Ch. 356..360: Divorced My Scum Husband, Married His Evil brother Chapter 356-360
Chapter 356
"Tch, this kid," Vernon clicked his tongue annoyedly. He didn't want to squabble with a little girl in public, so he simply picked her up and carried her with one arm.
"Whoa! Uncle is so tall! I feel like a giant!" Mackie commented. She was excited to be carried by his big bad Uncle because nobody had ever carried her so high above other people.
The moms were still staring, but none of them found this strange. After all, Vernon was Vincent Gray's little brother, and there was no news online about the separation between Vincent and his wife.
They were just a little jealous since that little girl had been blessed since birth. Mackenzie had a handsome billionaire father who loved her so much and a handsome up-and-coming multi-million Uncle who also wanted to pamper her.
'What a blessed child...' people thought collectively.
Vernon went inside his car and put Mackie in the passenger seat. He bucked her up and said, "We're going home."
Mackie had no suspicion toward her Uncle. But she still asked, "Uncle, what happened to Mommy? Is she okay?"
"Uh-huh, she's alright," Vernon replied lightly as his car left the school gate and entered the road. "She's just exhausted today. So she asked me to pick you up."
"Did Mommy puke again?" Mackie asked innocently. "Usually, Mommy would puke almost every day. It looks so scary, Uncle. She would fall to the ground for a long time! But she always said that she is alright and healthy...."
Vernon clenched the steering wheel. Whenever he was reminded of the abuse that Chloe experienced, his heart would tighten uncomfortably.
In fact, he blamed himself for not being able to protect Chloe sooner.
"Or maybe Mommy is blue-red again!"
"Blue-red?" Vernon frowned. "What's that?"
"Um, it's when Daddy plays with Mommy. Mommy would come out with a blue and red face!"
Vernon quickly caught what Mackie meant by blue-red. It was the bruise that Chloe experienced after being beaten by Vincent.
It was a horrible thing, but somehow, Mackie didn't seem to be bothered by it.
"Do you think it's alright for Mommy to play with your Daddy?" Vernon asked. He felt that Chloe tried to normalize the abuse she experienced to not stress Mackie out.
But it made the little girl ignorant of the real problem in her family. Who knew what kind of problem would come next because of this?"
"Umm..." Mackie hummed for a while and replied, "I don't like it! I don't like when Mommy plays with Daddy!"
"But Mommy always said that I shouldn't be angry at Daddy, because Daddy doesn't mean harm!"
"Motherfu--" Vernon almost cursed out loud when he heard that. But he zipped his mouth instantly.
He was so angry at his Big brother for being an abusive bastard. But he was also mad at Chloe for deluding her daughter into this mess.
'I don't know if it's her own decision, or it's because Vincent threatened her, but this is not right,' Vernon thought. He wanted to put some sense into Mackie's brain that what his Daddy did was completely wrong.
But he still needed Chloe's consent, 'After all, Mackie is her daughter. As much as I want to tell her something, I still have no right to do it unless Chloe is the one who did it.'
'But I have to pressure her later.'
Thus, Vernon put a note in his mind to talk to Chloe about this problem.
**
Vernon continued to drive through the city until they were stopped by a traffic light.
Mackie looked around, and her eyes were glimmering when she saw an ice cream parlor across the street. She slapped her Uncle's arm excitedly, "Uncle! Uncle!"
"What?"
"There! Let's buy ice cream before going home!" Mackie said.
"Huh? It's not safe to buy an ice cream in a random shop. I can order you the one made by a professional."
Mackie pouted upon hearing her Uncle's response, "I want that one! Mommy and I usually ate ice cream in that place, it's good, I tell you!"
...
Vernon felt Mackie would throw a tantrum if he didn't buy her that ice cream.
So he had to comply and turned to the left after the traffic light turned green.
He parked the car in front of the parlor. It seemed that they were the only customers there.
"Uncle, give me money! I'll buy it for you!"
"You can do that?"
"Of course!"
...
"Don't forget to say that you're going to take it home. Your Mommy is waiting."
"Okay!"
Vernon gave Mackie two 100-dollar-bill, and the little girl opened the car door.
Vernon slid his window down, observing the little girl as she entered the ice cream parlor and ordered the ice cream.
