Chapter 10

Wendy certainly did not dare to argue now that Ted was suddenly a savage brute—all she could hope for was to get this over with, and then destroy him later.

Along the way home, neither she nor Dean dared to say a word, as in their minds, Ted had truly lost his mind.

Forget assaulting them—would a normal person make a man, who had his face burned and suffered a fractured arm, drive? Who would ever dare?

But Ted did.

Luckily for them, the journey was peaceful, and once they reached Lake Garden Villas, Wendy turned to Ted and snarled through her teeth, "Go! Look for your crap, and leave immediately!"

As they went in, Wendy was told that Thomas was not home, having gone fishing with some old friends.

It left her absolutely furious, and she promptly called Thomas, telling him that their son had almost been murdered.

Ted did not care, as he went to the storeroom to get a box that was covered in dust.

It was obvious that it had been so long since anyone had touched it, but it made sense, as no one was bored enough to mess around with something they saw as horrid sketches.

As Ted took everything out of the box, he looked through everything.

Looking at it over his back, Wendy realized why he wanted these back—the paintings were mostly of Luna, and there was also literature like love poems!

Feeling victorious, she laughed coldly at Ted. "Trying to reminisce about the past, Ted York? Shame. This crap could have tricked my daughter back then, but you'd be just lying to yourself now. And did you think I'd let you take these paintings of my daughter? What if you sell them, and my daughter's reputation is ruined?"

Ted, however, was simply counting everything.

Seven notebooks and six paintings—nothing was missing.

Still, he retorted coolly at Wendy, "Don't worry, I'm not taking these with me."

"What?"

Wendy laughed even more coolly. "You're not taking them? Then why come all the way here? Oh, did you want to remind us that you worked hard back then and try to change my daughter's mind? Dream on!"

Ted ignored her this time as he put everything back inside the box and whipped out a lighter to burn them all together.

The small blaze illuminated Ted's face, but there was no emotion on it.

However, he knew that once these works were reduced to ashes, memories of him and Luna—the good and the bad—would also die with it.

On the other hand, Wendy was certainly not content with dissing Ted so little.

Watching as Ted was being so dramatic, she was laughing again. "You could've just told me if you wanted to burn it all! Why even bother coming back with us? Hell, I'd just throw them away—it's occupying precious space in my house, and no one's going to want them even if I sell them as scraps.

"Well, if you're just being dramatic for my benefit, you're just wasting your time. You could burn something more valuable than that to show us your determination."

Despite her disparaging Ted's works repeatedly, Ted never responded as he simply waited until the box was burned to ashes.

Then, he finally stood up and leveled a scornful look at Wendy as he started to leave. "Ignorant and foolish. Only gold has value, or perhaps that's what you'd like to think. Heh…"

That look almost gave Wendy a stroke, as she absolutely loathed it.

In the end, she had never been rich.

It was only after Luna married Ted that she did not have to worry about the bare necessities, and she was only rich after Luna carved a successful career for herself.

But even though she was rich now, her knowledge and vision never improved, which subjected her to much scorn from others, who gave her that same scornful look that Ted did.

As such, she started ranting, letting loose all her frustration on Ted. "Who are you calling ignorant?! You don't get to call me that! You're just a loser leeching off my daughter! What, do you think you're some master artist? How much do you think your work is worth?! It's all crap! I could draw better than you if I like! And you just got dumped! Loser!"

Still, all Ted had to do to silence her was turn and level a cool, silent look at her, leaving her stumbling backward.

In the end, all she was was a bully.

When Ted never fought back, she treated him like trash.

When Ted did fight back and dispense on civility, her face certainly hurt from his slap.

Dean tugged on Wendy's arm then, whispering, "It's alright, Mom. We don't have to win everything… just wait until he's gone."

Wendy nodded, and they both watched as Ted left without another word.

When Ted was utterly gone from sight, however, Dean and Wendy were once again themselves, their faces contorted horrifically.

Dean especially had been holding back for too long, and his agony seemed to overwhelm him all at once.

But even as he rolled around in pain, he was more concerned about his face. "A-Am I going to be disfigured…? Mom!!! I don't care anymore—don't you stop me! I'll kill him! I'll kill him!!! Argh!! Just look at my hand! It hurts so much!!!"

Wendy grimaced in pain even as she rushed to her son, and growled through her teeth, "Don't worry—your face will definitely be fine! And you don't have to tell me twice… I'll destroy that prick too! How dare he do this to you! How dare he slap me! I'll kill him!

"Just wait here—I've already called an ambulance, and they'll pick you up soon. That suits us just fine, since I was wondering when I could talk to your sister. We'll see how she's going to weasel her way out of this now!"

As it was with every undertaking, there was always a catch—when Wendy was wondering how she should get more goodies from Luna and even land a job for Dean, she was worried that she would be caught demanding Ted's alimony.

But now that Ted had slapped Wendy, his own mother-in-law, and beat Dean to a pulp, they suddenly looked like the victims here, the seriousness of their injuries notwithstanding.

Luna, defending Ted at this point?! No chance!

Delight showed on Dean's face right then, and his body suddenly did not hurt so much. "Then call Luna already! She'd definitely agree to anything we ask for!"

Wendy simply laughed. "Calm down. Let's stay in the hospital for a while and get everything bandaged. I'll then tell the doctor to make things sound more serious when he tells your sister, while we corroborate our stories so that it'd work more in our favor.

"Either way, there's nothing to worry about—I'll get you all the goodies this time! It's Luna's own fault for being such an ingrate, refusing to give her own family jobs in Lunacorp. What does she want? To remarry, have a child, and then give them all her money? Dream on! I'll be the first to have something to say about that!"

Was that really something a mother should say?

However, Wendy did say it, and as if it was perfectly natural.

Dean smiled at his mother in turn. "Mom, do you remember that young man at that villa? The one who was tied up by his own father? Well, I gave him my number, and since they now know that Luna divorced Ted, they'd definitely want payback too. Hmph! The more the merrier as they say… I'll make Ted wish he was dead!"

Wendy sighed and clapped Dean on the shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll definitely get our revenge."

That was when Thomas and the ambulance arrived.

Wendy made sure to shoot Thomas a vicious glare before getting into the ambulance with Dean.

Terrified, Thomas promptly called Luna.

He had no idea what had happened either, but with his wife and son so thoroughly hurt, the only one he could think of was his own daughter.

When Luna got his call, she promptly turned pale and ran out of the conference room.

There was no helping it—if it was Wendy or Dean, she would presume that they were exaggerating.

On the other hand, if it was Thomas, it made things that much more believable.