Filed to story: A Second Chance with My Billionaire Love
“Jovan isn’t like your son, he wants someone decent and modest! He-“
“Enough! Shut your dirty mouth, Sheila Campbell!” Francine roared, unable to handle her rambling any longer. Her voice reached the houses three blocks down from where they were.
“Funny you should mention reputation when your son’s rotten banana basically destroyed any he had left! What does he do apart from laze and fool around with women?!” Francine rolled her sleeves up, retorting.
“Everyone in Beach City knows how gentle and humble my daughter-in-law is! Do you not know what trash your son is?! Your son must have been too lustful and forced himself onto her! I don’t want to let this go either! I’m going to report your son for rape right now!”
“You… Stop trying to shift the blame!” Sheila didn’t intend to back down either, storming down the stairs and approaching Francine.
“My Jovan is a charming, dashing young man. Countless women wish they could marry him! How could he possibly be into this useless witch who’s given birth to two!? She’s been used, and even if it was rape, your daughter-in-law must be the criminal here! Call the cops all you want, they will find the truth!”
“Hah! How dare you call my daughter-in-law useless?” Francine scoffed. “Ask around! Don’t you know who the renowned chairman of KCL is? They’re all saying how she is a feminist icon, and a hero to all!”
“Now, look at your trashy son. What other achievements does he have apart from his womanizing history?!”
“How is my Jovan trashy?! Don’t you know how much my son did for H Group’s international marketing?! Do you have no eyes? Did you not see for yourself?!”
“So what? My daughter-in-law is a prodigy, she was the one who invented the G6 chip that will change the entire world! Your son is nothing compared to my daughter-in-law!”
Seeing the two arguing so furiously, Flossie and Jovan both let out a deep sigh.
“Jovan, this is your fault! Aren’t you going to do something?” Flossie nudged the man, pressuring him.
If they continued on, she was worried Francine might reveal every single bit of her past. However, she had to admit that her ex mother-in-law was quite protective of her. Anyone who didn’t know her would mistake her as some kind of hardcore fan of Flossie’s.
It was as if Francine had memorized every single thing she had done in research, along with her projects and achievements. Mentioning any of them would make her smile pridefully.
“Don’t worry, leave this up to me.” Jovan raised a brow at her and joined the fight nonchalantly, standing in between the two older women.
“Ladies, ladies, stop fighting. One said I raped Flossie, and the other said Flossie raped me, but have you ever considered that we just fell in love with each other and decided to be together?” He explained slowly as he turned to look at them.
“Well…” Francine and Sheila were stunned, unable to argue further.
‘Oh yeah… How could we have forgotten about that possibility?!’
Flossie slapped herself on the forehead and quickly rushed down the stairs, questioning Jovan. “Are you kidding me?! Why are you making it worse?”
His explanation made it so that she had almost no way of clearing her name.
“You said you wanted them to stop, so that’s what I did. Just look!” Jovan shrugged, seemingly justified.
Francine grabbed Flossie, frowning. “My dear, tell me, is there some kind of misunderstanding? I know you must be mad at Halston, I saw what happened at the summit too. My son was absolutely terrible for doing that, but believe me when I say he has never loved you any less. He’s doing this for a good reason…”
Francine knew there had been lots of rumors about Halston and Seraphina spreading like wildfire lately, especially when the two were about to get married. These rumors did have some truth to them after all, but it was quite a long time ago.
Before Flossie came back, and before she found out about Abby and Adie’s existence, she might’ve taken Seraphina’s side. However, she had already become Halston and Flossie’s number one fan, which was why she would unconditionally stand by Flossie.
“You must have been so upset to have ended up letting this scumbag take advantage of you… How about this? I’ll have Halston come over and apologize to you right now!” Francine still found her son guilty, no matter how much she thought about it. Hence, she figured that it was completely reasonable if her son was really cheated on.
She then took her phone out and dialed Halston’s number. Once he answered, she barked at him harshly, “Hey, Halston, where are you? I’m giving you thirty minutes to come here and reassure your wife!”
Francine never hoped for her dense son to actually swing by as told, as she only intended to intimidate Jovan and Sheila. After all, Halston was undoubtedly the future head of the family, so no one would ever dare to upset him.
As expected, Sheila’s arrogance instantly faded, and she lowered her voice. “Such embarrassing things should be handled privately, right? Let’s not bother anyone else. Besides, my dear nephew is probably busy with his new girlfriend, so he wouldn’t have the time for such trivial matters!”
