Chapter 4

Simon meant that, since Amelia had already made a scene at the airport, she might as well bring up the divorce outright. Doing so wouldn't affect their ongoing plan of collecting evidence of Jason's affair.

Jason probably wouldn't suspect anything anyway. He would only assume Amelia was being jealous. As it was, that was precisely what he thought.

After the discussion with Simon, Amelia drove to Chapman Manor. On the way back, she saw Jason's car, much to her surprise. She had assumed he would be staying with Maria and wouldn't have time to return to Chapman Manor.

If not for the incident at the airport, Jason had in fact been planning to stay with Maria. However, when Ryan called earlier to ask when he'd be back, Ryan mentioned that Amelia was already on the way to Chapman Manor.

Jason was worried that once Amelia got back to the house, she would reveal Maria's return to the Chapmans, thereby messing up his plans.

The wedding ceremony that was set to take place in three months had to proceed as scheduled.

Jason also spotted Amelia's car. He lowered his window and called out, "Mia."

Amelia didn't answer. She rolled up her window, her expression cold, and slammed down on the accelerator. The car shot forward in a blur.

Jason raised an eyebrow and chased after her without hesitation.

Chapman Manor was situated halfway up Southview Hill. The road wound up the hill in a series of twisting curves. Amelia calmly worked the steering wheel, as if she were merely steering a toy. The car drifted through the curves without slowing down, sweeping down the road like a gust of wind. If she had an audience, they would applaud her expert driving.

Men had a natural affinity for speed and adrenaline. Jason's interest was piqued, and he sped after Amelia's car as well.

Neither was willing to yield. They chased each other up the hill, with Jason repeatedly trying to overtake Amelia, only to remain trapped behind her the entire way. In the end, the two cars arrived at Chapman Manor one after the other.

Jason had thoroughly enjoyed himself. A faint smile touched his lips as he casually rested one hand on the car door, gazing at Amelia, his eyes filled with affection and surprise.

Honestly speaking, he'd been rather impressed.

"I never knew you could drive like that, Mia."

By now, whenever Amelia heard Jason call her Mia, she automatically took it for his term of endearment for Maria, and it nauseated her to no end. Ignoring him, she slammed the car door shut and walked inside.

Used to seeing Amelia's gentle, docile side, Jason found her cold-faced display intriguing, especially after her stellar driving.

He closed his own car door, strode forward, and grabbed Amelia's hand as if to placate her. In a gentle voice, he coaxed, "Come on, Mia. Stop being jealous."

The smell of women's perfume wafting from Jason made Amelia frown.

"Let go of me."

Jason refused to budge. Relying on his greater strength, he forcibly pulled Amelia into his arms and held her there. "No. Where are the gifts you bought me on your business trip?"

The perfume that kept coming off him was now making her stomach churn. She had to push him away while retorting, "I didn't get you any gifts."

"I saw the transaction records. You got a belt, a set of cufflinks, a briefcase, and a pair of loafers that are all for men. Who else could they be for, if not me? Come now. Stop throwing a tantrum."

Jason's confident look sparked a malicious urge in Amelia to deflate his ego. She blurted out, "I bought those for my uncle."

"Your uncle? You mean Simon Gardner?" Jason's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, a faint displeasure coloring his expression.

The next second, his brows relaxed, and he said with certainty, "I know you're jealous. You deliberately gave my gifts to another man. But Mia, you really misunderstood us. Maria and I are just friends."

Meanwhile, the perfume's scent grew more intense. Amelia couldn't take it anymore. "Let go of me, Jason! The perfume coming off you is making me sick!"

Jason tightened his arms around her. "Stop it, Mia. I can explain."

Amelia started dry-heaving. The next second, she threw up all over Jason, interrupting his attempt to play the dutiful and devoted husband.

"Mommy!"

Ryan had heard the sound of the cars long ago and came running out of the house. When he saw Amelia vomiting, he hurried anxiously to her side.

…

After Amelia showered, changed her clothes, and came out, she found Ryan waiting for her with a cup of warm water. Like a perfect little gentleman, he had quietly stood guard outside the door the entire time.

"Mommy, are you feeling better? Have some warm water."

Amelia smiled and ruffled his hair. She took the cup and drank more than half.

"Thank you, Ry."

Frowning, Ryan looked at her worriedly. "Are you feeling sick, Mommy?"

After Justin's accident, Jason took over Chapman Group and decided to venture into AI technology. He had studied business management himself and knew nothing about technology. As a result, he suffered a major setback in technological research that resulted in massive financial losses.

It had been an extremely difficult time for him. He had to deal with pressure from his family, questions from the board of directors and shareholders, and efforts by competing companies to undermine him.

As Jason's wife, Amelia naturally saw herself as part of his team. They were supposed to stand together no matter what. That was why she had given up the promising future she had with a national institute and joined Chapman Group, fully supporting him in his work.

It was normal for her to work overtime every day, eating only when she felt hungry. She ended up developing a stomach condition because of that, and whenever her stomach acted up, she would dry-heave and get the urge to vomit.

To make matters worse, she'd only recently discovered that her seven-year marriage had been a lie from the start—that Jason didn't have a shred of genuine affection for her.

It was impossible for her not to be hurt.

Amelia hadn't been getting enough rest these past few days, and she hadn't been eating properly. It was only natural that her stomach was giving her problems.

Still, she reassured Ryan, telling him not to worry about her.

At that moment, Annie Higgins, a housekeeper at Chapman Manor, came over. "Madam Amelia, Mrs. Chapman says that if you're done cleaning yourself up, you should start preparing dinner."

Amelia was about to speak when Ryan spoke first. "My mommy isn't feeling well. She can't cook. Have the chef make dinner tonight."

But Annie didn't leave. Her eyes traveled up and down Amelia, her gaze intrusive and unpleasant.

"You look perfectly fine to me, Madam Amelia. I don't see anything wrong with you. Don't tell me you're pretending to be sick just to slack off. Did you lie to Mr. Ryan because you don't feel like cooking?" Annie remarked.

From the moment Jason married Amelia, the entire Chapman family made their displeasure with her clear. It didn't matter how hard she worked or what she did. They simply didn't like her.

Just as grass bent in the direction of the wind, the household staff at Chapman Manor seemed to think they had the right to treat her however they pleased, too.

But now that Amelia was going to divorce Jason, there was no reason for her to keep accommodating the Chapman family in everything, swallowing her grievances and trying to please them, much less a housekeeper.

She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Oh? Do you have X-ray vision, Annie? You can tell whether I'm fine just by looking at me? Or did you plant a chip inside my head that allows you to read my mind?

"Or has every single member of the household staff working here dropped dead? Has it come to the point where the family has to force a sick person like me to do the work instead?"

"Madam Amelia! How can you talk like that?" Annie exclaimed in disbelief. "You're a daughter-in-law of the Chapman family! Your actions affect the family's reputation. How can you speak so crudely, with no class or manners?"

"Annie, do I need to remind you that you're just the help?" Amelia's voice remained unhurried, a smile playing on her lips as she looked at Annie.

Annie felt as though she had been slapped in the face. Her cheeks burned, and her expression turned ugly.

"So be it, Madam Amelia. I shall report back to Mrs. Chapman." She walked off in a huff, then gave an exaggerated account of the situation to Shelly Hoover, Jason's mother.

Being Amelia's mother-in-law, Shelly made it a habit to frequently punish Amelia in front of the staff and the rest of the Chapmans.

Ryan grabbed Amelia's hand, his voice firm. "Mommy, don't be afraid. Daddy may have been called into the study by Great-grandpa, but you still have me. If Grandma bullies you and makes you cook, I'll protect you."

After nodding and smiling at him, Amelia asked Ryan to accompany her to the horse ranch for a ride.

There was a horse ranch behind Chapman Manor, and Amelia didn't want to stay in the house. She wanted to go to the ranch and ride as freely as she could for a while.

When the two headed downstairs, they accidentally overheard Annie's conversation with one of the maids. Neither of the two gossiping staff heard their footsteps. They were also facing away from them and couldn't see them.

"Ms. Higgins, that's Mr. Jason's wife you're talking about. Aren't you afraid she'll find out you said those things to Mrs. Chapman and complain to Mr. Jason? He could fire you."

"She wouldn't dare. She doesn't have the guts. You're new here, so you don't know. No one in this family likes her except for Mr. Jason. If she wants to stay with him for the long haul, she has to pretend to be obedient and curry favor with Mrs. Chapman.

"Don't let her status as Mr. Jason's wife fool you. In this house, she's basically no different from us. You can think of her as one of the maids. In fact, she might even be worse off than us. She's nothing but a dog wagging its tail and begging for scraps," Annie declared.

"Are you insane? How can you talk about her like that?" the other maid exclaimed.

