"So you're pretending to be good friends now? Are you serious?" Laura was steaming mad, and her laugh was cold. "As far as I'm concerned, you're all tarred with the same brush. You're both unwanted, and you both deserve it."
She shoved Sheryl aggressively as she taunted her. Shirley was little, but the child was so determined to protect her mother that she rushed towards Laura and gave her arm a strong bite. "Bad woman, don't bully my mom," she glared up at Laura visiously as she yelled.
The pain was sharp, even if it was a child's attack. Laura was so enraged that she didn't think twice before pushing the Shirley with full force. Seeing his mother's actions, Anthony ran to Shirley to help her up and reassured her, "Shirley, are you hurt?"
"Don't touch me! Go away!" Shirley started thrashing about in Anthony's arms when she saw his face. She struggled against his hold. "You bad egg, let me go!"
"Shirley, what's the matter? It's me, Tony…" Anthony tried to calm Shirley down as he stared at her, dumbfounded and helpless.
With great effort, she finally broke away from him and rushed to hit Laura as strong as she could. She was still a kid, though. It barely affected Laura physically, but it did get her fuming. When Laura moved towards the kid in an attempt to hit her back, Sheryl intervened and stepped forward threateningly close to Laura. Her voice was dangerously low as she said, "If you dare do anything to harm my daughter, you are going to pay."
After giving her a long glare, she took Shirley up in her arms and widened her eyes at Anthony. "Anthony, I've been controlling my temper for your sake this whole time, and I'm done with it. I've called the police. I'm not tolerating any more of this. We should put this to a close, so just deal with this with the authorities."
"Sher, don't you think calling the police is a bit much?" Anthony heaved in resignation. He tried to pacify Sheryl's anger. "After all, she is my mother. If you really can't handle her anymore, then we can deal with it in confidence. Do you really need to go so far as calling the police?"
Sheryl smiled sardonically and scoffed, "You talk as if all you did was bump into me on the street. I've given you so many chances, Anthony, but you haven't truly done anything about your behavior, and it has brought too much mess into my life. I've had more than enough of all of you, and I'm not going to let you harass me anymore." She looked at him closely. "Going to the police will put an end to all this commotion."
Her voice went cold. "With the policemen as judges, I believe we can figure out who should be held accountable."
Laura scoffed, "Fine, go to the police then. Do you think that will scare me?" She gestured at the people around her. "This way, everyone will know what kind of person you are."
It was late past midnight, but Sheryl still accompanied Laura to the office after she called Nancy to take care of Shirley and bring her home.
Sheryl had already calmed herself down. Laura's personality was something no one should have to deal with, but it made Sheryl feel lucky that she had nothing to do with Laura any more as she had broken up with Anthony. Sue, who was following quietly behind Laura, took a small step back to whisper to Sheryl, "Sher, I'm so sorry about..." Her voice trailed off. "I'm so sorry about what happened. I didn't think she would really…"
"Stop," Sheryl cut in. With a wry smile, she continued, "From the first day I met Laura, I knew what kind of person she is." She shook her head and sighed. "I just want to be done with this. I don't want to get involved in any other things."
She glanced at Sue and added, "But Sue, I have to remind you that, no matter how much you love Anthony, his mother is a difficult woman to agree with. There's no doubt she'll make your life difficult if you were to marry Anthony. I suggest you think more carefully about this before deciding."
Sue wore a sad smile. "How could I not know what kind of person she is? I'm not like you. I don't have a decent family or a Charles that will love me. I've considered it carefully. All I know is that I love Anthony. If I marry him and enter the Xiao family, Laura will have to realize my sincerity eventually as long as I stay devoted to her son."
Sheryl sighed deeply, no longer wanting to lengthen the conversation. "I hope things work out the way you want them to." In her head, though, she couldn't believe that Laura would cave at all. She wouldn't change, and Sue would be likely to suffer more because of Laura later on.
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