An Understated Dominance

Chapter 205

Dahlia frowned slightly, slowly coming back to her senses. Looking at Florence hop around energetically, she was astounded. “Mom, I thought you said you broke your hands and feet? How can you still stand?”

“Huh?” Florence’s face froze, and she forced a smile. “When I saw Julie, I got a little too emotional and temporarily forgot about the pain. I should lie back down and get some rest right away.”

With that, she limped to the bed.

But those horrible acting skills fooled no one.

“Mom, are you actually

actually fine and were just pretending to be hurt in front of me?!” Dahlia’s face sank.

“How can I be fine? Didn’t you see how Dustin hit me? Ouch held her head and began to put on a show again.

My head is starting to hurt again!” Florence

“You said you have a concussion and broken limbs. Well, where’s the case file from the hospital? Show it to me!” Dahlia demanded.

“Well…” Florence and James both looked at each other, speechless. Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

Seeing their reaction, of course. Dahlia caught on.

“So you two have been lying to me all along? All for what?” She bit the bottom of her lip.

“Fine. I’m not hurt! So what? Seeing that her ruse was up, Florence stopped pretending.

She said indignantly, “Although I didn’t get hurt, it’s still true that that animal beat us up. You saw what happened in the video. Could that be faked?”

“That’s right! Dahlia, look at the injuries on my face. He did this to me!” James played along.

“Give me your phone!” Dahlia demanded, her gaze cold.

“W–what do you want my phone for?” James felt a niggling sense of guilt.

“Just give it to me!”

Without another word, Dahlia snatched the phone from his hands. She looked for the full video and played it with the volume turned up.

After grasping the entire situation, her body began to tremble from head to toe. She finally understood why her brother had been beaten up.

Dustin wasn’t the ungrateful one. It was her mother and brother who crossed the line and went to his doorstep to kick up a fuss!

“Why? Why did you guys lie to me?!” Dahlia was extremely upset.

“Dahlia, we didn’t lie to you. That animal was wrong to hit us. Even if we started it, he had no right to hit us back! So what if we hit him? We’re older than him; can’t we teach him a lesson?! Florence argued righteously as if her actions were justified,

“You–you guys are really unbelievable!” Dahlia was furious. She didn’t expect that her mother would be so unreasonable and evil.

It was clearly her own fault, but she still pinned the blame on Dustin, deliberately twisting the truth and misleading her. 1

“Fine! Even if we were impulsive this time, it doesn’t mean that ass wasn’t responsible for this as well. If he hadn’t framed Julie, would we have gone over to pick a light? In the end, he had it coming for him!” Florence shouted with conviction, her hands on her waist.

As soon as she said that, a middle–aged man in uniform alighted from the police car that stopped in front of their door.

“You must be Julie Amberson’s family, am I right? I am Chief Aspen Cruiser. Regarding Julie’s case of medicine theft, although Mr. Rhys has decided not to pursue the matter, you still need to make sure she learned her lesson and won’t make the same mistake again. If Mr. Rhys hadn’t said anything today, Julie would probably have remained in there for a few more years. Do you understand?” Aspen said, giving them a stern verbal warning.

“Mr. Rhys?”

Florence and the others looked at each other. “Wasn’t it Mr. Laney Sr. who helped Julie?”

“Who’s that? I’ve never heard of him,” Aspen replied, stone–faced.

As soon as he said that, everyone’s eyes llicked over to Matt.

After everything that happened, it wasn’t even Phineas Laney who helped.

Then, had they thanked the wrong person?

Being on the receiving end of everyone’s gazes, Matt felt his face flush, as if he’d been slapped on both cheeks.

This was fucking humiliating!

“Chief Cruiser, may I ask who this “Mr. Rhys‘ is that you’re talking about?” Florence still couldn’t believe it.

Aspen raised an eyebrow. “Who else could it be? Of course, it’s Dustin Rhys. Who else would help you out?”

As soon as he said that, the entire room fell dead silent…

“D–Dustin Rhys? How could it be him?!” After learning the truth, Florence and the others looked at each other for a while, disbelief written on their faces.

Never in a million years had they considered that it wasn’t Matt who saved Julie, but the person they had dubbed ungrateful.

This was simply a slap in the face!

“So Dustin never framed Julie in the first place, and it was you guys purposely slinging mud at him?” Dahlia stood rooted to the ground, expressionless.

Her face was as white as a sheet.

“W–who slung mud at him? I bet he’s feeling guilty because he knows what he did wrong, so he’s trying to make things up to us!” Florence insisted stubbornly.

She was used to bossing people around; of course, she would never admit that she had gotten the wrong idea

about Dustin.

That would be too humiliating.

“Mom, things have already come to this, and you still want to justify yourself?” Dahlia bit her lip. Even her

heart was clenching.

“How am I justifying myself? If that Rhys bastard hadn’t framed Julie, why would he have saved her? In the end, he was just feeling guilty for doing something wrong!” Florence insisted indignantly.

“That’s right! If he didn’t do it, why did he save her?” James echoed.

“I’ve really had enough of you guys!” Dahlia’s emotions finally exploded.

“Why? Why do you always have to pick on Dustin? What exactly did he do to you? Must you purposely pick fights with him? In our three years of marriage, he has always been honest and agreeable, but you have always had a prejudice against him. Even though he had never done anything wrong, you kept pushing blame on him again and again. Could you really be so blinded to how good he is?”

She was basically roaring by the end of her tirade.

Everyone was scared stiff.

After that spiel, Dahlia couldn’t stand it anymore. She threw the door open and left.

She got in her car and sped down the road.

Her tears, however, couldn’t stop falling.

She regretted it.

She really regretted it.

She regretted being so impulsive; she regretted believing her mother’s words; and she regretted misunderstanding Dustin.

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“You–you guys are really unbelievable!” Dahlia was furious. She didn’t expect that her mother would be so unreasonable and evil.

It was clearly her own fault, but she still pinned the blame on Dustin, deliberately twisting the truth and misleading her.

“Fine! Even if we were impulsive this time, it doesn’t mean that ass wasn’t responsible for this as well. If he hadn’t framed Julie, would we have gone over to pick a fight? In the end, he had it coming for him!” Florence shouted with conviction, her hands on her waist.

As soon as she said that, a middle–aged man in uniform alighted from the police car that stopped in front of their door.

“You must be Julie Amberson’s family, am I right? I am Chief Aspen Cruiser, Regarding Julie’s case of medicine theft, although Mr. Rhys has decided not to pursue the matter, you still need to make sure she learned her lesson and won’t make the same mistake again. If Mr. Rhys hadn’t said anything today. Julie would probably have remained in there for a few more years. Do you understand?” Aspen said, giving them a stern verbal warning.

“Mr. Rhys?”

Florence and the others looked at each other. “Wasn’t it Mr. Laney Sr. who helped Julie?”

“Who’s that? I’ve never heard of him,” Aspen replied, stone–faced.

As soon as he said that, everyone’s eyes flicked over to Matt.

After everything that happened, it wasn’t even Phineas Laney who helped.

Then, had they thanked the wrong person?

Being on the receiving end of everyone’s gazes, Matt felt his face flush, as if he’d been slapped on both cheeks.

This was fucking humiliating!

“Chief Cruiser, may I ask who this “Mr. Rhys‘ is that you’re talking about?” Florence still couldn’t believe it.

Aspen raised an eyebrow. “Who else could it be? Of course, it’s Dustin Rhys. Who else would help you out?”

As soon as he said that, the entire room fell dead silent —