonathan didn’t change his expression. “Spencer has skimmed off a lot of money and pocketed many dividends over the years. That should cover it. He had plenty of cash to take you gambling, but now he wants to play broke?”

George froze. He was shocked that Jonathan knew everything.

Heidi was flustered. He turned to George and snapped, “You’ve been gambling behind my back? How dare you?”

George quickly put his hand on Heidi’s shoulder and tried to explain, “I only went once or twice. Spencer dragged me along.”

“Don’t touch me,” Heidi yelled. She had trusted George completely, and now she felt utterly betrayed.

Irene slowly walked out of the room, and Heidi anxiously shot her a pleading look. But this time, there was nothing Irene could do for her.

Ever since Jennifer hit her, when Heidi was right there but just left her behind and ran off, Irene had been nursing a knot of resentment in her heart.

Now that Irene could barely take care of herself, there was no way she could worry about Heidi and George.