Chapter 73
Joshua really didn't want to see the mother and son anymore.
He turned around and threw out the words, "Then keep kneeling. Without my permission, if you dare to get up, you'll never see your daughter again for the rest of your life."
He went into the house.
Ella was still kneeling, holding Dorian in her arms, checking if he was hurt from the fall.
Dorian pouted, tears starting to fall as he felt sorry for her.
"Mom, I'm fine. Please don't kneel here, okay? Let's leave. We don't need to stay here and let him bully us."
If he had known Joshua was this bad, he wouldn't have let Michael send Ella here in the first place.
With Michael, at least he and Ella were both taken care of.
Ella felt she really couldn't hold on much longer. Her head was splitting, her vision blurry.
She held Dorian in her arms, her voice weak as she coaxed him, "Dorian, Mom did something wrong. I need to kneel here and apologize to Joshua. Besides, he found Aurora. Only by kneeling here will he give Aurora back to us."
"Don't worry about me. Go inside and rest, okay?"
Dorian shook his head, seeing Ella soaked through, pale-faced, barely able to speak.
His tears fell in big drops.
"I don't want to leave Mom. I want to stay with Mom forever."
Dorian raised his hand to hug Ella's neck, unwilling to be separated from her.
But Ella forcefully pushed him away.
"Dorian, Mom's clothes are wet. Go inside first. Be good."
"No, Mom, you're sick. You can't keep kneeling here. You'll die like this."
Dorian couldn't help moving closer to Ella again, taking her wrist to check her condition.
Feeling that Ella's breathing was already very weak, he tried to hug her again.
But once more, Ella pushed him away.
Ella got a bit angry and deliberately scolded him with all her strength, "Dorian, listen to Mom. Go inside."
Karen ran out at this moment, pulled Dorian aside and said, "Dorian, listen to your mom. Let's go inside first. You can beg your dad. Maybe if he softens up, he'll let your mom come in."
"He's not my dad. He doesn't deserve to be."
Dorian angrily corrected Karen.
Thinking that only if Joshua agreed could Ella get up and come inside.
He wiped the tears from his cheeks and ran toward the house.
Not seeing Joshua in the living room, he went upstairs to look.
Finding him in the study, Dorian completely lost his earlier pride. He fell to his knees before Joshua, crying heartbreakingly.
"I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have yelled at you."
"I'm begging you to let my mom get up. She's sick and can't hold on. I can kneel instead of my mom."
Joshua glanced at Dorian by his leg.
Hard to imagine such a sensible child was only two years old.
Could a two-year-old really understand all this?
He was easily moved, easily softened.
But thinking that Dorian belonged to someone else, he couldn't heal the wound in his heart.
In the end, Joshua remained cold and heartless, "Your mom deserves to die. If you want to be with her, you can go outside and kneel with her."
Why should he feel sorry for someone else's child?
Seeing he still couldn't persuade Joshua, Dorian held back his heartache for Ella and the urge to cry, and kept kowtowing to Joshua.
"I'm begging you. As long as you let my mom get up, I'll listen to you from now on."
"If Mom keeps kneeling, she'll die. When she couldn't come back before, weren't you sad too?"
"Why are you treating her like this now that she's finally back?"
"I'm begging you."
Dorian kept kowtowing.
His little head hitting the floor looked so pitiful.
Joshua finally couldn't help but soften, reminding Dorian, "You said it yourself. You'll listen to me from now on."
Dorian looked up. His forehead was scraped, red and swollen, starting to bleed.
His big eyes were brimming with tears.
"I'll listen to you from now on, as long as you don't bully my mom."
Joshua saw Dorian bleeding and felt a bit guilty. He raised his hand and said, "Go down and let your mom come inside."
Dorian responded and got up to run, but because he had hit his head too hard, he felt dizzy.
He staggered and almost fell, but forced himself to stay conscious and ran out of the study.
When he was about to fall, Joshua instinctively moved to catch him.
But seeing Dorian manage to get out, he sat back in his chair, feeling terrible inside.
Sometimes he thought, how nice it would be if the two children Ella gave birth to were his.
Then their family of four could live happily together forever.
Actually, even if the children weren't his, Joshua could convince himself to accept them.
But the problem was, Ella loved Michael.
Even without divorcing, she went to find Michael several times.
And she even made Aiden so angry he died.
With such terrible behavior, how could he forgive her?
Joshua leaned back in his chair, frowning in distress. Sometimes he didn't know what to do with the three of them.
Ella eventually passed out.
Dorian and Karen struggled to get her to the maid's room on the first floor.
While checking Ella's condition, Dorian looked at Karen and asked her to prepare the medicine he needed.
Karen hurried to do it.
But worried that Dorian didn't know what he was doing and might delay treatment, she rushed to the study and reported, "Mr. Thomas, Mrs. Thomas passed out. She's burning up like she's on fire. Should I call Dr. Harris to come over?"
Joshua picked up his phone to make the call, but thinking of something, his face turned cold.
"Can't you call him yourself?"
Realizing what he meant, Karen quickly took Joshua's phone and dialed the number on her own phone while looking at it.
Joshua sat there and asked, "Did she come inside? Or is she still outside?"
Karen quickly replied, "I carried her inside. She's in my room."
Only then did Joshua not get up. He pretended not to care and ordered, "When she wakes up, have her do the same work as you. And from now on, don't call her Mrs. Thomas anymore. I'm going to divorce her soon."
Karen nodded.
Though she felt it was a pity, as a servant, what could she say?
She then bowed her head and left.
As soon as Karen left, Scarlett pushed the door open.
She approached Joshua and asked without hiding anything, "Joshua, are you still going to let Ella stay?"
Joshua flipped through the documents on his desk, trying to distract himself, and didn't answer Scarlett's question.
Scarlett stood beside him, her voice carrying a hint of crying.
"Joshua, my mom just called me again, telling me to marry someone from the Green family."
"You know the Green family's traditions. If they find out I'm not a virgin, or if my parents find out I'm not a virgin, they'll definitely beat me to death."
Joshua looked at Scarlett. "What era is this? Who still cares about that?"
He certainly didn't.
He didn't even care that Ella had children with someone else.
He even wanted to be the children's stepfather.
But that Ella wasn't even willing.
"If I were the real daughter of the Lewis family, maybe my parents really wouldn't care."
Scarlett lowered her head and wiped her tears, crying out loud. "But you know, I'm just the Lewis family's adopted daughter, just a tool they use for arranged marriages."