She seemed to be much more capable than Vernon gave her credit for.
Honestly, he didn't know much about Mackie because he was always busy at work. When they were home, they were always quarreling about the smallest thing.
But with this, he could catch a glimpse of young Chloe in that little girl.
Because the Chloe he knew was very independent. She was bright, active, and even chatty. Ever since he was a kid, he always saw his Big sis Chloe as a woman who could attract everyone to a party because of her beauty and bubbliness that was just so cute.
"But it was all gone...." Vernon murmured. "I can't believe that I missed such an obvious hint. Of course, that bubbly girl I grew up with is gone, she has been severely abused for years."
Mackie waved her hand at the familiar woman who ran the ice cream parlor and then returned to Vernon's car.
She sat on the passenger seat and buckled the seatbelt by herself. She put the ice cream box on her lap and hummed happily.
"Are we done?" Vernon asked. "Do you want to buy something else?"
"Umm... oh yes!" Mackie nodded excitedly. "I want to buy Mommy a new bag!"
Chapter 357
"I want to buy Mommy a new bag!"
"A new bag?"
"Un! Mommy's bag is ugly now! Let's buy her a new bag, Uncle!" Mackie said excitedly.
"Alright," Vernon agreed without hesitation. After all, he also wanted to buy Chloe something to make her happy. This would be the perfect opportunity, especially with Mackie, who might know more about her mother's taste.
Vernon drove through the city and stopped in front of Hermes' giant outlet. He parked his car and said, "We're here, let's go and buy something for your Mommy."
Mackie stared at the giant outlet with many blink-blink around, and she frowned dissatisfied, "Uncle, this is not Mommy's favorite store!"
"Huh? Your Mom have a favorite store?"
"Un!"
Vernon never knew that Chloe had a different taste. He thought she must be a regular for another fashion brand or maybe something quieter? After all, she didn't seem to be the one who would show off her wealth.
"Then tell me what's her favorite shop, we can go there."
"Umm…" Mackie tried to remember the name of the shops. Her Mommy often shopped in these two places, so Mackie read the big sign a few times.
"Co—Costco, and umm… ah! Target!" Mackie said excitedly. "Mommy usually buys her purse and everything there!"
Vernon almost jumped out of shock when he heard that.
"Your Mommy buys her stuff there?"
"Yes!"
…
Vernon remembered that Chloe never seemed to buy anything expensive, even with his credit card. She was only buying groceries and Mackie's stuff with his CC.
'Of course she bought stuff in Costco or Target, she has this weird fixation of buying cheap stuff for herself. Was it something related to Vincent again?' Vernon pondered. 'Besides, how am I supposed to see that she's wearing cheap stuff? She still looks beautiful, she looks like someone wearing quiet luxury goods!'
"Uncle, let's go!" Mackie urged.
"Let's not buy it today."
"Huh, why not?"
"I have something else for your Mommy," Vernon replied. "I will buy her something amazing, and it needs to be ordered first. So, don't tell your Mommy about it, okay?"
"Whoa! Uncle is so kind!" Mackie chirped happily. "Daddy never buy anything for Mommy, so Uncle will be the first!"
'There you go again, many cases of abuse spilled out of a little girl's innocent mouth….'
Vernon knew he still had a long way to go to make Chloe comfortable with him, especially after realizing how much he had yelled at and scared her.
"Let's go home, Uncle! The ice cream will melt!"
"Hm, let's buy something for dinner first," Vernon said.
"Mommy is not cooking?"
"Your Mommy is tired, remember? It's good to let her have a little rest."
**
Chloe was busy cleaning Vernon and Mackie's bedrooms in the late afternoon. She knew that Vernon told her to just sleep, or at least any kind of rest.
But she couldn't stay still. It was just not her blood to stay in place while the house was a mess.
After she finished Mackie's bedroom, she cleaned Vernon's bed.
She turned on the light, and the first thing she saw was many wet stains on the white bedsheet.
Her cheeks reddened instantly because she knew who and what caused the stain.
'Maybe I shouldn't use a white bedsheet for him, who knows what he will do next in this bed?' Chloe thought.
She took off the dirty bed sheet and replaced it with a new one, which was black this time.
