Chapter 43: Ask Luther for Help
Inside the Stark’s villa at Rose Heights, Luther received a call from Monica as soon as he got home. Irritably, he yanked off his tie, handing it to Leann, who was helping him with his clothes. “Wait a moment, Monica is calling me,” he said.
Leann asked in surprise, “Why did she call you?”
“I didn’t know,” he replied. The arrogance and haughtiness of the Stark family, ingrained in their bones, were evident. Leann immediately frowned, saying displeasedly, “She’s not going to ask you for money, is she? I heard her family is having a hard time; her husband has some strange disease, and he’s been in the hospital for over a year and still hasn’t gotten better…”
Monica, it turned out, had a kinship with her domineering mother-in-law; Monica’s mother and her mother-in-law were first cousins. Later, one married a local small business owner, and the other married a poor boy. Amy, Monica's cousin, followed her husband to Melcester for work, while Monica’s family stayed in their hometown. After that, Monica had a child and needed more help at home. Amy didn’t want to help with the kids, so she brought her own niece over. It was Monica.
At first, Monica was a great help. Later, however, it was discovered that Monica was nicer to Myrna than to Stephanie, often buying Myrna candies behind Stephanie’s back and taking Myrna to her house to play. She treated Stephanie only averagely, finding excuses to dismiss her. After all, Myrna wasn’t her own flesh and blood, but Stephanie was her precious darling.
Luther picked up his phone. “She has never asked Mom for money before; it doesn’t make sense for her to borrow now. There must be something going on. I’ll answer it,” he said.
Leann helped him pack his clothes, adding, “If it’s about lending money, don’t lend too much; ten or twenty thousand is enough, no more. Given their situation, lending them money is like throwing a meat bun at a dog—it’s not coming back! Our family is not a charity; we have plenty of these distant, poor relatives. Once you start, they will all come to you for loans…”
After all, Monica was a relative. Leann’s overt and covert disdain for his relatives back home annoyed him, but he also thought the same way. Ten or twenty thousand was acceptable, considered as charity, but anything more was out of the question.
He put his phone to his ear and answered the call. “Hello.”
Two minutes later, he hung up the phone with a gloomy expression. He said to Leann, “Give me the clothes quickly.”
Leann, looking puzzled, asked, “What’s wrong? You just got back, and now you’re leaving again?”
Luther’s face was extremely ugly. He said harshly, “Myrna got into a fight on the street and was taken away by the police. Monica called and asked me to go to the police station to bail her out!”
Luther was beside himself with anger. It was also about raising a daughter. Although Myrna wasn’t their child, she had grown up in their home. People say that dragons beget dragons and phoenixes beget phoenixes; even if she was a mouse, staying in their home every day should have instilled some manners in her! He had only been back home for a few days after reconciling with his relatives when he got into trouble with the police station again! Indeed, he shouldn’t have let her continue studying in Melcester. He had to clean up the mess.
Upon hearing it was about Myrna, Leann’s expression soured. Unwilling to give him his clothes, she said, “Didn’t she find her biological parents and grandfather? Why is she still calling you?”
Luther was annoyed and said irritably, “I don’t know. They are strangers here; even if they go to the police station, they won’t be able to get anyone out. We are about to finalize our cooperation with the Taylor Group. Even if Myrna is not part of our family, she has lived in our house. If any bad news comes out at this time, it will also affect us.”
Leann’s expression grew increasingly disgusted. “She really is as clingy as Mom said!”
Luther took the clothes from her hands, irritably saying, “Anyway, I’ll go over and see first.”