The Real Heiress Is Coming Back (Hannah Carter) novel Chapter 31

Chapter 31

The next morning, Hannah was heading downstairs with her canvas bag when Lucian happened to be talking to Dorian about yesterday’s forum incident.

Susie stared wide-eyed at Lucian, clearly warning him.

But Lucian acted like he didn’t see a thing, even showing Dorian the screenshots he had opened.

Susie’s expression was a mix of anger and feigned innocence; she looked both furious and pitiful at the same time.

Dorian saw this, and his face darkened like ink. “Susie, how could you do something like this?”

The night before, he had apologized and even bought drinks to smooth things over with the reporters, trying to stop them from publishing the news.

Dorian got home at three a.m., only to find out that Aurelia had fainted from hearing that Hannah had cheated. He rushed to the hospital to keep vigil.

He hadn’t slept all night and was just waiting for dawn when Felicity went to the hospital to take over.

When Dorian returned home, he hadn’t even had breakfast yet before being told that Susie was still stirring up trouble on the school forum about the scandal from yesterday.

Dorian’s temper flared instantly. “Do you want to make this mess even bigger?”

Susie trembled in fear.

“Dad, it wasn’t me who posted that. My account was hacked. I’m sorry I didn’t notice sooner,” Susie said.

She knew Dorian would respond better to softness than harshness, so she put on a pitiful act and kept explaining, “Jasper already cleared this up on the forum last night.”

Sure enough, the moment Dorian saw her act, his anger softened.

Of course, the mention of Jasper was the key.

“You lost such an important personal account? You’re the Scott family heiress, Jasper’s future wife. You represent the Scott family’s reputation.

“Whether it was you or not, your account was used. People saw it. What kind of image does that give?” Dorian spoke sharply, but his tone wasn’t as fierce as before.

“I understand, Dad. I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful from now on,” Susie obediently admitted.

She knew Dorian didn’t care about the truth; he only cared about the Scott family’s reputation and interests.

‘I should’ve never given Lucian that fifteen thousand dollars yesterday,’ she thought, shooting a secret glare at him.

“Alright, stop hanging around those messy forums. If you have time, go to more high-class parties; that’s where a Scott heiress belongs,” Dorian waved his hand dismissively.

“Okay, Dad,” Susie replied.

Standing at the staircase, Hannah watched the whole biased double-standard scene coldly.

Though she never had much hope for this family from the start, seeing such blatant favoritism still stung her heart.

Lucian, seeing the issue brushed off so easily, suddenly felt defeated, and unfairness toward Hannah sparked inside him.

Before, when he had only heard that Hannah had skipped a test, Dad had lost his temper and wanted to punish her.

Now, Susie was spreading rumors on the forum that Hannah had cheated and even insulted people, but Dad only said a couple of words to her and let it slide.

‘Dad’s so biased,’ he thought.

He wasn’t taking Hannah’s side; he had accepted her money and sworn to make Dad punish Susie.

But the whole drama ended before it even started, which made Lucian’s reputation look bad.

“Dad, are you just going to let this go?” Lucian asked stubbornly.

“Susie actually insulted you and Hannah on the forum. Aren’t you going to teach her a lesson?” Lucian wanted to tease Hannah, but when he saw her walking over, he suddenly changed his tone.

“Do you think this isn’t serious enough?” Dorian snapped.

He caught a glimpse of Hannah calmly sitting at the dining table, eating breakfast like an outsider. His anger flared again instantly.

“You still have the nerve to come down for breakfast? Go back to your room and think it over. Don’t come out without my permission,” Dorian ordered.

“Why?” Hannah looked at him coldly.

She showed no sign of regret.

Dorian was so furious that he flipped the dining table over.

He snapped, “Why? If you hadn’t cheated, would the Scott family have embarrassed itself so badly in Cavalor?

“Would I have had to grovel to those reporters? Would our villa have been mortgaged to the bank with no money to redeem it? And would your grandmother be in the hospital?”

The sudden overturning of the table made Susie scream in shock, and food spilled everywhere.

Lucian got drenched in pasta sauce and was about to complain when he noticed Hannah quickly snatch up her canvas bag nearby, nimbly avoiding the spilled food without a single drop touching her.

Compared to her, he looked utterly miserable.

“What are you doing with your bag?” Dorian finally noticed the canvas bag in Hannah’s hand, the same one she had brought out from the slum.

“I’m going to stay at school so you won’t get so worked up every time you see me. Watch out, you might get so angry you shorten your own life,” Hannah said coldly.

Dorian’s eyes bulged in rage.

“Hannah, how can you curse your own father?” Susie said.

Only Lucian looked at Hannah with admiration. ‘Impressive. My sister actually dared to talk back to Dad,’ he wondered.

Dorian had a notoriously bad temper, and in the Scott family, no one dared to defy him.

“If there’s nothing else, I’m heading to school,” Hannah said, uninterested in continuing the argument, and turned to leave.

“Stop right there. Who permitted you to leave? You still dare to go to school? If Mr. Croft hasn’t dealt with you, do you really think the Croft family is easy to mess with?

“You’re not going anywhere. Come back here.” Dorian shouted, furious beyond measure, but Hannah didn’t

turn back.

He felt his authority as head of the family was once again being seriously challenged, and yet he was powerless to stop her.

“Dad, don’t be angry. Be careful not to damage your health,” Susie stepped forward to comfort him. “Hannah’s behavior is way over the line, and now she’s running away from home on purpose.

“Ever since she came back, our family hasn’t had a single peaceful day. Maybe we should just send her back to

the slum.”

Smack.

Before Susie could finish her sentence, Dorian slapped her across the face.

“Dad?” Susie covered her burning cheek, confused as she stared at him.

“Don’t ever bring that up again,” Dorian scolded sharply.

Susie wanted to use Dorian as a weapon to push Hannah out of Brynlock, but she was too impatient and accidentally stepped on a mine, right at the barrel of the gun.

Dorian valued reputation above all else. Saying those things now was basically exposing the fact that he couldn’t control Hannah, that she repeatedly challenged the head of the family’s authority.

Besides, the Scott family had only officially announced they adopted Hannah less than a month ago, and now abandoning her would damage their reputation even more, not to mention, Hannah was their biological daughter.

“Yes,” Susie answered pitifully, her eyes filled with resentment.

Hannah called a car and stepped out into the yard. The car had already arrived.

She opened the back door and paused when she saw the man sitting in the driver’s seat, about to get in.

He turned his head, a face with sharp, defined features, framed by gold-rimmed glasses that partly hid his piercing eyes. Under his prominent nose, thin lips curved into a faint smile.

Though he was smiling, there was a coldness about it, hardly a genuine expression of warmth.

It was Barnaby.