She threw the dirty bedsheet in the laundry chute because Vernon had a cleaning staff for it.
After cleaning Vernon's room, she went out of the bedroom and bumped into Mackie and Vernon, who opened the main penthouse door.
Mackie's face brightened instantly. She shoved the ice cream box to her uncle and rushed to hug her Mommy.
"MOMMY!"
Chloe smiled and opened her arm. She hugged her daughter and asked, "Did you have a nice day at school, dear?"
"Mhm! I'm getting better at being a big bad wolf!" Mackie replied. "Oh, Mommy, Mr. Peterson said that I need to give you this—"
Mackie rummaged inside her bag and handed the parent attendance form to her Mommy.
Chloe obviously knew about it since it was a yearly activity, "Okay, Mommy will fill it out tonight, don't forget to send it back to Mr. Peterson tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay!"
"Take a bath first, then we can have dinner," Chloe said. Mackie happily hopped to her bedroom downstairs, leaving Chloe and Vernon together in the penthouse living room.
They stared at each other awkwardly and then tried to dodge each other's gazes.
Chloe was embarrassed because Vernon's words kept echoing in her head, giving her the courage to be a little bit reckless and preventing her from giving up.
If he hadn't called her at that vital moment, she would be in Vincent's mansion with Mackie right now.
Meanwhile, Vernon was embarrassed because of many things, mainly because he cried until his snot flowed from his nostril like a stinky kid this afternoon.
'Damn, I was so uncool..' Vernon thought.
Chloe was the first to break the silence between them, "Um… what's in your hand, Vernon?"
"Oh—!" Vernon quickly raised the ice cream box in his left hand and a bag of food in his right. "This is the ice cream that Mackie wants, and the other one is our dinner. You didn't cook anything today, right?"
"Not yet…"
"Well that's good, you need a rest," Vernon said. "Just tell me if you're too tired. I can cook, or I can always buy something from my favorite restaurant."
Vernon walked to the living room and put the food on the dining table. He also shoved the ice cream box in the freezer."
Chloe watched Vernon, who was busy setting up plates for the food on the dining table, and after he was done preparing dinner, he turned his head towards Chloe.
He stared at Chloe in silence, but Chloe knew he was waiting to be praised for his work.
Chloe smiled and walked towards Vernon. She patted his strong arm and said, "Thank you, big guy."
Chapter 358
Vincent returned after dusk since he still had plenty of meetings before returning to his office and then to his mansion.
He had already told Maria to meet him in his home office because he was curious about the recording.
'Well, if it's not worth my time, I might as well fire that old hag because she did something out of my instruction. A disobedient old mutt needs to get euthanized sooner or later.'
Vincent did his usual routine by taking a warm bath after work, wearing pajamas, and then eating dinner before throwing the food to the maid's or the cook's face.
Because none of them made a good dinner, no matter how many times Vincent beat them to do it better.
"Damn, how many times do I have to tell all of you incompetent dogs to make something similar to my wife's cooking? What's so difficult?! Why can't it taste the same?!" Vincent yelled after he threw all the plates on the floor.
The maids and cooks could only lower their heads out of fear. This job was too stressful for anyone, but the pay was too good for them to leave.
So they could only bear all the abuse while secretly hoping Mrs. Gray could return and protect them instead.
After all, Mrs. Gray would usually stop Master Gray from hurting the staff and let him vent on her instead.
'Yeah, life was good when she was around,' the staff thought in unison.
After Vincent calmed down, he went to his home office and worked on a few documents until he heard a knock on the door.
"Master, it's Secretary Maria. She said she has a report for you," the maid outside said.
"Let her in."
The door was opened, and Secretary Maria came in with a stack of documents and an iPad.
Maria walked with her chin up despite her age, arrogantly passing the young maid. She stood before her boss and put the document on the table.
But that wasn't the main reason for her arrival. She put the iPad right in front of Vincent. She said, "I have recorded my conversation with Mrs. Gray, both video and audio. You may check it first to see if it will have any use for you, Sir."
Vincent raised his brow. He was quite interested in her bold statement, "You will not apologize for what you did, Secretary Maria? You're acting without my order."
