Vernon couldn't believe what he had heard just now. He thought he misheard it, so he asked again, "I—I'm sorry, Big bro. What did you just say?"
Vincent noticed Vernon's astonished expression, and he found it funny. Vernon should've been used to this since the time their father was still alive.
After all, Vincent also knew that Vernon had the same idea in mind. They were blood brothers, and Vincent always expected Vernon to agree with him.
"I said, Mackie is just a little girl who came out of Chloe's womb. She's replaceable," Vincent said. "I can fuck Chloe again and get her pregnant with another child if we ever lost Mackie. It's not a big deal."
Vernon was speechless. He knew that his Big brother was a monster, but he always thought that as monstrous as he could be, he would still love his daughter.
Apparently, he was wrong.
"What? Why are you giving me that face?" Vincent chuckled. "Do you really think that I care so much about Mackie? Hahahahah!"
Vincent laughed freely as if what he said wasn't just degenerate. He actually liked the expression that his Little bro made.
"What's with your shock? Don't you think it's normal?" Vincent asked. "I think it's very normal to get another baby if one died, especially when it's a girl."
Vernon wanted to keep agreeing like usual, but he couldn't this time.
He had to admit that he had a similar view to Mackie before, but it wasn't limited to just a girl.
Vernon saw children as a nuisance and didn't want to have one of his own because they'd only complicate things.
That was until he reunited with Chloe. He loved Chloe so much that he was willing to accept Mackie as part of the small family but still didn't see her as his daughter. At most, he just saw Mackie as Chloe's daughter, but not his.
And then, that little girl slowly melted his cold heart until Vernon realized how similar Mackie was to him.
Now he took Mackie as his own daughter whom he'd protect fiercely. Hence, Vernon was visibly upset when he listened to Mackie's biological father saying the little girl was replaceable.
"I don't think so, Big bro," Vernon stood up for the first time against his brother's twisted view. But he tried to keep it simple and less 'confronting' so his Big brother wouldn't get hostile towards him.
"Don't think so? Why?"
"I just think that you should be responsible for the children you brought into this world," Vernon said. "It took us a while until we could be independent of our parents, no?"
Vincent found his Little brother's answer to be quite funny. Because he never expected Vernon to have such an idealistic view of having a child. This was weird for Vincent since he was used to having people around him agreeing with him.
'Hmm, maybe he still doesn't understand that we're the same brothers. We share the same interests and views,' Vincent thought. 'Perhaps it's because he doesn't have a daughter yet. I bet he will be just like me if he has a daughter. They are easy to replace, you could let them die and fuck your woman again to get another one. Simple.'
As Vincent enjoyed Vernon's shocked reaction, he darted his eyes at Mrs. Andrew, whose face had pale out of fear. He raised his chin arrogantly, "You— tell my little brother about the bullying stuff."
Mrs. Andrew's eyes widened. She shook her head as she tried to reject the order. She was burdened when Vincent told her to block any help from other staff to Mackie and let the little girl get bullied by so many people inside the school.
But she was so scared of losing her position as Principal that she decided one little girl's life was worth the exchange for the sake of her career.
As long as she could keep her job, she'd be able to take care of many more children, and that'd offset all of her sins against Mackenzie.
Besides, it wasn't her fault that Mackie's father was a literal monster.
"Hm? Why are you still trying to hide it? Do you also feel ashamed of what you did?" Vincent scoffed. "Oh come on. It's not that big of a deal. I don't care if that little girl is hurting. I just want to get a reaction out of Chloe."
Mrs. Andrew looked at Vincent, who seemed to be in a good mood once his Little brother was around. He was like a peacock flaunting his shiny feathers to everyone and expecting everyone to praise him.
But when she checked on Vernon, she noticed a crazy amount of rage that Vernon tried to repress. His fists were clenched to the point that all his veins were popping. His lips were zipped, but his jaw tightened, showing extreme patience because he couldn't wait to bite his Big brother for talking shit about that little girl.
Mrs. Andrew swallowed her saliva. She didn't expect Vernon Phoenix Gray to get angry over this. She thought they were the same kind of scum since they were blood brothers.
But Vernon seemed to have a bit more conscience than Vincent. Because any normal human would get upset if they heard all the sickening stuff that Vincent said just now.
Mrs. Andrew was terrified of Vernon's rage. He looked big and intimidating, like a giant that could crush you.
But the old Principal was even more terrified of Vincent. She didn't want to know what Vincent would do to her if she dared to defy his order. Because this man could deploy the whole school to bully his own daughter to upset his wife. Nothing could be more deranged than that.
So she admitted, "M—Mr. Vincent Gray told me to orchestrate bullying for Mackenzie. He wants me to make Mackenzie's life in the school a living hell. Her peers bullied her daily, and nobody was allowed to interfere. This has been ongoing for almost eight months."