Chapter 49: Many Things in Life Cannot Be Avoided
Chapter 49: Many Things in Life Cannot Be Avoided
“Please come in, Ms. Barrymore.” Eric expressionlessly let Jaid inside, closed the gate, and walked straight toward the villa.
Jaid quickened her pace to follow behind Eric, but her eyes unconsciously drifted toward everything surrounding the mansion. When she saw the luxurious modern-style villa, intense envy appeared in her gaze.
Although Drew was very famous, because of her age restrictions, there were not many suitable roles for her. After starring in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, she had only acted in four or five movies sporadically, and her pay had never been high. The money she earned was barely enough for Jaid’s own extravagant spending, let alone enough to buy such a luxurious mansion.
Moreover, in the past two years, her daughter’s sense of self had grown stronger and stronger, and their relationship had worsened more and more. Jaid knew it would become increasingly difficult to rely on her daughter to make money through movies. Therefore, when someone approached her about suing Eric, Jaid barely hesitated before agreeing.
The other party had promised that as long as she signed the lawsuit documents in her capacity as Drew’s guardian, she would receive a sum of money. She would not even need to appear in court personally, since everything would be handled by a representative lawyer. Faced with such a good deal that practically fell from the sky, how could greedy Jaid possibly let it go?
Pushing open the villa door and entering the living room, Drew, who had been sitting on the sofa and heard the sound, turned her head. The smile on her face melted away like snow on a stove the moment she saw her mother. After her expression rapidly shifted several times, Drew still could not suppress the anger in her heart. She sprang to her feet, grabbed a throw pillow, and hurled it at Jaid while screaming, “What are you doing here?!”
The pillow flew a bit off target. Eric reacted quickly and caught it in his hand, glaring at Drew. “Drew, stop fooling around.”
Although Jaid did not dare act arrogantly in front of Eric, she had far fewer scruples toward her daughter and snapped, “You little brat, how dare you throw things at me? Look at yourself now. I’m your mother. Of course I’m here to take you home.”
“How ironic.” Drew waved her hands and pointed at Jaid. “There were so many times before when I didn’t come home all night. One time I even got drunk and the police picked me up off the roadside in the middle of the night and sent me home. Why didn’t I see you coming to find me back then? But now you suddenly remember you’re my mother? Ha, what a joke.”
Jaid retorted, “And whose fault was that if not yours for being disobedient? If you’d just stayed at home properly, would those things have happened? Also, what happened to the house? You ruined several bedsheets, do you know that? Don’t those things cost money? Come back with me. I’ll settle accounts with you once we get home.”
As she spoke, Jaid stepped forward and tried to grab Drew.
Hearing Jaid’s words, Eric frowned slightly. The white bandages on Drew’s knees were so obvious, yet Jaid ignored them completely and instead fussed over a few bedsheets. It made Eric feel a deep sense of disgust.
Drew circled around the sofa, dodging her mother’s grasping hands as she shouted, “In your dreams. I’m not going back with you. I already know what you’re trying to do. I love Eric, but you’re trying to frame him with other people just for money. I’ll never forgive you. I’m cutting off our mother-daughter relationship.”
“You… what nonsense are you talking about?!” Suddenly exposed, Jaid froze in place and glanced guiltily at Eric, momentarily at a loss.
Seeing her mother stunned, Drew sneered. “What’s wrong? Feeling guilty now that you’ve been exposed? Leaving aside the fact that Eric never had a relationship with me, even if we had, I still wouldn’t admit it when the time comes. If you dare sue Eric, I’ll testify in court that you made a false accusation. Just wait to go to prison.”
Seeing that Drew was about to say even harsher things, Eric quickly interrupted at the right moment. “Enough, Drew. Go upstairs first. I want to talk to your mother alone.”
Drew glared at Jaid and snorted coldly once more before turning and walking toward the stairs.
“Please sit, Ms. Barrymore. Let’s talk.” Eric placed the throw pillow back on the sofa and sat down casually.
Jaid lowered her head slightly as she sat opposite Eric. After hearing her daughter’s words just now, she suddenly felt the money was not going to be so easy to earn. Originally, Jaid had assumed Drew’s relationship with Eric would be just like the useless friends Drew had hung around with before. She thought that after some persuasion and temptation with money, Drew would agree to testify against Eric.
But Drew’s intense reaction just now made Jaid realize her daughter had fallen in love with the man before her and was already unable to pull herself out. In all their previous arguments, Drew had never once said something as ruthless as severing their mother-daughter relationship.
More importantly, even if suing Eric ended in losing the case, Jaid originally believed she would not suffer any losses. But Drew had just said she would testify in court that her mother framed Eric. That charge could be either light or serious, but with the wealth and status of the young man in front of her, would he really let her off easily?
Thinking of this, Jaid could not help shivering.
