Chapter 7

Hector's voice successfully dragged Sheila back to her senses. Her anger was extinguished like water on flames, and she abruptly halted. At the same time, the commotion finally attracted the attention of the people in the manor. Adam came out and approached them. "What's going on here?" As the current president of Jensen Corporation, Adam constantly appeared in newspapers and magazines. Sheila recognized him immediately and forgot about dealing with Shannon. She beamed and turned to Adam. "Mr. Jensen, I'm Sheila White. My husband is Francis Gray, the president of Gray Corporation. I'm so glad to see that you're at home; I was worried you were out." Adam's gaze traveled between Shannon and Sheila. His expression remained aloof as he said, "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Gray. Did you come over because you had something to say?" With his status, there was no need for him to be so polite with anyone, and he himself wasn't the type that liked to waste time on pleasantries. Still, he knew Sheila was from the Gray family and had raised Shannon, so he forced himself to be patient. He thought Sheila was there to tell them about Shannon's habits and such. Sheila had no idea what he thought. All she knew was that her ego was very much stroked when she heard Adam ask whether she had something to say. He was the president of Jensen Corporation, yet he wanted to hear what she had to say! It was evident how important Gray Corporation was to him. Her anger from Shannon's retaliation finally dissipated, and she even puffed out her chest. "I do have a few things to say, actually." She gave Shannon a smug look and pulled Rachel over. "Mr. Jensen, this is my daughter, Rachel Gray." Rachel quickly said politely, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Jensen." Sheila said, "Here's the situation. I know that the construction of Seastone City's landmark has already concluded, and the government intends to pick eight students from the four most prestigious universities in the city as ambassadors for the city's image. "As ambassadors, they'll need to film a promotional video for the city. I also know that the final name list will be submitted by Jensen Corporation." She paused, then continued, "Due to certain reasons, the slot that should've been Rachel's was taken away by someone else. That's why I came over—I hope Jensen Corporation will help me switch that person out and put Rachel's name on the list. It's a simple matter, really." Adam frowned slightly. He knew about this matter but hadn't asked much about it because Adrian was the one handling it. He actually didn't like people pulling strings and using connections to get their way, but he decided to give Sheila some leeway since she was from the Gray family. He would consider this a way of repaying them for raising Shannon. At that thought, he said, "Who took your daughter's slot? I'll have my secretary look into it." "It's Shannon," Sheila said almost immediately. Adam paused while pulling out his phone. He looked up at her, evidently taken aback. "Who did you say it was?" "Shannon. Shannon Gray," Sheila repeated. She thought he didn't get what she meant, so she pointed at Shannon and said, "I'm talking about her. She used to be my adoptive daughter, but she's actually an ingrate. She has a bad temper and is a compulsive liar. "I didn't expect her biological parents to be working at the Jensen residence. It's not that I want to badmouth a child, but people are born with fixed personalities. No matter how hard I tried to pull her back onto the correct path, she just wouldn't listen. You really can't force these things…" Sheila went on and on as she badmouthed Shannon. Hector's expression turned stormy as he listened to her ramble. Now, he knew what Shannon had meant when she'd said Sheila and Rachel had been trying to make her look bad. Thomas and Carla were stunned. They couldn't help thinking that something was wrong with Sheila for her to talk bad about Shannon to Adam's face. Shannon was already used to Sheila slandering her. It hadn't bothered her even as Sheila had rambled to Thomas earlier. But now that Sheila was doing it to Hector's and Adam's faces, Shannon couldn't help getting mad. These were her family members, and they'd just acknowledged her presence among them. She'd just started harboring hope for her family to love her, yet Sheila was ruining everything. Why was it that she just couldn't allow Shannon to have something nice in life? Didn't Sheila know what her words would make people think of Shannon? She knew, of course, but she didn't care. She just purely wanted everyone to despise Shannon. This was the way things had been even during Shannon's childhood. If any teacher displayed a liking for her and praised her, Sheila would do everything she could to ruin the teacher's impression of Shannon and make the teacher think Shannon was a bad child. The teachers probably didn't expect any mother to badmouth their child, so they believed Sheila and thought Shannon was a bad child. Why had Sheila done this? Because the more the teachers despised Shannon, the better Rachel would seem in comparison. Later, Shannon got used to Sheila's dislike and slander of her. Shannon clenched her fists tightly. Ultimately, she lost control as she listened to Sheila's chatter. "Shut up!" "Shut up!" Two voices rang out at the same time. Shannon turned to look at the other person who'd spoken—Adam. His expression was frosty. He already looked like the cold, stoic type to begin with, so his frosty expression added to his dominance. Sheila was so frightened that she immediately shut up. Adam stared her down and said, "As an outsider, you have no right to comment on a daughter of the Jensen family. Thomas, see them out!" Sheila was stunned by his sudden change in attitude and didn't really catch him saying that Shannon was a daughter of the Jensen family. She wanted to ask about what had happened, but Thomas was already ushering her and Rachel out. Adam watched them leave before turning to Shannon. He asked, "Is that how the Gray family's treated you this whole time?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he pursed his lips, feeling like he'd asked a dumb question. If Sheila could talk bad about Shannon like that when he was around, who knew how much worse the Gray family had been to her in private! He thought Shannon would've at least been well taken care of at the Gray family, but it turned out the Gray family were all pieces of trash! The more Adam thought about it, the angrier he became. He turned to Hector and growled, "Call your Uncle Adrian and tell him to call off the project with Gray Corporation!" He'd only instructed his subordinates to give Gray Corporation the deal because he wanted to repay the Gray family for raising Shannon. The contract had been drafted to give Gray Corporation the best benefits possible—not only would the business deal bring the company billions of dollars in profit, but it would also help the Gray family climb the social ladder. But now that Adam knew what the Gray family had really been like to Shannon, there was no way he would continue giving them preferential treatment. They didn't deserve it! It was only then that Hector smiled again. He pulled out his phone and said, "Got it." Shannon watched Adam dazedly as he got mad. When she lowered her gaze, she didn't realize there was a small smile on her lips. Hector and Adam didn't seem to be the same as the Gray family. It was… great. … Sheila and Rachel were unceremoniously evicted from the Jensen residence. They still didn't understand why Adam had suddenly flown into a rage. And what had he meant earlier? A daughter of the Jensen family? Who was that? Thomas noticed how they had yet to process the situation and wondered how stupid they could be. The fact that they'd raised Shannon was more than enough for the Jensen family to treat them well to repay them. Yet they were still unaware that the person they thought was an ingrate was a member of the Jensen family. As a butler, he paid great attention to his professionalism. He wouldn't easily snap at someone or mock anyone behind their backs. And so, he decided to politely give Sheila and Rachel a pointer. He said, "Mr. Jensen's daughter went missing 18 years ago, and today's the day of her return. It's only natural that he won't stand for anyone talking about her. Unfortunately, the Jensen residence is unable to welcome you today, so please leave." With that, he turned and signaled for the gates to be closed, leaving Sheila and Rachel standing on the other side. They looked gobsmacked. Sheila held onto Rachel's arm and asked dazedly, "W-What did he just say, Rachel? The daughter of the Jensen family? Who?" Rachel couldn't believe her ears, either. Or rather, she refused to believe them. "No, it can't be. We must've misheard them." There was no way Shannon was the daughter of the Jensen family. It was impossible! It couldn't be her! Sheila slowly turned to look at Rachel. After a while, her legs gave out, and she almost collapsed to the ground. "We're done for. We're doomed!"