Chapter 163 Watching the Joke
Amelia didn't let me down.
Before the morning was over, she dropped a huge bombshell.
Byron was actually the child of Colin's mistress!
Amelia made a huge scene at the Gambino family's camp, and soon everyone knew about it.
It turned out that Colin's wife Wendy had been arranged to marry Kirk, the previous Don of the Gambino family. But Kirk actually ran away the day before the wedding, leaving behind a letter saying he was going after his true love and freedom. Colin hastily took Kirk's place and became Wendy's husband.
After marriage, Colin respected Wendy and had no other mistresses. His life was very regular—work, social events, home. Wendy had a rather serious personality, but she was gentle with Colin and the children. She usually didn't compete or fight for anything, and the two were once known as the city's famous "model couple."
Now, Amelia had exposed Colin's secret mistresses. Apparently, he'd had at least three of them!
News of a man cheating wasn't exactly fresh, but what was shocking was that Michelle was the true love Kirk had been willing to abandon Wendy for, and Colin had secretly given Michelle his mistress's child to help raise!
Byron appeared before Wendy every day. After he became disabled, Wendy couldn't even be bothered to look at him. Who would have thought he was actually Colin's illegitimate son with another woman!
Wendy was furious. Many people passing by the Gambino family's camp heard her shouting at Colin, "You're trampling on my dignity and the Marr family's dignity!"
That's right—Wendy was a woman from the Marr family.
The Marr family loved using business marriages to strengthen relationships. Even many years ago when the Gambino family were just newly wealthy merchants, the Marr family married off a woman who wasn't favored in the family to someone from the Gambino family.
Although Wendy's blood ties to the Marr family were distant, she'd always been proud of her "Marr" surname. It was because she was a woman of the Marr family that she earned respect from the Gambino family.
But all of that changed today.
I won first place in the horse racing competition. I was so happy. My brothers and friends bet on me to win and made a fortune. Lucas even gave me all his winnings, which made me even happier. Add to that the Gambino family's embarrassment, and I couldn't stop smiling.
"Seeing the Gambino family suffer makes you this happy?" At the camp, Lucas sat beside me, propping his head up with his left hand, teasing me.
"Is that wrong?" I shot back. "Or are you feeling sorry for Amelia?"
"No," Lucas immediately denied.
Maybe someone couldn't stand seeing me too happy, because in the afternoon, Richard, Lionel, Fiona, and Loris showed up.
They came for Sophie.
Richard said, "Lucas, Sophie really didn't mean to hurt anyone. She just wanted to win too badly. You know how strict her family is with her. Today she lost, and lost badly—she'll be punished for it!"
"So what?" Lucas looked at him impatiently.
"So you shouldn't blame Sophie! She's pitiful enough already!" Richard got angrier as he spoke. "If you still value our friendship, don't hurt Sophie for Isabella's sake!"
Lucas pointed at his head. "Richard, you're getting dumber. Who's trying to hurt who? Don't you get it?"
He looked at the others. "Don't you guys get it either?"
Lionel, always afraid of things getting tense, quickly tugged at Richard's arm and quietly urged, "Don't get worked up. Let's talk this through."
As he spoke, he carefully watched Lucas while secretly giving me looks, hoping I'd calm Lucas's temper.
I acted like I wasn't there. I didn't want to get involved in their business.
After all, there was no place for me in their friendship anyway.
Richard took a deep breath, calmed down a bit, and looked at Fiona and Loris. "You two say something."
Fiona looked awkward, clearly not wanting to offend anyone and just wanting to smooth things over quickly. "Sophie trying to knock Isabella off her horse was definitely wrong—too impulsive. But looking at the results, Isabella's fine and even got first place, while Sophie lost. The outcome isn't too bad, so let's just drop it. Okay?"
Loris never said a word, just stood to the side with his arms crossed, listening coldly to their argument.
Lucas shook his head in disappointment. "Whether Sophie did it accidentally or on purpose, we all know. I have nothing more to say to you guys. I can live without you as friends, but I can't live without Bella."
Lionel looked at him helplessly, then glared at me in frustration.
Richard's face turned red with anger. "Lucas! You're so heartless!"
Lucas didn't care about his accusation. He put one hand on the back of my chair, half-circling me in his arms. When he looked up, his eyes showed no emotion. "I've always been heartless."
"Fine! From now on, we're not friends anymore!" Richard angrily turned and left, stomping hard with each step.
Lionel awkwardly followed. Fiona said "Sorry for disturbing you" to me, then left with Loris.
Not long after they left, Donald and a middle-aged couple came over.
Lucas picked out a bag of chips from my snacks and chewed slowly, asking casually, "What do you want?"
Donald turned his head away and closed his eyes, looking too angry to even look at Lucas.
The middle-aged couple were Lucas's uncle and aunt. I'd heard Lucas mention before that during his unhappy childhood, his aunt had been pretty good to him.
So I pointed to the chairs across from us, inviting them to sit.
Lucas's aunt smiled warmly at me. "Lucas, your grandfather is sick. Don't you know? Leonardo said he told you already. Why haven't you gone back to see your grandfather?"
I was a bit surprised. Holden was sick?
"He didn't tell me," Lucas answered coldly.
"Did he really not tell you, or are you pretending not to know?" Donald opened his eyes and glared at Lucas disapprovingly. "You've abandoned the family, abandoned the elders who raised you, and abandoned your friends. Is there anything you won't do?"
"He says he told me, you believe him. I say I don't know, you don't believe me. What's there to talk about?" Lucas turned his head and instructed Alfred, "Throw him out."
Donald was so angry he jumped. "Lucas! I'm your father!"
Lucas said, "No, you're not!"
I "helpfully" reminded him, "Lucas is already Grace's heir."
Donald's hateful gaze instantly turned to me. "You have no right to speak here! This is the Valeri family's business—outsiders should keep their mouths shut!"
I picked up my cup and poured tea at his feet, coldly dismissing him. "Then please go to the Valeri family's territory, where you can say whatever you want however you want. But this is the Sorelli family's camp, and we don't welcome barbarians."