Seeing Jaid struggling internally, Eric revealed a cold smile and asked, “So, Ms. Barrymore, you heard what Drew said just now. Are you still determined to continue?”
Jaid remained silent.
“Fine, then I’ll say it myself. Perhaps the other party already gave you money, but I’m not someone who can be manipulated so easily. Just like Drew said, this is false accusation. I can completely send you to prison in return, and those people who instigated you into doing this stupid thing will definitely abandon you as a disposable pawn when the time comes. Next, Drew will become an adult soon. Because of resentment, she’ll very likely sever ties with you completely. Do you know what that means?”
Across from him, Jaid nodded subconsciously, then quickly shook her head.
Eric continued, “It means your most important source of income will be completely cut off. And as far as I know, you don’t really have any means of making a living. Most likely, you’ll spend the rest of your life in poverty and hardship. You may even end up in the slums of Los Angeles.”
Imagining that terrifying future, Jaid weakly argued, “N-No, that’s impossible. She can’t do that to me. I raised her.”
“So what? Over all these years, hasn’t Drew earned enough money for you already? She doesn’t owe you anything. Even if you bring this matter to the media, with the things you’ve done, not many people will sympathize with you.”
Jaid once again found herself speechless. Eric let her calm down for a while before asking, “Did you already take their money?”
Jaid weakly shook her head. “They said they’d only pay me after I signed the lawsuit papers.”
Eric nodded with satisfaction. “That’s good. Everything can still be salvaged. So now, I’ll give you another choice. Go back and immediately reject those people. I’ll give you a sum of money first, but you must promise not to disturb Drew anymore in the future. I’ll find her an agent who’ll be responsible for arranging her life. And after Drew becomes an adult, I’ll persuade her to give you a support payment every year, enough for you to live a respectable middle-class life.”
After speaking, Eric took out his checkbook. Once he filled in the amount, he pushed it toward Jaid.
Jaid glanced at the amount on the check, and greed flashed in her eyes. She reached out slightly, then quickly withdrew her hand again and greedily said, “Mr. Williams, isn’t one million a little too little?”
Eric snorted coldly. “It is a little too little. Perhaps I should replace it with a check for five hundred thousand instead.”
Jaid instantly snatched up the check and stuffed it into her clothes.
“Good. Since you’ve already made your choice, there are still a few things I need to say. First, in the future, you are not allowed to make money in Drew’s name anymore. That includes revealing Drew’s private life to reporters, appearing on television programs, publishing books about Drew, and so on. I’ll have my private lawyer draft a legally binding contract. Once you violate the agreement, then everything I said today becomes void. And every cent you received, you’ll have to spit it all back out.”
Jaid quickly weighed the pros and cons. The things Eric prohibited did not seem capable of earning her much money anyway, so she quickly nodded.
“Then, Ms. Jaid, you may leave now. I’ll have the lawyer draft the contract as soon as possible.”
Jaid smilingly said several polite farewell phrases. She no longer paid any attention to Drew and hurriedly left.
After seeing Jaid off and returning to the living room, Eric found Drew had already come downstairs. Upon seeing him, the girl rushed over, excitement on her face as she rubbed herself against him. “Eric, you’re so generous. A million dollars. I belong to you now.”
Eric rubbed Drew’s head and smiled. “You’re not a doll. You’re still yourself. But remember, kiddo, you owe me a million dollars now. You’ll still have to pay it back someday.”
Drew shamelessly replied, “I’m not paying it back. I’ve decided to use myself to settle the debt. I don’t mind being a doll.”
Eric flicked her forehead. “Stop talking nonsense. Did you order the takeout earlier?”
“I did,” Drew replied. “Eric, why did you say just now that I should give that… her a support payment every year in the future? I don’t want to care about her at all. Letting her die poor would be best.”
Eric sighed lightly and rubbed the girl’s head. Drew was only thirteen or fourteen years old after all, so her thinking was inevitably somewhat extreme. She did not yet understand that this world had its own rules, and people could not simply act according to their likes and dislikes.
In his previous life, even after clearly severing his father-daughter relationship with his own father, Drew had still given him a support payment every year. The Drew of that time was probably what true maturity looked like.
“You’ll understand in the future, Drew. This is a kind of… fate. In this lifetime, there are many things people simply cannot avoid.”
Drew nodded half-understandingly. Soon, she became excited again. “Eric, can I live at your house from now on?”
Eric shook his head. “Drew, you should go back to school. I plan to find you a boarding high school. After everything that’s happened, how long has it been since you last attended class?”
“No way, Eric. I get headaches whenever I see textbooks. Can’t I just keep acting in movies?”
“No,” Eric refused. “At the very least, you have to finish high school. Whether you like it or not, it’s still a kind of experience. Besides, your current age is awkward. There aren’t many movies suitable for you.”
“Fine, I’ll listen to you then.” Drew quickly accepted Eric’s arrangement while secretly planning that skipping class sounded wonderful.