Chapter 103
Ella quickly shook off the thoughts in her head.
She couldn't imagine that the man from that night four years ago could be Joshua.
She must be wrong.
She had to be wrong.
"Ella, are you okay?"
Seeing her looking dazed, Zachary came over to ask.
Ella shook her head. Looking at Dorian lying by her leg, she suddenly wanted to verify again whether this child was actually Joshua's.
She reached out and gently placed her hand on Dorian's head, pulling out a few strands of his hair.
Dorian felt the pain and scrunched up his little face to ask her, "Mommy, why did you pull my hair?"
Ella comforted him, "I'm sorry, Mommy didn't mean to."
She got up and went to the bathroom, carefully wrapped the hair, planning to get Joshua's hair later for a paternity test, just to put her mind at ease.
Especially when she thought about how Aurora kept wanting her daddy before she died, and how she had let them grow up without a father's love all these years, she felt more and more guilty.
If she could really find the children's father, it would at least give them an answer.
"Ella, are you really okay?"
At the door, Zachary's concerned voice came again.
Ella composed herself and opened the door to go out.
She told Zachary, "I'm fine, but I need to leave again. Can you keep looking after Dorian for me?"
Zachary agreed without hesitation, "No problem having Dorian with me. I'm just worried about you. I'm afraid that Scarlett might harm you, and I'm afraid Joshua will hurt you again."
Ella was taking a risk by going to find evidence that Scarlett had kidnapped Aurora.
He was really afraid that she wouldn't find the evidence and would get hurt instead.
He couldn't lose her again.
"I'll take care of myself. If they try to harm me, wouldn't that work in my favor?"
Ella returned to Dorian's side and pulled him close, "Dorian, be good and stay with Zachary, okay? Mommy will come back to be with you after I finish what I need to do."
Dorian nodded obediently, "But Mommy, don't make me wait too long. I'll worry if I can't see you."
"Okay, Mommy will try to call you all the time, and come see you whenever I'm free."
She bent down and kissed Dorian.
As she was about to leave, Zachary picked up Dorian to see her off, "I'm not comfortable with you going alone. Let me drop you off and then bring Dorian back."
Ella didn't refuse.
At the hospital.
Joshua saw Scarlett with her face and head wrapped in white gauze.
She looked pretty badly hurt.
Before he even walked over, Scarlett cried out to him, "Joshua, I don't know why Ella went crazy again, why she poured hot porridge on me. Samuel said I almost got my face ruined."
Joshua did think Ella had been too impulsive.
Why did she keep hurting people?
But he didn't put all the blame on Ella. He walked over to stand by the bed and questioned her sternly, "Why did you say things to provoke Ella? You knew she just lost Aurora and was emotionally unstable."
Scarlett froze.
She didn't expect Joshua to still take Ella's side.
She bit her teeth, wanting to argue back, but Mason spoke up for her, "Joshua, what do you mean? That Ella is clearly a lunatic. She stabbed Scarlett like crazy abroad, and you covered for her. Now you're speaking up for her again."
"Do you really think we can't send her to prison?"
He would go after Ella sooner or later.
He just needed Scarlett to beg him a few more times.
Joshua naturally knew that Ella was wrong to hurt people, but seeing her in that state, he really couldn't bring himself to lecture her.
Looking at Scarlett, he could only advise, "Just let it go for Aurora's sake. Don't hold it against her. Besides, you were the one who insisted on staying with her."
"This makes me wonder if you had some ulterior motive for staying."
"Joshua, don't go too far."
Mason couldn't take it anymore and snapped back.
Joshua completely ignored him, still staring at Scarlett, "I told you she wasn't in a good state and asked you to leave, but you didn't. You even said Ella's child deserved to die. If I were the child's father and heard someone say that about my child, I wouldn't let her off either."
The meaning was clear.
If Scarlett let it go, Joshua wouldn't dig deeper.
If she kept making a fuss, it meant she had ulterior motives, and if he continued investigating, it wouldn't be clear who was right or wrong.
Scarlett was obviously feeling guilty.
If it weren't for the white gauze covering her face, her expression would have been exposed to both men right now.
After a pause, Scarlett could only cry and deny, "Joshua, I didn't. I didn't say that about her child."
Joshua showed no expression, "There's surveillance at home, and audio recording. Do you want me to put the recording in front of you?"
There was indeed surveillance at home, but there was no audio recording.
The recording was just mentioned to scare her.
He wanted to see if Scarlett would be honest.
Sure enough, Scarlett backed down and changed her attitude, "Joshua, I'm your fiancée now. Ella hurt me like this, and I didn't say I had to do anything to Ella. What's with your attitude? Are you saying it's all my fault?"
Joshua didn't waste words with her, "How about this—after you recover, go apologize to her, and don't bother her anymore. Then we'll let this matter go."
"Joshua."
Mason stepped forward again, wanting to get justice for Scarlett.
But as soon as he opened his mouth, Joshua shot him a cold look, "I've already resolved this. Whatever complaints you have, swallow them. Take good care of Scarlett. I still have things to do."
He was still worried about Ella, so he turned and left.
Scarlett didn't try to keep him.
She had witnessed Joshua's favoritism.
No matter how much more she pretended, she couldn't get his sympathy or concern.
He really only loved Ella in his heart.
Scarlett glared hatefully at Joshua's retreating figure, grinding her teeth, "Mason, when are you going to kill that bitch Ella for me?"
Having exposed her true nature in front of Mason, she stopped pretending.
Mason was surprised at first—how could the Scarlett he loved have such a drastic personality change?
But since he cared for her, he didn't mind what she became.
Seeing how angry she was, Mason went over and pulled her into his arms, "Wait a bit longer. Now isn't the right time to make a move."
Joshua had originally planned to pick up Ella from Zachary's place, but on the way, Zachary called him and said he had dropped Ella off at Tranquil Villa.
Joshua rushed to Tranquil Villa and saw Ella sitting alone on the sofa in a daze. Thinking she was dwelling on Aurora again, he went over and sat down next to her, comforting her, "Don't overthink it. Scarlett said she knows she was wrong and will come apologize to you in a few days."
Ella looked at him. Thinking about what happened four years ago, she really couldn't understand why he had suddenly dragged Scarlett to Aiden to break off the engagement and insisted on marrying Scarlett.
To figure out what happened back then, she asked Joshua, "Have you slept with Scarlett?"
Joshua froze.
He didn't understand why Ella was suddenly asking this.
For some reason, he suddenly felt a bit guilty.
Avoiding her gaze, Joshua changed the subject, "Ella, I'm going upstairs to take a shower. Wait for me here."
Ella's eyes followed his figure, "So before I went abroad, you had already slept with Scarlett, right?"