"But it's true. We may be just the help, but we earn our money through our own labor and can live with our heads held high, unlike her. She thinks she can use that pretty face of hers to seduce Mr. Jason and latch onto a wealthy family, taking the shortcut to living a luxurious life. But she ended up marrying into the family to work like a dog instead. Wait, no. Mrs. Chapman wouldn't even want her as a dog."

Amelia let out a self-deprecating snort. Annie wasn't entirely wrong there.

To keep Jason from being caught between his wife and his mother, she had always been docile and obeyed everything the Chapmans demanded of her. She did everything she could to please them and accommodate them, ignoring the grievances she endured.

Amelia was an orphan. Before she was adopted by her adoptive parents, she had learned how to fake meekness and obedience in the orphanage. She'd also developed a talent for enduring things. Putting up with such mistreatment was a piece of cake for her. It only hinged on whether she was willing to do it.

She had once thought that it didn't matter if the Chapman family didn't like her. She didn't care, as long as Jason loved her.

But she had been wrong. No one in this family loved her.

"Shut up, both of you!" Ryan's furious voice pulled Amelia back to reality. "Don't you dare insult my mommy!"

Warmth rose in Amelia's heart, and she realized she had been wrong again. It wasn't true that no one loved her. She still had Ryan.

Ryan immediately summoned the butler, Robert Cox. "Robert, fire both of them. I don't want to see them in my house again."

Robert bent down respectfully and said, "Mr. Ryan, you need to have a reason before you can fire someone."

Ryan's dark eyes bore no trace of emotion as he looked at Robert. "They insulted my mommy behind her back. Isn't that reason enough?"

Robert didn't answer. Instead, he looked up at Amelia, assuming that Amelia had secretly prompted Ryan to do this.

Although Ryan was only five years old, Elmer had raised him to the standards expected of an heir to the family fortune. As a result, he was more precocious than children his age and better at reading people's reactions.

Naturally, he noticed what Robert was doing. His expression turned cold as he snapped, "Don't look at Mommy. It has nothing to do with her. I'm the one who wants to fire them."

Robert respectfully acknowledged Ryan, then turned to Annie and the other maid.

"We didn't do anything, Mr. Cox. Mr. Ryan must've misheard us." Annie defended her case, then thought of something. "Maybe it's because I accidentally upset Madam Amelia just now."

Annie was practically saying outright that Amelia had egged Ryan on and deliberately gotten him to retaliate against her.

Ryan clenched his little fists, his face tight with anger. He opened his mouth to argue, but Amelia placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Ry, I'm going to teach you something today—when a dog tries to take a chunk out of you, you mustn't try to bite it back. That's beneath you. We just need to strike back."

She turned to Robert and said coolly, "Pull up the surveillance footage."

The surveillance cameras installed at Chapman Manor recorded everything in high resolution, including audio.

Before long, Robert informed Annie and the other maid to pack their things and leave. They would still be paid their salaries for the month, which was already more than fair.

However, Annie couldn't bear to lose her job at Chapman Manor. She refused to leave and ran to Shelly to cry and plead her case.

"I have to leave now, Mrs. Chapman. I won't be able to serve you anymore. When you have a headache, have Irina massage your head. I'll make sure she learns how before I leave.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Chapman. I let you down. I shouldn't have spoken that way about Madam Amelia. It was all my fault. It was only right that she was angry. I'll leave Chapman Manor right away… But I can't bear to leave you, Mrs. Chapman…"

Shelly took Annie's words out of context. On top of that, she already disliked Amelia, so she assumed that Amelia had deliberately made things difficult for Annie.

Frowning in displeasure, she snapped, "Amelia! When did you get the right to call the shots in this family?"

Amelia didn't miss the disgust in Shelly's eyes. She had never understood what terrible crime she had committed to make the Chapman family hate her so much. Was it simply because she came from a poor background?

Now, she finally understood the reason. It was because she looked too much like Maria.

The family had raised Justin to be their heir and take over the family business, and he had proven himself worthy. He had keen instincts, was bold and decisive, and had a natural talent for business.

But because of Maria, he ended up in a coma. In the Chapmans' eyes, Maria was practically his murderer. They loathed her more than anything else in the world.

Therefore, when they saw Amelia, whose face shared such a striking resemblance to Maria's, it was only natural that they couldn't stand the sight of her and couldn't bring themselves to think favorably of her.

While Amelia was lost in thought, Ryan stepped in front of her, shielding her with his small body.

"Grandma, I'm the one who told Robert to fire them. It has nothing to do with Mommy. I told Robert to fire them because they said bad things about Mommy behind her back. We have the surveillance footage to prove it."