"Well, Aunt Claire, don't admonish Moore anymore.He's back now, isn't he?" Michelle defended Moore
with an easy smile.
"Oh, my Chelle.You can't always defend him.He might get used to having his way."
Claire pretended to be angry as she tapped on Michelle's nose gently.How could she be mad at her
loving niece?
"Well, mom, Michelle told you she divorced Gerard.Actually, I already knew about it even before,"
Moore admitted to his family.
Michelle gasped in shock at his unexpected words.
"How did you find out?"
Meanwhile, several pairs of eyes stared at Moore in surprise and interest, all of them encouraging him
to continue.Moore nodded, took a sip of water, and recounted the past events.
"You heard it right.I came across the Greenwoods in a hotel a few days ago.I overheard them talking
about it.And I also found out that they were planning to marry our Chelle to a forty-year-old man, whose
wife has passed away!"
Moore grew angrier the more he thought about it.
If he hadn't accompanied his clients to dinner that day, he wouldn't have heard what the Greenwoods
was scheming, nor would he have learned that Michelle was divorced.
What enraged him the most was that they were still trying to take advantage of Michelle by marrying
her off to a man who was old enough to be her father.
The whole Greenwoods would stop at nothing to cause harm and it was good timing that Moore had his
entire family, including Michelle, in the house to discuss it.
"When exactly did you hear about this? Were you aware of it too, Chelle?" David asked in a voice full of
concern.
The Greenwoods had gone too far this time.
They treated Michelle as if they owned her and made her do whatever they pleased, regardless of her
happiness! They couldn't let this go on any further.
The Mills family would do whatever was needed to protect Michelle.
Upon realizing what Moore's story meant, Angie felt her anger rise to a fever pitch.
She was willing to march to the Greenwood's house right at that moment to fight them for her
granddaughter's sake.
"Chelle, tell us exactly what that awful family has done to you.We will do our best to make them pay!"
she exclaimed as her eyes burned with suppressed rage.
"Grandpa, grandma, listen to me." Michelle looked around her family as she spoke calmly.
She really appreciated their care and love for her, but she didn't want them to have unnecessary
conflicts with the Greenwoods so she decided to come clean and tell them the truth.
"It's a two-way street since I also used Gerard.At the back of my mind, I already expected that he would
divorce me shortly after we got married.Since I was just a dispensable pawn to the Greenwoods, they
wouldn't care if we got divorced.It would only mean I can get away from their control without so much
fuss," Michelle shared matter-of-factly.
"Sure enough, when Gerard got the approval he was waiting for, he filed for divorce and I agreed
willingly.It was generous of him to provide me a hefty amount of alimony.What I didn't expect was that
Clay was planning to marry me off to the old man Dustin," she continued to explain and she looked up
to her relatives to see their reaction.
"Chelle, why did you have to resort to that? Is that how you think of marriage, a mere game that you
can call for a timeout when one of you was done? You and Gerard were brought up from different
backgrounds.Why are you foolishly willing to be used by the Greenwoods? If you have any difficulty
with money, you could let us know and we will help you through it," Claire cried out in reply.
She didn't expect to hear those words from Michelle and it was heartbreaking to learn the truth.
‘‘Why is she so stubborn? Why did she let those people use her? Didn't she value herself enough?’’
Claire still wanted to voice out these questions but she chose to keep them to herself.
Michelle shook her head gently to disagree.
"Aunt Claire, I have no difficulty at all and I didn't do it to repay the Greenwoods for raising me
either.Everything I did was for my mother.In fact, Clay promised me that if I married Gerard, he would
acknowledge her as their daughter-in-law.This way, my mother's remains could be buried together with
my father's in the ancestral tomb of the family!" Michelle finished her side of the story.
If she could go back, she would do it all over again to honor her mom.
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda