Chapter 565 565

"I will start planning the meeting between you two. Maybe I'll call her a cab and set it up in a cafe? Do you have any cafes that you like?" Chloe asked.

But Vernon quickly shot her down, "We can't set up the meeting outside," Vernon said. "She is a wanted woman, and Vincent has a lot of his agents around. If we have a meeting in an open space, he will find out and everything will be ruined. So we need a more private space."

"Besides, you can't just call her a cab. That's way too risky. I will send one of my people to fetch her and we can talk here, in this apartment," Vernon said firmly, not giving Chloe any chance to refuse his decision.

Chloe paused momentarily before nodding, "Okay, I'm fine with that. Do you want me to make something for you two? I can, um… I guess I will prepare a snack."

"No, we're just going to talk. We won't have some sweet mother-son dinner whatsoever," Vernon refused. "Don't go overboard with this whole thing, Chloe. I'm doing this because I don't want you to be sad. Also because I don't want to break my own promise to you."

"Okay," Chloe was a little disappointed that Vernon still didn't want to open up to Dorothea. But she knew that it must be hard for him to come to this point of tolerating his own abuser.

So all Chloe could hope for was for the whole meeting to go on smoothly and for Vernon would give Dorothea a chance in the end.

Chloe released her hug and took a step back from Vernon, "Thank you for everything, Vernon. Thank you for being the bigger guy. I know it's very hard for you."

"If you know that it's very hard for me to do this, then you shouldn't be asking too much about my response to Dorothea later. You know it won't end well," Vernon said.

Chloe's smile faltered a bit, but she tried to maintain her smile and nodded, "I will accept and respect your decision. In the end, it's you who has the right to reject her or not."

"Good, now give me a kiss. I deserve at least that from you, since I have to do the things I don't like," Vernon demanded a compensation.

Chloe's smile bloomed again, and she stepped forward to give him a peck on the lips before taking two steps back before he could hug her back, "I can only do that much too. I don't want you to get too addicted. Good night."

Chloe opened the door and closed it, leaving Vernon alone.

Vernon was stunned as he tried to process the peck. Again it was way too quick for him to be satisfied. He'd kiss her deeper and strip their clothes until their bodies had no gap if he could.

But this was all he could have right now because everything was too complicated. After all, he never thought that he'd actually reconcile and rekindle his relationship with Chloe, even going as far as building a new family together.

Everything just happened naturally, and he didn't want to fuck this up.

Vernon sighed as he stared at the door, "I guess I have no choice other than meeting with Dorothea right now. Even though I really don't want to."

**

Dorothea kept tapping the dusty motel room floor for at least thirty minutes. Chloe called her this morning, saying that Vernon's agent would pick her up and he'd drive her into Phoenix Tower so they could have a talk without the worry of Vincent finding out about the whole thing.

Though, truthfully, Dorothea didn't really give a crap if his first son found her. She had no more willpower to live. She was a broken woman who had nothing to look up to in the future.

But she didn't want Vernon and his new little family to get involved. It was her fight. She helped them because she also wanted to fight for the right thing, and that was to take her first son down with her.

Dorothea unlocked her phone and opened her front camera. She checked whether she looked presentable enough in front of Vernon and Chloe.

She had been in such a mess this month. She drank so many times until she passed it was surprising that she didn't start using heroin again.

She knew that she looked like a crazy lady every day for the whole month, and if she wanted to convince Vernon and Chloe to accept her, then she had to look normal, at least.

"Why do I keep wanting to convince them to take me in? It's already obvious that Vernon won't take me back," Dorothea wondered. She had accepted that her second son had a permanent hatred against her. She even thought it was justifiable since she had been a horrible mother to him.

But she still had hopes that Vernon would at least tolerate her presence. Maybe she could visit them once or twice yearly, especially during holidays. It was much better than not having any family during Christmas and New Year.

Dorothea had forgotten the last time she enjoyed Christmas and New Year. Ever since she married Vaughn, she'd always dressed up glamorously. She'd attended so many events for one day with Vaughn, keeping up with the same fake smile to show her happiness with him, even though her heart was screaming inside.

Vaughn would bring Vincent along for many of those events because he would be the next Master of the Gray family, while always leaving Vernon behind, drowned by gifts that Vernon probably never liked.

'Ah, whenever I remember about all the things I did to Vernon, I can't help but feel so guilty. I was so caught up with the idea of hating Vaughn and raising Vincent, that I have completely abandoned my second son,' Dorothea lamented over her past sins that she couldn't erase.