"What I am doing is to incentivise you, Sir," Maria replied firmly. She didn't have an ounce of fear in front of the obviously dangerous boss. "Maybe you will change on method of handling Mrs. Gray's disappearance after watching the video."
Vincent was not amused by how bold she replied to him. He never liked Secretary Maria because she acted as if they were equal, even if Vincent could ruin her life in a blink of an eye.
But she was still an incredibly competent secretary, and he was rational enough to know that he wouldn't be able to handle the work without Secretary Maria's help.
"Fine, but if it's not interesting, then I will punish you for this, you old hag."
Vincent tapped the screen and played the video.
The video was recorded from an angle where he could fully see Chloe's face. She was a lot healthier than the last time he saw her.
Her cheek was skill sunken, but she wasn't just flesh and bones these days.
Maybe in a year, Chloe would return to her old self when she was a ravishing young beauty in her early 20s.
A beauty that made everyone crazy for her, including Vincent.
She looked at Maria with eyes full of suspicion, but Maria ignored it and started the conversation.
Vincent completely ignored Maria's words as he deemed them unimportant, but he was shocked when Chloe opened her mouth.
-
"Rash and irrational? I think both of us know that Vincent is the most irrational man ever."
-
Vincent's eyes widened.
No, he wasn't all that surprised that Chloe hated him. After all, he did, it would be too delusional of him not to recognize the hatred and fear in her eyes.
But that didn't really matter.
He owned her, and that was all that mattered.
What really surprised him was the way she reacted. The old Chloe under him wouldn't dare raise her head or fight back. She could only cry and cower in fear, and it took Vincent many years to train Chloe until she became like that.
But she became healthier in just a few months and dared to talk back. Her voice was cold and loud as if she feared nothing.
The more he watched, the more he listened to how Chloe argued and retaliated.
And it was...
'Goddamn arousing and infuriating at the same time,' Vincent thought. He never realized he would be aroused when listening to Chloe, who retaliated.
The spark that had been lost for the past eight years suddenly returned, and now he realized what had been lost.
'So that's why I lost interest in her...' Vincent thought. 'Because she doesn't retaliate anymore....'
Vincent also continued watching, and he got even more infuriated by Chloe.
'Damn, I can't wait to silence her bold mouth. How dare she talk back like that? Did she think that she could fight me just because I let her free for a while?' Vincent smirked maliciously. 'I can't wait to see you retaliate as I make you beg for your life, Wife.'
-
"I never cheat on him, not even once I do have the idea about it. But even if I did, he has no right to call me out, because he fucked Priscilla in our marital bed!"
-
That last sentence before Chloe grabbed her bag and left struck Vincent in his pride. He scoffed, full of ridicule, "And what's wrong with that?"
Vincent looked up and asked Secretary Maria, "Can you believe what she just said? I have no right to call her out because I fucked that condom bitch on our bed? HAHA! That's funny!"
SLAM!
Vincent slammed the desk and roared;
"I AM VINCENT GRAY, I CAN DO WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT!"
Chapter 359
"I AM VINCENT GRAY, I CAN DO WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT!"
Vincent's thundering roar reached the ear of the maid guarding outside of Vincent's office. Her heart jumped, and her legs trembled instantly.
She was glad she wasn't inside the office when her Master was roaring. But still, her heart was filled with fear as she imagined Master Vincent Gray's malicious viper-like gaze. 'Oh my god, I don't know what will happen to that old woman. She might die out of a heart attack!'
She was afraid that the maids and security guards would have to carry out a dead old woman after this.
However, she was completely wrong about Maria. She was an old lady with a lot of experience with a megalomaniac like Vincent Gray.
Thus, when Vincent roared in front of her face, she didn't budge, and her cold heart was still beating regularly. She had expected everything out of his craziness.
'It's all in their blood,' Maria reminded herself.
After all, she had worked with Vaughn Gray for more than two decades and knew him well, and this kind of thundering roar full of pride was a regular behavior for them.
Besides, Vincent Gray was almost like his late father's carbon copy, at least Vaughn's version after he got married.
Because for a reason unknown, young, unmarried Vaughn was very similar to Vernon, but the married one was like Vincent.
