Chapter 283: Unhappy New Year
Emma worried that Easton was there to cause trouble and wasn’t exactly welcoming. Easton didn’t care whether Emma welcomed him or not; what mattered was Ellis’s absence. Was Ellis determined to cut all ties with the Hudson family?
He looked around and quietly asked, “Isn’t Ellis coming to visit you for the New Year?”
Emma was momentarily taken aback. She hadn’t expected Ellis to visit, suspecting her foster daughter was still upset with her and didn’t want to reconnect. But why was Easton asking about his niece?
“Did Ellis upset you?” Emma pondered, then decided to ask.
The last time Easton had come, he’d warned her not to introduce another man for Ellis to marry, which was puzzling. Did Easton and Ellis have an irreconcilable conflict this time?
“She didn’t upset me,” Easton said, looking around. “Did she say she was coming today?”
“She definitely isn’t coming,” Emma said, embarrassed to admit that Ellis had deleted and blocked her contact information, and their relationship was still tense. “Are you looking for Ellis for something?”
Easton pursed his lips and left without a word. Watching his retreating figure, Emma had a bad feeling. Easton could make life difficult for her and Ellis at any moment, like a ticking time bomb, which made her anxious.
So, Emma borrowed a cellphone from a servant and called Ellis’s number. Sleepy and disoriented, Ellis’s phone suddenly rang. She glanced at the caller ID. Seeing an unknown number, she didn’t want to answer. Her finger hovered over the decline button, but it slipped, and she accidentally accepted the call.
“Ellis, did you upset Easton?” Emma asked anxiously.
Hearing Emma’s voice and her question, Ellis didn’t hang up immediately; a frown formed on her forehead. She hadn’t upset Easton; it was Easton who had upset her! Why would Emma ask that?
She closed her eyes, controlling herself not to roll them, and responded irritably, “Why would I upset him?”
“If you didn’t upset him, why would he come here looking for you?” Emma worried that Ellis had annoyed Easton, leading to Easton hating her foster daughter, and that they both would suffer his wrath.
“I don’t know what got into him!” Ellis had no interest in wasting brain cells thinking about Easton’s bizarre behavior. “Just ignore him, and it’s all good.”
“He came here, and I’m old; I can’t handle being frightened by him. Also…” Emma thought of Easton’s tactics and swallowed her suddenly dry throat, “If you see him, just walk the other way. You can’t afford to mess with him.”
Emma’s words left her speechless; Ellis fell silent. On the other end of the phone, the silence made Emma think Ellis was heeding her earnest advice. She continued, “Learn from past lessons, and don’t provoke Easton, okay?”
Ellis rubbed her forehead. “Ms. Emma, you’ve got it wrong. It’s not me provoking Easton; it’s Easton who’s provoking me!”
“You’re both divorced, and he still bothers to provoke you?” Emma couldn’t understand.
“He wants to get back together with me, and I refused.” Ellis was exasperated with Easton and hoped he would leave her alone to enjoy the New Year in peace.
“Don’t get back together with Easton, do you hear me?” Emma raised her voice in admonition, which made Ellis slightly amused. Emma had been adamantly against them remarrying, indicative of just how terrible Easton was—even Emma, who would compromise a lot for money, couldn’t stand him.
The more she thought about it, the more Ellis felt that divorcing Easton was absolutely the right decision. Easton was nothing but a nuisance to everyone!
“I’m not foolish. I won’t remarry him,” she said, her tone laced with sarcasm.
“Stay alert, don’t let him sweet-talk you into doing something silly like running off to the Civil Affairs Department with him,” Emma advised earnestly.
Ellis was no match for Easton, which was evident from how she had left their marriage with nothing. If Ellis became Easton’s wife again, she was bound to suffer because she couldn’t outsmart him. And if anything went wrong in a marriage with Easton, it was bound to be a disastrous mess that Ellis couldn’t handle.
“The men of the world aren’t extinct. I’d have to be out of my mind to go to the Civil Affairs Department with him.” Rather than remarry Easton, Ellis would prefer to be alone forever.
After making her point clear to Emma, she ended the call immediately and blocked the number. It wasn’t that she was heartless or wanted to cut ties with Emma. It was that Emma’s past actions were still fresh in her mind, and she wasn’t ready to interact with her until Emma understood not to interfere in her life or pressure her into doing things she didn’t want to do.
Listening to the dial tone, Emma patted her chest, still shaken. She thought of her own account full of money that she couldn’t spend. Anyone could be her son-in-law, but not Easton. Forget everything else; his ruthless methods alone were more than she could handle.