Chapter 121
The Lewis family's biological daughter had been found.
To announce this to all their friends and relatives, the Lewis family held a three-day feast at the Lewis Villa.
It also served as compensation for those who had come to attend the wedding banquet.
All the wealthy and powerful families in high society received invitations, except the Thomas family.
But they heard about it anyway.
During dinner that evening, Ava glared at her disappointing son Joshua and couldn't help complaining, "I heard the Lewis family found their biological daughter, and they're holding a three-day banquet at the Lewis Villa. Everyone in our circle got an invitation, but the Lewis family didn't send us one."
It wasn't that the Thomas family desperately wanted that invitation.
The Thomas family was the richest in Emerald City, with plenty of powerful people trying to curry favor with them. But the Lewis family had invited everyone except them.
Ava still felt somewhat embarrassed.
Jasper sighed, "Joshua canceled the wedding just like that at the ceremony, leaving the Lewis family's adopted daughter standing there alone. The Lewis family must hate him to death—how could they possibly send us an invitation?"
Thinking of Joshua's behavior made Ava furious.
Even now, Joshua hadn't given her an explanation for why he canceled the wedding and left.
Looking at Joshua eating silently with his head down, Ava asked him, "You're so close with Mason—didn't he invite you to come over?"
Joshua answered absentmindedly, "No."
He was thinking about the Lewis family finding their daughter.
After twenty years, they'd only just found their daughter—naturally the Lewis family would make a big announcement to the world.
But thinking about how Scarlett had deceived him and almost made him marry her, Joshua still felt angry.
That pair of siblings disgusted him just thinking about them now.
Mason didn't dare invite him over either.
Seeing Joshua's indifferent attitude, Ava continued nagging, "Look at you—you're 34 years old. Being fooled by Ella was bad enough, and when you finally were going to get married, you called it off yourself. Who's going to dare marry you now?"
The whole situation between the Lewis family and the Thomas family had become common knowledge.
Now people outside and online were saying Joshua had problems—either he wasn't mentally sound or had issues with his sexual orientation.
With these rumors spreading, even if women wanted to marry into the Thomas family in the future, they'd probably just be after the money.
That kind of woman wouldn't be worthy of marrying into the Thomas family.
Joshua looked up at Ava and said honestly, "I'll tell you the truth—I can't let go of Ella. I want to remarry her."
Even though he'd asked Ella to return to Tranquil Villa and she'd refused.
But as long as he didn't give up and treated Ella better in the future, she would eventually come back to him.
"What did you say?"
Ava's face changed dramatically, and she flew into a rage, "So you canceled the wedding because of that bitch Ella? Joshua, that Ella not only lied to you about having a child, she also made your grandfather so angry he died, and you still think about her?"
It seemed she had to get rid of Ella.
Keeping her around was just asking for trouble.
She absolutely couldn't let Joshua get back together with Ella.
Joshua explained helplessly, "I didn't cancel the wedding because of Ella. It was because I don't love Scarlett. Grandpa was already seriously ill—his death had nothing to do with Ella."
"And I don't care that she had a child. I actually quite liked her kid."
It was a shame Aurora died.
This remained a thorn in Joshua's heart.
When he and Ella remarried in the future, he would make it up to both mother and son.
"I don't agree."
Ava's face twisted with anger as she glared at Joshua hatefully, "If you dare get back together with Ella, I'll send someone to kill her."
Jasper beside her was startled and quickly supported Ava to calm her down, reminding her, "Calm down. How can you talk about killing people so casually? We can't do anything illegal."
Then Jasper looked at Joshua and lectured him, "Can't you listen to your mother? There are so many women in the world. As long as you're willing, what kind of woman can't you marry? Why does it have to be Ella?"
Joshua himself wasn't bad—good-looking, tall, capable.
Except for being a bit older, you couldn't find any faults with him.
If he wanted to find someone young and beautiful, that would be a matter of minutes.
Why was he fixated on Ella, who had already had a child?
Jasper couldn't understand.
Joshua kept his head down and said frankly, "I love Ella. Back when she had her accident and couldn't come back, you saw what state I was in—life was worse than death without her."
"As long as she's willing to stay by my side, forget about her having a child for someone else—even if she was married and I had to be the other man, I'd be willing."
As long as Ella would stay by his side.
Joshua really could overlook her past.
What he feared now was that even if he begged for reconciliation, Ella might not come back.
"You..."
Ava's chest heaved as she stared at Joshua, too angry to speak.
Afraid Ava would make herself sick with anger, Jasper quickly supported and comforted her.
At the Lewis Villa.
After following Heath and Rhea to meet all their friends and relatives, Ella put Dorian to bed, then actively approached Mason and held out her hand, "Give me your phone."
Mason had always felt guilty toward Ella.
If Ella hadn't produced that key back then, he might have really let her leave this world.
Because he wanted to make it up to her, he agreed to any of Ella's requests unconditionally.
Mason pulled out his phone, unlocked it, and handed it to her, "What are you doing?"
Ella glanced at him and laughed, "Posting something on Facebook for you—that's not too much, is it?"
Mason shook his head, "Not too much."
But he didn't know what Ella meant.
Ella felt that posting just text wouldn't have much impact, so she leaned against Mason and took a selfie.
Then, along with that intimate selfie, she wrote a caption [We'll be together forever, never leaving each other] and posted it.
However, right after the Facebook post went up, before Ella could return the phone to Mason, Scarlett's call came through immediately.
Ella held the phone and asked Mason, "Can I answer it for you?"
Only then did Mason realize that Ella wanted Scarlett to misunderstand.
After all, she'd never let him tell Scarlett that they were siblings.
He also wanted to see if Scarlett cared about him, so he nodded in agreement.
As soon as Ella answered, Scarlett's furious voice came through, "Mason, what do you mean? Ella's not dead? Didn't you tell me you'd taken care of her? Why are you getting involved with her again?"
Hearing this, Mason was thunderstruck. He immediately grabbed the phone and hung up.
He looked at Ella nervously and helplessly, opening his mouth to explain but finding himself unable to defend himself.
Ella stood frozen, looking at Mason with nothing but despair and hatred in her eyes.
When he'd taken her to the suburbs before, it really had been at Scarlett's instigation—he'd wanted to get rid of her.
This so-called brother had actually been covering for Scarlett.
How wonderful.
To carry out her revenge plan, Ella forced a smile, acting like she didn't care, "Don't delete that Facebook post, and don't explain our relationship to Scarlett—unless Scarlett comes back to this family."
Ella really felt Mason was too two-faced and hypocritical.
She didn't want to stay with him for another moment, so Ella turned and left.
"Ella..."
Mason wanted to chase after her but didn't know how to explain.
In the end, he could only angrily slap himself twice.
Because of that Facebook post, Joshua saw it too.
He couldn't understand how Ella had ended up with Mason, and the Facebook post was so intimate.
He immediately called Ella.
Ella answered.
Joshua demanded, "Where are you? Weren't you with Zachary? Why did you go to Mason's place?"
Mason had an affair with Scarlett—he absolutely couldn't let Mason defile Ella too.