'Well, that doesn't matter. That treacherous young man— Vernon Phoenix Gray, will turn out to be just like his Big brother after he gets married to a woman.'
Vincent glared at her with his viper-like gaze, waiting for Secretary Maria's response. She knew he was trying to intimidate her because he was now angry. So he simply wanted to find a random person he could abuse until he calmed down.
That role was usually filled by Chloe for years, until she decided to run away like an idiot.
But Maria wasn't the prey that he could bite. She gazed back with steadfastness. She showed no fear because she knew how to handle the Gray.
"Indeed, you can do whatever you want, Sir," Secretary Maria said calmly. "As you can see in that video, your wife dares to fight back, even raise her voice against me because she has been spoiled rotten by that bastard who made her a kept woman."
"A woman like her needs to be taught, so she will know her place. What you're doing right now is very destructive, Sir," Maria continued adding fuel to the fire. Her main objective was to stimulate her boss to at least do something.
"What would happen if you took too long to catch her? She will fight back until she has no more respect for you. She will be too difficult to handle."
Vincent listened to everything the old hag said, and the fire in his heart exploded instantly.
He felt humiliated and angry to the point that he couldn't even yell anymore.
So he scoffed, full of irony instead.
"Heh… do you think I can't handle a woman like her? She has been under my thumb for more then ten years—"
"—And she becomes unfettered after only six months outside," Secretary Maria interrupted.
Vincent gritted his teeth. He slammed the table again and pointed his index at her face, "DON'T YOU DARE UNDERESTIMATING ME! I WILL MAKE HER OBEY ME AGAIN AFTER SHE CRAWLS BACK!"
…
Secretary Maria thought that she had done her best to stimulate Vincent. Now he looked more like a crazed beast than a human.
"Then, Sir, do you want me to do something to catch her as soon as possible? I can do it," Maria offered.
Vincent calmed down after a while.
Honestly, he wanted to catch her and force her to crawl on his feet, making her cry and beg for her life because she had been trying to run away from him.
But since he found out that he got aroused seeing Chloe fight back, he had another idea in mind.
"Not now, Secretary Maria," Vincent replied firmly. "I will let her roam free for now, I want her to be healthy and return to her younger days, when she was a glamorous beauty."
"I want her to fight back," Vincent said, then a malicious smirk slowly appeared as he lowered his gaze to stare at Chloe's beautiful face on the iPad screen. He used his index to touch her cheek as if touching the real person.
There was a trace of insidiousness mixed with obsession in his eyes, "And I will have my fun, until she couldn't handle it anymore and begged to be spared. It's fun to make her cry."
…
…
Maria went silent as she was truly shocked by his answer.
No, she wasn't shocked when Vincent said all the horrible things he'd done to Chloe. After all, it was in his blood, and he had done it for the past ten years or so.
But what surprised her was him telling her to wait. She thought her boss would tell her to find that bitch Chloe Gray and bring her to him as soon as possible.
'Did I not stimulate him enough? I really thought we could just bring that spoiled woman back to his mansion and get this over with,' Secretary Maria pondered.
Vincent took a deep breath to calm himself down. He was overly stimulated with anger, but that only gave him an even crazier idea of what he would do to Chloe once she returned.
Vincent sat and leaned on his chair, "Send all of the video of her to my phone, then you can leave, Secretary Maria."
The old secretary was still confused about his reaction, "Sir, are you sure you don't want me to bring her back?"
"No need. I want her to grow first," Vincent replied. "I want to pluck her when she blooms beautifully, and then crush her with my feet. Did I make it clear or you have to be told like a kindergarten student?"
"… Yes, Sir, I understand…"
"Good, you can leave now."
Chapter 360
The old secretary nodded obediently. She grabbed her iPad from the desk and then pointed at the documents she had just bought, sitting at the edge of the desk.
"Sir, those are the documents you want. The legal contract between you and your little brother," Maria returned to her regular professional secretary persona. "Sir, are you sure that you want to work more with him?"
"Huh? Why not?" Vincent frowned. "He is my little brother, and you know how much I care for him. Besides, don't you see how good he is at handling the project I gave him? He is a talented young man."
…
'I still think he is treacherous. He wants something more from the Gray family,' Maria wanted to say that. But she knew that he'd only argue with her and even call her nosy for pestering about his relationship with his little brother.