“Now you’re calling it a trivial matter? Didn’t you want to call the cops not long ago?” Francine glared at Sheila, her demeanor arrogant. “I’ll tell you what, Campbell. My son and Seraphina are just acting, who he truly loves is Flossie! Now that your son has laid a finger on his girl, my son will definitely not let him off!”
Sheila gulped nervously, her cocky expression replaced with extreme panic. She warned Jovan, who was standing next to her. “Son, I don’t care who started it, but you have sinned. Let’s fly back to Newrest and repent before the Lord!”
At the time, she felt like the perfect strategy was to send Jovan away for now. When their family tried to ‘commit treason’ back then, Halston and Jovan’s relationship had already deteriorated to the point of no return. Halston had been merciful enough to have spared Jovan, and yet the womanizer proceeded to make a move on his own cousin-in-law.
Sheila knew that Halston might actually murder her son with his own two hands if he were to come.
“Hey, don’t go yet. Weren’t you acting all high and mighty just now? Why are you being a coward now? You’re clearly guilty!” Francine blocked Jovan’s path, looking fierce.
Jovan smiled casually and replied, “Aunt Francine, I never wanted to run. I actually want Halston to come by, so I’ll be able to explain it all to him. I believe Halston is a generous man, and he’ll give us his blessings by the end of this.”
“Shut up!” Sheila was so painicked by her son’s madness that she stomped her feet, shoving him to the side. “You punk! Are you trying to make me mad?! I told you to leave, so leave! Stop this nonsense now!”
Ultimately, she just wanted her son to survive this. As long as her son lived, they would still have a chance at turning the tables. If he lost his life due to this, not only would the law dismiss their case, the entire family would think they deserved it too.
“Madam, Master, M… Master Halston is here!”
As they were still fighting, one of the maids came running up with a report.
Halston’s tall figure entered the room, a cold expression painted across his face. His menacing aura was similar to dark clouds in the sky, causing the entire living room to fall silent.
Everyone immediately tensed up, not daring to make any reckless moves. The only person who seemed unaffected was Flossie. Despite being in the eye of a hurricane, she behaved like a complete outsider, crossing her arms as she calmly smiled at the man.
She hadn’t expected Halston to come at all… ‘So, that means I’m still pretty important to him! I’m not so easily thrown away!’
“Son, you’ve finally come! If you were any later, this shameless piece of trash would’ve escaped!” Francine beamed, as she had not expected him either.
At the very least, this indicated that Halston cared about Flossie to some extent, and the two had a chance to start over.
Halston, on the other hand, had his eyes fixated on Flossie. It was as if no one else existed in this world to him.
He advanced slowly as he questioned her, his lovely features chilly, his voice cold. “Tell me, did you really sleep with Jovan?”
Flossie’s cherry lips curved into a tiny grin as she asked him, “Do you really care if we slept together?”
“I’m asking whether you did it or not!”
Halston’s voice lowered a few notches, and he harshly gripped the woman’s shoulder, unable to control his emotions.
Flossie’s grin stopped, and her eyes were scornful as she asked him another inquiry, “Did you sleep with Seraphina? Where did you go with her after yesterday’s announcement?”
“Flossie, don’t push my buttons. You are well aware of the consequences of upsetting me!”
“We’ve faced each other before, and I’ve never been terrified of you. Do you think I will be afraid of you and your consequences now?”
She swatted his hands away, pretending to be affectionate with Jovan while pulling his hand while she challenged Halston. “If you can cheat behind my back, so can I. We’re no exception.”
“Idiot!”
Halston was on the verge of losing his mind. His face flushed as he glared at her fiercely. “You can’t stand being alone, can you? If you think you’re getting even with me by doing this, you’re insane because you only hurt yourself!”
“Hahaha!!! I can’t stand being alone?”
Flossie laughed as if his words were the funniest she’d ever heard. “Compared to you, I have the decency to do it openly. I never did something as heinous as infidelity throughout my marriage. I’m not the one who can’t stand being alone. It’s you. Not only that, but you lack even the slightest morality!”
“It doesn’t matter what happened between Seraphina and me because we had feelings for each other. I didn’t humiliate myself. You understand Jovan’s personality better than anyone. Don’t you feel ashamed of yourself, sleeping with him just so you could get back at me?”
He was furious, not because she had betrayed him, but because Jovan was a jerk.