When the Contract Marriage Ended, He Stayed

###Chapter 89: Taking Up the Mantle

"You!" Yvette Hawthorne was so furious she was rendered speechless. She knew Hazel Hawthorne was calling her an idiot.

"See? You’re speechless. Looks like you agree with me. It was only because my mother got sick that your mother was hired as our maid. And what a great job she did—great enough to sleep her way right into my father’s bed." Hazel Hawthorne’s blunt words were another vicious slap in the face to both Jessica Clarke and Yvette Hawthorne.

Furious, Yvette Hawthorne burst into tears. She hiked up her skirt and stormed upstairs. A door slammed violently. Unfazed, Hazel Hawthorne remarked coolly, "So you can do it, but you can’t stand to have anyone talk about it?"

"Hazel!" Harrison Hawthorne finally snapped, shouting his daughter’s name in a rage. "She’s your sister, and that’s your mother! How can you speak to them like that?"

"Is there a problem with how I’m speaking? You should have known what my attitude would be when you asked me to come back. The best solution would have been to keep them out of my sight. Otherwise, believe me, I have plenty more nasty things to say."

Hazel Hawthorne stared fearlessly at Harrison Hawthorne. In her heart, ever since he had married Jessica Clarke right after her mother’s passing, Harrison Hawthorne no longer deserved to be called her father.

And discovering they had a daughter together only made it that much harder to accept.

Harrison Hawthorne was helpless against Hazel. So what if she was his daughter? She was also Aiden Xavier’s wife—the Young Madam of the Xavier Family. If he offended her, he could forget about seeing a single cent from them. Harrison knew full well that he needed to depend on Hazel.

Jessica Clarke stood to the side, weeping. Harrison could only comfort her and tell her to go check on Yvette.

Once the two eyesores were gone, Hazel settled down, sitting quietly in the living room. The household staff knew how formidable she was—definitely not someone to be trifled with. Even Harrison Hawthorne didn’t dare cross her, so they were all exceedingly cautious in her presence.

Upstairs, Yvette Hawthorne was throwing a tantrum in her room. Before Jessica Clarke could even say a word, an object hurled by Yvette smashed at her feet. She bent down, picked up the stuffed doll, and quietly walked over to her daughter, placing it back where it belonged.

"Yvette, you know Aiden is here. Why are you throwing a fit? It’s not like you don’t know Hazel’s temper. If we go head-to-head with her, we’re the only ones who’ll lose out."

"We can’t just grovel before Hazel every single time, Mom! You saw her attitude—it’s like she doesn’t even consider us family," Yvette raged. "Why didn’t Hazel just die along with her long-dead mother?"

Hearing this, Jessica Clarke quickly clamped a hand over Yvette’s mouth. "Use your brain before you speak! You know how protective Hazel is of her mother’s memory, yet you still say something like that? Do you actually want to make her angry? Hazel is Aiden Xavier’s wife now, the Young Madam of the Xavier Family. You need to watch what you say."

"And what’s so special about that?" The mention of Aiden only made Yvette angrier. "Back when Hazel didn’t want to marry him, I could have been the one to marry Aiden! If she hadn’t suddenly agreed, I would be the Young Madam of the Xavier Family right now!"

"Mom, Hazel must have done it on purpose! She didn’t want me to marry Aiden, so she decided to marry him herself at the last minute!"

Yvette was absolutely certain. "I know Hazel has never liked me. She just has to ruin my life. She knew I liked Aiden..."

Jessica Clarke clapped a hand over Yvette’s mouth again. "You can’t say that now!"

Hazel, who had been standing at the doorway for who knows how long, suddenly spoke up. "What’s so unspeakable? The fact that Yvette has a crush on Aiden?"

Hazel’s sudden appearance startled them both. Jessica was about to explain, but Hazel held up a hand to stop her. She glanced at Yvette and said flatly, "I hear about someone having a crush on Aiden every single day. Do you really think I care that you’re one of them?"

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

Hazel shot her a sidelong, disdainful glance. "You’re not even worthy of being my rival." After speaking, she let her gaze travel up and down Yvette’s form, her eyes filled with scorn, as if to say, ’With a face like yours, don’t you dare embarrass yourself in front of Aiden.’

"Hazel!" Yvette felt utterly humiliated once again. She wanted to strike back, to put Hazel in her place.

But Hazel remained unconcerned. "Your mother was a homewrecker. Are you planning to follow in her footsteps? Though... I imagine you’ll have a hard time stealing Aiden from me. After all, he’s not my father—he doesn’t fall for just any woman who throws herself at him."

Yvette couldn’t take it anymore. She rushed right up to Hazel, ready to teach her a lesson.

"How can you say something so horrible!"

Hazel took one step back. The instant Yvette raised her hand to strike, Hazel caught her wrist tightly with her right hand. Then, with lightning speed, she swung her left hand and slapped Yvette across the face.

She had put all her strength into it. The slap wasn’t light. Yvette’s cheek immediately reddened and swelled. Harrison Hawthorne and Aiden Xavier, drawn by the sound, arrived just in time to see Yvette clutching her face, her eyes brimming with tears. Harrison immediately rounded on Hazel.

"What are you doing? Why would you strike your sister so viciously?"

Hazel looked at Harrison coldly and stated bluntly, "I was just teaching her not to follow her mother’s example and spend her life plotting to seduce other women’s husbands."

"What’s that supposed to mean? Whose husband did Yvette try to seduce?" Harrison looked completely bewildered. He and Aiden had only been gone for a moment, and Hazel was already fighting with them again.

Hazel pointed at Yvette. "Are you going to tell him, or should I?"

Yvette ran to her father, clinging to his arm and sobbing softly. "I didn’t do anything," she whispered. "My sister misunderstood."

"Hazel, if it was a misunderstanding, couldn’t you have talked it over calmly with Yvette? Did you have to get physical? Just look at her face!"

Watching Harrison shield Yvette behind him, Hazel’s lips curled into a mocking smile. "A misunderstanding? There are no misunderstandings between us. Yvette covets Aiden, and she wants to seduce him. If she didn’t learn that from her mother, who did she learn it from?"

"I did not!"

Hazel couldn’t be bothered to waste another breath on Yvette. She simply pulled out her phone, played the recording of Yvette and Jessica’s earlier conversation, and let it expose the lie without a moment’s hesitation.

This time, Harrison was left speechless. Aiden stood like a silent observer, having remained by Hazel’s side ever since they’d entered the room. Anyone could see whose side he was on.

Harrison snuck a glance at Aiden. Seeing him remain silent as Hazel produced a recording that proved Yvette not only had a crush on Aiden but also claimed Hazel had stolen him, Harrison, who was no fool, began desperately thinking of a way to defuse the tension. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

But Hazel just turned to Aiden and smiled. "It seems that being married to a man who’s too handsome really does cause a lot of trouble."

Aiden chuckled, his smile making him even more charming. "I can’t help it. I was born this way."

Hazel felt like she was going to throw up, disgusted by his narcissism.

The two of them acted as if no one else was in the room. Beside them, Yvette was practically going insane with jealousy, her hand secretly clenching into a tight fist as she held on to Harrison’s arm.*****