So she would rather not waste her energy, 'I'll keep an eye on that young man. I have to make sure the company is safe.'
"Then, I will leave now, Sir. Please excuse me," Maria bowed respectfully.
"Mm, don't forget to send me all the videos."
"Certainly, Sir."
Maria turned around and left Vincent's office. She opened the door and saw the maid who was guarding the door look pale.
'Amateur,' Maria scorned. She walked through the corridor with sure steps as if she hadn't just heard Vincent roaring inside the office.
'It's all part of the job,' Maria told herself. 'I am a professional, so I dedicate everything for the sake of the company.'
Maria left Vincent's mansion and drove her car through the city. Her mind was filled with worry and disappointment.
"I don't understand Vincent," Maria murmured while driving. "I thought I did a great job to stimulate him. But why didn't he want her now?"
"Now the company will suffer. Vincent is not doing as great of a job as he would usually do. He might not admit it, but his mind is constantly filled with that selfish bitch Chloe Gray.'
Maria constantly worried about the company's performance. Vincent was an amazing CEO. He indeed deserved his position.
But he was prone to messing up when his mind was in chaos. Maria learned this by watching Vaughn.
Men from the Gray family had weird fetishes of their own. Vaughn Gray liked exhibitionism. It was his way to de-stress.
But he only liked to do it in front of his kids. So his kids were forced to watch him have intercourse with his mistresses.
Maria was surprised at first but soon grew detached from it.
"I guess Vincent also inherited some of that habit."
Vincent also liked to have sex with a new woman every week. But his fetish was to be watched by his wife. He said that Chloe was overreacting most of the time, crying hysterically until she fainted. He found it funny and somewhat cute.
"Well, they're weird, but it's not my place to judge," Maria said. "I just want the company to perform well until I decide to resign. After all, I've dedicated my life to work there."
For Maria, her work was her identity, and she took great pride in it.
So she would do anything for the company to perform well, including pushing a woman to suffer under her boss' hand.
She felt bad for Chloe, well, just a little.
Maria knew Chloe was a free woman who could do anything, such as leaving Vincent. But Maria found her to be egoistic for not wanting to sacrifice herself for the greater good.
"But she's just one woman. What's one woman's worth compared to the whole company?" Maria tried to justify her action. "She is the scapegoat, but she also helps the maids not to get yelled at by Vincent. She also helps him perform better in the office. She is helping everyone just by becoming Vincent's wife."
"Now she wants to ditch everything and potentially ruin the whole company that has been built for almost a century. She doesn't care about the lives she would ruin because of Vincent's poor performance at work."
"If she's really like the good-natured woman like what people said. She should've thought about other people's wellbeing as well. What would happen if the company went on a tough spot because of her, and the company would be forced to lay off thousands of employees?"
"What would happen to their wellbeing? They also have families to take care of. What a selfish bitch."
**
Vincent finished reading the documents that Maria provided. It was mostly just the legal documents about his project with Vernon.
But he also stumbled upon one document that the old hag might have intentionally put there as a warning.
It was about Gregory Maxwell's company.
Ever since Vincent halved the supply in half, Gregory had been scrambling, desperately trying to cover up for the extreme losses because his company would go bankrupt in a year or so if he couldn't find another project to cover up the expenses.
It was a strategy that Vincent used so Gregory Maxwell and the other millionaires he targeted would fight and accuse each other. They were convinced that one of them was hiding Vincent's wife as a mistress.
'And that plan is working too. A few of them are accusing each other and ruining their own business relationships, because they are afraid that I might ruin their lives.'
They also started calling Vincent, thinking they could save their asses by spilling the company secret to him, so they would be spared by the ever-powerful Vincent Gray.
And the one who reaped the most profit was obviously Vincent right now.
But there was another man who unknowingly made a deal with Gregory Maxwell.
It wasn't a big problem for Vincent since Gregory Maxwell was only used as an example to scare the other millionaires around New York. So it didn't matter if Gregory Maxwell had successfully saved his company.
What concerned him wasn't about that old man but this young man who dared to work with Mr. Maxwell.
"What are you trying to do, Little bro?"