Chapter 3 What A Shameless Whore!

Meanwhile, in the Bailey family's villa, Cassie Bailey, Jase's younger sister, spoke with a curled lip. "Mom, Elyse has elegance and status, and she's receiving her doctorate. Rena, on the other hand, is unbearably dull. One look at her and I don't feel like eating anymore."

Off to the side, Maggie Bailey, Jase's mother, responded, her voice cool and detached, "As far as I can tell, a woman like that belongs in the kitchen. She went to meet that pathetic father of hers today, didn't she?"

With a sweet, mocking giggle, Cassie leaned back and said, "I heard he just got back from overseas. He probably couldn't keep surviving off shady work in some godforsaken place, so now he's come slithering back to depend on his daughter."

Jase merely knit his brows, as though there were nothing at all wrong with a single word they said.

At that moment, Rena shoved the door open and walked inside.

The instant Maggie laid eyes on her, the distain on her face came through without the slightest effort to hide it.

"Well, well," she remarked, her eyes narrowing, "look who finally decided to come back. Why are you just standing there? Get to the kitchen and make dinner."

Without answering, Rena kept her face blank and headed straight for the stairs.

"Hey!" Cassie barked. "What the hell? Mom's speaking to you. Are you deaf or something? Don't give us that crap attitude! You went to see that useless father of yours, and now suddenly you've got the nerve to act tough?"

Mid-step, Rena halted and fixed Cassie with a frigid stare as she blocked the way. "Out of my way."

Caught off guard, Cassie recoiled on instinct, only to stiffen with humiliation a second later. "Are you seriously glaring at me?" she snapped. "Last I checked, this is my house. You're living off my brother, eating under our roof. So what's the problem with you cooking a meal?"

A sharp, mocking smile touched Rena's lips as her eyes drifted over the room. "Your house?"

Years ago, when they had been desperate for somewhere to live, Jase had just crawled out of the slums. She moved them directly into one of the Shaw family's estates.

Because she had wanted to spare his fragile pride, she had even lied and said the villa belonged to one of her relatives, and that they could stay there for the time being.

Beneath her breath, Rena released a low, chilling huff. "Jase, why don't you clear this up for them? Does this house belong to you or not?"

Color drained from Jase's face at once as he shot back, "Rena! What kind of bullshit are you saying?"

"Bullshit?" she echoed, staring at him as though she were looking at a man she had never truly known. "Then why can't you say it out loud?"

"Enough!" Jase growled, a dangerous warning flashing in his eyes. "Alright, I admit it. I didn't go pick up your father. That part was my fault, and I'll apologize if that's what you want. But cut it out-stop turning this into a scene. If you're exhausted, then go upstairs and get some rest."

"I'm not exhausted." Crossing the room, Rena stopped beside the coffee table, her expression cold and steady. "I just want everyone here to understand one thing clearly."

Already furious at the shift in Rena's attitude, Maggie shot to her feet so abruptly the sofa cushions jolted behind her. "This is outrageous! You nasty little bitch, how dare you speak to Jase that way? No wonder your mother ended up running off with some random stranger."

The temperature in Rena's gaze dropped to something lethal. "What did you just say?"

"Was I wrong?" Maggie fired back, planting her hands on her hips as venom dripped from every word. "People can dress it up as her disappearing all they want, but everyone knows she ran off with some man! What a shameless whore! And look at you, coming home this late. You were probably out fooling around with some man too, just like your mother."

"Shut your mouth!" With a violent crack, Rena's palm slammed down on the table, rattling every cup on the coffee table.

There was no way she would stand by and allow anyone to disrespect Clara.

That was the one boundary no one was allowed to step over!

Whoever dared cross it would be crushed for it!

For a split second, Maggie was shaken by the explosive force in her voice, but the shock quickly curdled into a sharper, more vicious rage. "Jase! Take a good look at that precious wife of yours!"

With a deep frown etched across his face, Jase demanded, "Why are you yelling at her? That's my mother you're talking to! She's older, and her health isn't good. She only said it without thinking. Did you really need to blow up over something like that? Apologize to her right now!"

Apologize? After Maggie called her mother a whore?

As Rena stared at the face she had loved for five long years, an icy ache seeped straight into her chest.

For the first time, doubt clawed through her mind, and she found herself wondering whether the man who had once nearly died to save her had ever truly been Jase at all.

With a guarded step, Rena moved back and widened the space between them. "Jase, I'm going to ask you this one last time. Do you believe my mother is the kind of woman they keep calling her? And in all these years, did it never cross your mind to help me look for her?"

Instead of answering, Jase glanced at Rena, then shifted his eyes toward Maggie and Cassie, both of them glaring in outrage.

He knew exactly what would happen if he failed to take Maggie's side. She would blow this up into an even uglier scene.

As for Rena... no matter what, she couldn't bring herself to leave him. It wouldn't take more than a handful of soft words to calm her.

Unable to meet the fire in her eyes, he lowered his gaze and kept his mouth shut.

Once again, silence fell between them.

Whenever the Bailey family trampled all over her, this was how he always answered her-with the same cowardly silence.

From Rena's throat came a low, brittle, almost mocking laugh.

So the truth had been sitting there in plain sight all along, hadn't it?

During all those years, every time she brought up looking for her mother, Jase would dodge the conversation or subtly imply she ought to give it up and stop wasting her energy.

That meant he had believed it too, deep down, that Clara really was the kind of shameless woman they accused her of being.

"Good, very good," she muttered, her voice icy and steady. "Jase, did you forget that when your company's cash flow crashed three years ago, I was the one who helped you land that first round of funding? You really thought it was luck? I swallowed my pride and begged my former mentor to introduce you to those investors! And when your mother's stomach ulcers got so bad the doctors said she needed surgery, I was the one surviving on three hours of sleep, day after day, making medicinal meals to nurse her stomach back to health?"

"That was all a long time ago and-"

Cutting him off coldly, Rena fixed Cassie with a hard stare. "And you too, Cassie! Do you actually believe the Bailey family got invited into Qremvale's elite circles because you had money? If I hadn't picked out your dresses and briefed you on everyone's tastes ahead of time, you wouldn't have even gotten a foot through the door. I poured everything I had into the Bailey family, and I treated every last one of you like you were truly my own. And how did you repay me?"

"That's enough!" Maggie shrieked, lunging at Rena with blazing eyes as she swung a hand toward her face.

"You ungrateful little brat, how dare you act like this? If we hadn't taken you in, you would've died on the streets by now! If you hadn't been around, I'd have recovered from these stomach problems years ago! I should beat you to death and be done with you!"

Her hand slashed through the air, seconds away from landing across Rena's cheek.

Rena twisted aside, but Maggie immediately snatched the kraft paper bag from her arms. "What kind of garbage are you carrying around? Hand it over."

Out slipped the family photograph, fluttering helplessly to the floor.

Without sparing it even a glance, Maggie bent down and ripped it to pieces.

"Revolting trash!" she spat. "Just like that shameless mother of yours! You should ever set foot in this house again!"

Shoving Maggie away, Rena dropped to scoop up the torn photograph, then bolted outside with trembling hands, desperate to save it.

Jase didn't have time to stop her. All he could do was watch as Rena tore free of his grasp and vanished from view.