"It''s not your fault, Dorothea. It''s probably thebination of a stressful job and annoying wife that makes him that way."


    "Not my fault?" Dorothea frowned. She thought that statement from Shailene was very strange. "So it''s Chloe''s fault instead?"


    "Perhaps," Shailene nodded as she tried to convince Dorothea. Although Shailene was still holding this secret as a weapon against Vernonter, she knew where Chloe was hiding right now.


    She was with Vernon, trying to manipte the love of her heart because Chloe was a horrible groomer. She was a pedophile who preyed on the vulnerable mind of young Vernon and made him her ve.


    Though it wasn''t her responsibility to wake Vernon up. She still wanted to wake him up and also wake Dorothea up.


    They needed to know that Chloe was the monster all along.


    "We don''t know what''s on her mind and what was happening inside the married life between your son and daughter-inw, right?" Shailene said. "It could be that Chloe was the one who drove your son insane. She seems to be that kind of woman who looks sweet from the outside, but vicious on the inside."


    "You''ve never even seen her, why would you say that?" Dorothea asked.


    "Just a gut feeling," Shailene said.


    It was true that she hadn''t seen Chloe''s face yet. But judging how she could marry the Big brother while also seducing the Little brother, she concluded that Chloe was a sweet-looking woman with a vicious heart.


    "You don''t need to me yourself over your son''s behavior, Dorothea," Shailene said. "It''s probably Chloe''s fault, and the only thing you can do right now is trying to separate your son from her. Women who have been beaten by their husbands might have taunted their men until they lost control and resort to physical violence, it is not umon and quite deserving to some extent. I believe your son-- Vincent will return to normal after he has forgotten about Chloepletely."


    ...


    ...


    Dorothea paused for a long time but kept staring at Shailene until thetter got a little ufortable.


    "Mind sharing what you think right now, Dorothea?" Shailene asked as she tried to fill up the ufortable silence.


    "What the fuck did you just say, Shailene?" Dorothea said. Her voice was sharp, unlike her usual whiny voice of an old woman.


    Shailene''s body stiffened instantly. She gave Dorothea a side nce to check what she said wrong and almost jumped in fright when she saw Dorothea ring at her as if she had done a terrible offense.


    Shailene mustered her courage and tried to be professional. She acted as if she wrote something in her note and then asked, "I see that you have a strong reaction to my statement. Did I say something that offends you?"


    "Offend? You make this whole thing pointless!" Dorothea yelled. All the vulnerability she showed just now suddenly disappeared, leaving a trace of hostility that confused Shailene. "You stated that women who got beaten by their husbands might''ve taunted their men and deserved the treatment they got."<novelnext></novelnext>


    "Do you even understand your own job? I paid you so much because you''re supposed to heal me from my trauma, because I have been abused, cheated, and traumatized by myte husband!" Dorothea''s yell started getting louder as she got angry. "Now you want to tell me that I deserve to get beaten by myte husband?! Are you fucking kidding me?!"


    Shailene was astonished by this old woman''s sudden rampage. She was so ingrained with the topic of Chloe-- that maniptive bitch-- that she had forgotten she wasn''t talking with a friend.


    She was talking to her most important client, the main reason why she still had bits of connection with Vernon despite their bad breakup back then.


    Dorothea saw how stunned Shailene was. She didn''t even try to exin herself, confirming that all the usations were right.


    Shailene was indeed shocked by the sudden outburst. But she was more shocked at how simr Dorothea was to her second son, Vernon when they were angry.


    The way they cursed, yelled and red, they were truly a mother-son pair.


    Dorothea clicked her tongue. She grabbed her bag and got up from the chaise lounge.


    She wore her heels and walked towards the door.


    "W--Where are you going, Mrs. Gray? The therapy session is not over yet!" Shailene finally reacted when she saw Dorothea had already grabbed the door handle.


    Dorothea stopped and looked over her shoulder, "Therapy session? You just told me that I deserved to be beaten by myte husband. Do you think I will continue therapy with an unprofessional and useless psychologist like you? Oh, fuck no!"


    SLAM!


    Dorothea mmed the door as she exited the home office.


    Shailene panicked. She didn''tck money, but Shailene was her only way to connect with Vernon, and once Shailene was gone, she would have no more reason to stay in New York.


    Shailene believed that everything would eventually work out in her favor, especially knowing how much of a maniptive, problematic woman Chloe was.


    ''No, I can''t lose her! She''s my only chance!'' Shailene got up and rushed to catch up to Dorothea. She opened the door in a hurry and saw Dorothe was already walking towards the direction of the front door.


    "Dorothea, wait!" Shailene ran towards the olddy once she realized that Dorothea had intentionally ignored her. So Shailene rushed towards her and caught Dorothea''s wrist. "Dorothea! I''m sorry for what I said just now. I didn''t mean it! I was just not thinking straight right now!" Shailene tried to exin desperately.


    But the more desperate she was, the angrier Dorothea got. Because all her desperation just showed that all that she said was the truthing from her heart.


    Dorothea thought she had finally found a friend in Shailene who would listen to her worry, but it seemed that she had been secretlyughed at by her own ''friend'' the whole time because she was also an abuse victim.