Chapter 9

The water was so hot that she jumped, and her palm missed Melody’s face.

“Who threw hot water at me?!”

Sophia was fuming. When she looked down, she saw Alden holding an empty glass.

The moment she saw him, she threw all caution to the wind and ran over to grab him by the collar.
Then, she swung her hand at him.

Adina grabbed her hand midwing, even if it felt as if her bone was about to be crushed.

“Abusing my kids while I’m not around, Sophia? It’s been years since we last met, but you’re as
uncivilized as ever.”

Adina flung her hand away and bent down to hug Alden and Melody.

Sophia was so angry that she felt as if she was about to combust.

She pointed at Melody and roared, “Your daughter slapped my son! Either let me slap her, or do it
yourself!”

Adina looked over and saw the palm print on Leo’s face.

But Melody never took the first step to hurt others.

“Mommy, it’s not Mel’s fault,” Alden said. “Leo called her a mute and spat at her.”

He sounded like he was blaming himself.

His granduncle had called him over to talk about the chip, so he had stepped away from Melodie for
just a few minutes, but it was enough for someone to bully his sister.



It was his fault. He had made his mother worry again.

When Adina heard her son’s words, rage stirred in her heart.

There were two things she could not tolerate: people calling her children b*stards and people laughing
at Melody’s condition.

Sophia had just done both.

Slap!

A loud slap rang through the living room.

Sophia’s eyes went wide. “You witch, how dare you hit me?! I won’t let this go!”

She no longer cared about her image and lunged at Adina like a crazed woman. Her hands were
outstretched toward Adina’s throat.

Adina avoided her coolly, and Sophia missed. She crashed face-first onto the floor.

Blood poured down her face.

Sophia had never been in such a pathetic state before, and she wanted to tear Adina to shreds.

“Sophia, your son has a foul mouth, so that slap was for him!” Adina said while looking down at her.
She then bent down and picked Melody up.

Her daughter opened her eyes wide, and her long, curled lashes fluttered. It looked like she had no
idea what had just happened.

Morganna was so furious that her hand trembled. “Adina, you wh*re, how dare you hit my daughter?!
As long as I’m one of the Xaviers, don’t you dare to even think about staying here!”



“Are you thinking about chasing me out of the house, too?” Madam Xavier walked out of the study
room with her cane and stopped in front of Adina like a protector.

Morganna suppressed her anger and said in a quivering voice, “That’s not what I meant, Mother. You
saw what happened just now. Adina has no respect for her elders and hit her cousin. She’s too
arrogant, and it’ll bring unrest in the family. I only want what’s the best for the family…”

“You’re the one who’ll bring unrest to the family!” Richard roared. “If you can’t accept Addy, go back to
your family!”

Morganna felt ashamed after being rebuked by her mother-in-law and husband in front of others, but
she did not dare to say anything else.

She picked Sophia up from the floor while feeling indignant and grabbed the wailing Leo, then went
upstairs.

Even though the incident had come to an end, Adina could not calm down.

It was just the first day of her return, and they had already started fighting.

There was definitely going to be more trouble in the future.

Adina was not afraid of Morganna or Sophia, but Melody was still young, and Adina could not possibly
watch over her 24/7. The others would definitely find a time to mock and abuse her, which would
worsen her condition.

It seemed that staying in the mansion was not the smartest decision.

Madam Xavier saw through Adina’s thoughts and said, “Addy, you’ve always been opinionated, and I
was never able to change your mind once after you’ve made a decision, but could you do this for me?



Please, stay in the house I’ll give you. This way, I’ll be at ease.”

Addy hesitated for a while before she nodded.

“I intend to hold a birthday party for you so that everyone will know that the most beautiful woman of
Sea City is alive.” Madam Xavier patted the back of her hand. “After it, you can move out.”

Alden tugged at Adina’s sleeve. “I’ll take good care of Mel, Mommy. Don’t worry.”

Sophia had acted really aggressively, so Adina was still worried.

But then, it had been years since she had last met her grandmother. It would be wrong to not even stay
for a few days. She could move out immediately after the party ended.

Since Adina was still worried about Sophia abusing her children, she brought them along when she
went to Xavier Corporation the next day.


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