Chapter 50 I Want to Entrust to You
Bianca's gaze turned coldly toward Blair.
Blair spun around abruptly, her face flushing red. "Bianca, why are you looking at me like that? The painting was hanging on the wall just fine. Who knows if your mom didn't store it properly in the first place."
Bianca walked toward her step by step. "Do I need to bring in professional artifact appraisers and forensic experts to determine whether this damage was from fifteen years ago or accidentally caused within the last three days? Or should we check the surveillance footage?"
Blair was forced back a step by her presence, her lips trembling as she looked at Glenn. "Dad, look at her."
"Enough!"
Glenn slammed his hand on the coffee table and stood up, his chest heaving. "Bianca, do you have to be so ruthless? These are just dead objects. Your mom has been gone for so many years. Now that you've married into the Anderson family, you don't lack these things. Why be so aggressive and make this home miserable?"
Bianca suddenly turned her head, looking directly at Glenn. The flames that had been suppressed in her eyes for so long flared up. "To you, these are dead objects that can be casually damaged without any heartache. But to me, these are things my mother left me."
"You think I'm being aggressive? Where were you when they reached for these things back then? When you tacitly approved or even helped them, did you ever think about whether my deceased mother would be heartbroken?"
Glenn's face turned purple-red, choked by Bianca's series of questions. He pointed at her. "You, you unfilial daughter."
Bianca gave a bitter smile. "If being filial means watching my mother's belongings being trampled without doing anything, then I'd rather not have that kind of filial piety. I came here today not to ask you to be fair, but to take back what belongs to me. Ralph, register all missing and damaged items, assess their value, and prepare compensation documents."
"Yes, Mrs. Anderson." Ralph responded calmly.
Seeing that the hard approach wasn't working, Glenn took several deep breaths and tried to soften his tone. His gaze fell on those scrolls, especially the precious landscape painting.
"Bianca, even if these things are yours, what will you do with them? These paintings, especially this one, need professional storage and maintenance. If you keep them yourself and something goes wrong, their value will drop significantly. That would be a loss too."
"Why not leave them with me? The company can put them in a temperature and humidity-controlled art storage facility. They'll be properly preserved and can serve as quality company assets with opportunities to appreciate in value."
Bianca looked at the familiar calculation in Glenn's eyes. She suddenly found it laughable and pathetic.
She walked to the landscape painting and let her fingertips hover over the clumsily repaired marks. Her voice dropped. "You're not worthy of keeping them. When my mom supported your business startup, she put out all her property and used her connections—not so you could use her beloved possessions today to dress up your company and calculate profits."
Glenn's face turned ashen, but he had no response.
Bianca stopped looking at him and turned to Ralph. "Pack up everything that's been counted and take it away. For the damaged and missing items, pursue legal action."
Bianca glanced at Thea, whose face had darkened, and Blair, who looked resentful and unwilling. "The demand letters will be delivered to both of you. If this goes to court, I don't mind letting all of Emerald City see how the current Mrs. Rodriguez of the Rodriguez family and her daughter Blair cheated and swindled my mother's belongings."
A flash of panic crossed Thea's eyes. She immediately pulled out a stack of crumpled receipts and pushed them in front of Bianca.
"Bianca, those paintings were sold long ago. They were just old things anyway, just sitting there. The household expenses have been high these years, and your father's company needed cash flow, so I took it upon myself to dispose of a few inconspicuous ones. The money was all used properly—the receipts are all here."
"Look, I did this all for this family. Besides, some of that money was spent on you too!"
Bianca didn't touch those receipts. She just quietly watched Thea's performance, her lips curling into a cold arc.
Only after Thea finished did Bianca slowly speak. "What? Sold? Ms. Ellis, are you sure all the paintings were sold?"
Bianca stared intently at Thea's evasive eyes. "At last month's charity gala, Ms. Ellis, that jewelry your niece from the Ellis family was wearing—I found it very familiar. Do I need to ask the photographer from that evening to pull up high-resolution photos and compare them with the pictures from my mother's estate inventory? Or should we go directly to The Ellis Mansion to admire it?"
"You, you're talking nonsense!" Thea shrieked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, but the terror and guilt in her eyes had already betrayed her.
"That, that's the Ellis family's collection. Stop slandering me here."
"Whether I'm slandering you or not, we'll know once we investigate."
Bianca turned to look at Glenn, whose face had already turned ashen. "I have the collection certificate for my mom's jewelry set, as well as the insurance company's filing records from back then. Whether the Ellis family really has an identical set—why don't we call and ask right now? Or we could report it to the police and have them assist with a search?"
"Enough!"
Glenn finally exploded. He stood up abruptly, his chest heaving violently, looking at Thea with disbelief in his eyes.
"Thea." Glenn roared and raised his hand. Amid Blair's scream, Glenn slapped Thea hard across the face with such force that she staggered and fell onto the sofa, her cheek instantly swelling and turning red.
"Mom!" Blair screamed and rushed over, shielding Thea, then turned to cry at Glenn.
"Dad, how could you hit Mom? She did everything for this family."
Glenn pointed at Thea, his finger trembling. "For this family? You stole Daphne's belongings and sent them to The Ellis Mansion, even had your niece show them off—this is what you call doing it for this family? You've utterly humiliated me."
Bianca watched this farce with cold eyes, feeling no satisfaction, only deeper coldness.
What they brought out was only a portion. The truly valuable items—Thea avoided mentioning those.
Bianca concealed the coldness in her eyes and turned to Glenn. "What I'm taking back today is only part of it. I will investigate the rest of the missing items to the end."
With that, Bianca stopped looking at the mess and gave Ralph a slight nod before turning to leave.
Only the three members of the Rodriguez family and the wreckage remained in the living room.
Bianca returned to Crystal Gardens in the afternoon.
She didn't have anyone disturb Terrence's afternoon rest. She stayed alone in the specially arranged small collection room, looking at the recovered items, her emotions complicated.
When Terrence came downstairs, he saw her lost in thought alone before several unrolled paintings.
He walked over. "What's wrong?"
Bianca leaned into his embrace, drawing comfort from his reassuring presence. "I got everything back, though not everything is in perfect condition."
She briefly told Terrence about Glenn's intentions and the damaged paintings.
"The paintings can be restored by the best restorers. If people don't know how to repent, they'll pay the price."
Bianca turned around and wrapped her arms around Terrence's lean waist, burying her face in his chest. "Terrence, I don't want to keep these things at The Rodriguez Mansion anymore. What my mom left behind, and some of my own assets—I want to entrust them to you."