The Abandoned Wife Dumped Him First (Victoria and Elias) novel Chapter 135

Chuck remained silent for a few seconds before speaking slowly and deliberately.

"Lady Laurel, you can rest assured on that point. I serve the Old Master, and his health is my top priority. I am acting on his specific instructions, given before he lost consciousness. He wished for the Young Madam to be the first person he sees when he wakes up."

Laurel opened her mouth to argue further, but Chuck gave her no chance, continuing on.

"As for whether Victoria is the young madam of the Shawn family, that is not for me to decide, nor is it for you, Lady Laurel. Only the Old Master's word matters. As long as he recognizes her, she can be the young madam of the Shawn family, even if Mr. Elias has divorced her."

His words sent a collective gasp of shock through the onlookers.

On the face of it, Chuck was only talking about how much the Old Master doted on Victoria, but everyone heard the real message underneath: if Elias insisted on divorcing her, the head of the Shawn family might not stay Elias for long.

The threat couldn't have been more obvious.

Laurel's pupils widened, and she staggered back a couple of steps. "Impossible… The Old Master would never… Elias is his eldest grandson. How could he do this for an outsider…"

Chuck gave Laurel a dispassionate glance, then turned to the others. "Does anyone else have any objections?"

Everyone fell silent.

No one dared say a word. Everyone knew Chuck was only voicing what the Old Master already thought.

Unlike Laurel, whose son was currently the head of the Shawn family, they had no grounds to question Chuck's actions.

Seeing their silence, Chuck withdrew his gaze, turned to Victoria, and made a gesture for her to enter, leading her into the room.

Victoria was consumed with worry for Old Mr. Shawn's condition and had no interest in the Shawn family's power struggles. Once inside, she walked straight through the sitting area and into the bedroom.

She expected to see Old Mr. Shawn lying unconscious in his bed.

Instead, she looked up to find the large, two-meter-wide hospital bed empty. Old Mr. Shawn, dressed in a blue and white hospital gown and leaning on a cane, was standing by the floor-to-ceiling window. When he heard her come in, he turned around, his expression full of vigor, showing no trace of the frailness of an unconscious patient.

Victoria was stunned. She hurried forward. "Grandpa, are you… are you alright? How are you feeling? Should I call a doctor?"

"No, no, I'm fine," Old Mr. Shawn said with a smile.

Victoria looked him up and down, still not convinced. "But Chuck said you suddenly collapsed…"

She asked, "Grandpa, what exactly happened? If you're fine, why did you suddenly…"

Victoria trailed off. Even knowing Old Mr. Shawn was fine, she still found words like 'collapse' and 'hospitalized' to be unsettling.

Old Mr. Shawn grumbled and sat down on the sofa, leaning on his cane.

Chuck glanced at him before explaining, "It was Lady Laurel. After the Old Master returned, he found out that she had forced you to sign the divorce papers, so he confronted her about it."

Chuck didn't elaborate on how Old Mr. Shawn had questioned Laurel.

But hearing this much, Victoria already understood the gist of it.

Her guess was correct. Old Mr. Shawn's collapse was indeed related to Laurel. And given Laurel's personality, she certainly wouldn't have taken Old Mr. Shawn's questioning lying down. A few words would have led to raised voices and a full-blown argument.

"Ever since Claud's accident, when she couldn't accept reality and just abandoned Elias right after he was born, leaving without looking back and barely visiting him for over a decade, I knew she was selfish and irresponsible!

I know she resents me for forcing Elias to marry you and looks down on you. But out of consideration for the fact that she and Claud were newlyweds torn apart by tragedy, and that she never remarried all these years, I turned a blind eye to her petty squabbles with you. But now she's gone too far, even daring to force a divorce!"