Clarissa, who lived the closest, rushed to the hospital the moment she got the news. Hearing that her mother had collapsed from a burst capillary in her brain, Clarissa's first instinct was to blame Scarlett.
She grabbed Yardley by the sleeve. "What is Scarlett trying to do now? Is she trying to drive us all into early graves?! Where is your backbone, Yardley?! How are you letting a woman walk all over you like this? Be a man and fix this mess!"
Yardley's expression was grim. "Enough. Stop blindly blaming Scarlett for everything. Mom is in the hospital because of Aunt Gwen."
Clarissa's eyes went wide. "Aunt Gwen? Impossible. Mom and Aunt Gwen have the tightest bond in all of Bay City. How could she put Mom in the hospital? Tell me exactly what happened."
Rubbing his temples, Yardley gave Clarissa the full rundown of the night's events. Hearing the whole story, Clarissa was absolutely livid. She wanted to march right over to Sylvia and Gwen and beat them senseless.
"Are they completely brain-dead?! Do they not think before they act?!" Clarissa fumed. "And you're telling me Aunt Gwen has been conning Mom out of millions for 'investments' that she blew entirely? And to top it off, she secretly recorded Mom to drag her down with her?!"
Clarissa's entire worldview was shattered. The unbreakable family loyalty she had always believed in now felt like a repulsive joke.
"I can't believe this... our own aunt! Mom did everything for her. She practically raised Sylvia! And in return, Aunt Gwen played her like a fiddle! This is unbelievable! We treated Sylvia like gold, and look how she repays us! If we had shown even a fraction of that kindness to Scarlett, maybe she wouldn't have pushed us to the absolute brink."


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