Too Much to Bear My Love

Chapter 245 Lesson Learnt

Mrs. Clinton was still obviously skeptical and furious, so Amelia tried to calm her mother down. “Mom, I

don’t think Oscar’s the one who hurt Tiff. He’s always been a fair guy, and Tiff’s his sister. Even if he’s

angry about her actions, I don’t think he would stab her in the back. If he really wanted to teach her a

lesson, he would have done so a long time ago.”

Mrs. Clinton took a deep breath and shot Amelia a complex look, though she knew she was indeed

getting a bit too agitated. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Amelia. I’m not blaming Oscar, but I’m worried

about Tiff. I was just trying to vent my anger on someone,” the woman said softly.

Amelia went silent. She was slightly offended by Mrs. Clinton’s uncorroborated accusation, not to

mention how the woman was taking Stephanie’s side without bothering to look into the truth. Anyone

would be offended by that.

Olivia seemed like she cared about Oscar and Amelia, but that was only because Stephanie wasn’t in

the picture. Olivia would scold Stephanie whenever she tried to pull a prank, but she’d take her side

when it came to the important things; she obviously loved Stephanie more.

Amelia still respected Olivia after the Stephanie incident, but not as much as she used to. Ever since

that incident, a wedge had been lodged between them, and it was one that was hard to get rid of.

Olivia didn’t know what to say either, so the conversation came to an abrupt halt. She took a look at

Stephanie and soon realized that she must have hurt her son deeply. However, even with that in mind,

she couldn’t bring herself to apologize. No mother would apologize to her children.

In the end, she kept her silence and allowed the atmosphere to grow more and more awkward. Luckily,

Stephanie regained consciousness half an hour later, breaking the ice. However, she was confused to

see herself in the hospital.

Olivia darted toward her darling and asked, “Are you feeling better, Tiff? Does it still hurt?”

Stephanie blinked in confusion. “What happened, mom? Why am I in a hospital?”

Olivia pushed the strand of hair on Stephanie’s forehead away lovingly. “You were feverish because

your wound was infected. If we were even a moment late in getting you treated, you’d have contracted

pneumonia.”

Stephanie instinctively looked at Oscar after hearing that. She panicked for a moment, her finger

griping the sheets tightly. Everyone saw that, including her parents. They wanted to know what was

going on, so they looked at their son too.

The woman blurted nervously, “It’s not Oscar’s fault. Don’t blame him for this.” Perhaps she was putting

up an act, but that was unbeknownst to us.

That didn’t help Oscar’s case at all. Olivia’s face fell, and she shot her son a quizzical look. Stephanie

grew even more nervous after that, so she explained, “T-That’s not what I meant. What I’m trying to say

is he didn’t do this.”

Olivia sat down, held her hand, and calmed her down gently, “Don’t worry, Tiff. Your father and I are

here, so you’re safe. Now, tell us who did this to you.”

Stephanie looked at Oscar again before saying, “I don’t know, Mom. I can’t tell. Someone kidnapped

me when I went to see Oscar yesterday. They packed me into a big sack and took me somewhere.

When I finally got out of the sack, they blindfolded me, so I don’t know who the kidnappers are. They

gave me a whooping before sending me back to town, where I called Oscar to pick me up. He was the

one who took me to the hospital. I thought you guys might worry, so I told him to send me home. I was

already feeling sick during the dinner with the Walkers, but I held it down in fear that you would notice

something. I didn’t expect it to get worse at night. Sorry for making you worry, Mom.”

Stephanie was trying to garner everyone’s sympathy, and her understanding attitude worked just like

she wanted since Olivia sympathized with her more.

“You should have told me about it from the start. What if something happened to you? I’d be crushed,”

Olivia chided.

Owen didn’t believe his daughter’s words at all, but since his wife was too worried about her to care, he

didn’t say much. “Olivia, take care of Tiff. I’ll need to talk to Oscar outside.”

Mrs. Clinton had a good guess what her husband was trying to say, but she nodded anyway. After the

men were gone, only Amelia, Olivia, and Stephanie were left. Because of Stephanie’s lies and deceit,

Amelia didn’t want to stay around either, so she excused herself. “Olivia, you guys didn’t have

breakfast, so you must be starving. I’ll grab some food for you two.”

Olivia finally realized Amelia was still around. “Amelia, you’re still recovering, so just hang around. I’ll

get the servant to send us some food.”

“It’s fine, Olivia. It won’t take long. It’ll be lunchtime if we wait for the servant, so I’ll take the elevator. Be

back in a second,” Amelia said.

Since the woman disliked Stephanie, Olivia knew she was just finding an excuse to leave. Not insisting

further, Olivia said with concern in her tone, “Alright, be careful. Call me if you can’t handle it alone. I

can help you out, alright?”

Amelia nodded.

After she left, Olivia turned back to Stephanie. “Tiff, tell me the truth. Is your brother behind this?”

At that, Stephanie pulled her blanket up, refusing to answer the question.

“Say something, Tiff. The doctor said you sustained multiple wounds, and they might get infected

easily. If we hadn’t found you in time, you would have developed pneumonia. You could have been

killed! You don’t have to hide anything from us. Your father and I will help you out.”

Stephanie looked at her mother. You think I don’t want to talk? So what if I spilled the beans? Would

you and dad punish Oscar for me? No, so why would I sell him out? That’ll only cross him.

“Mom, I told you I was kidnapped by strangers. I must have crossed someone for them to do this to

me.” Stephanie said that on purpose, wanting to direct her mother’s anger toward Amelia. That woman

was the only one she had bad blood with, for Stephanie had once hired someone to crash into her

before. In other words, Amelia would be the prime suspect if Stephanie was hurt.

Everyone would list the individuals who had bad blood with the victim as prime suspects, including the

police officers. As expected, a frown creased Olivia’s forehead as she pondered upon the case.

Stephanie fanned the flames even more by saying, “I’m not pointing fingers at anyone, but Amelia’s the

only person I’ve crossed. She might be the one behind—”

Before she could finish, Olivia interrupted, “Nonsense. Amelia’s not that kind of person. Yes, she

dislikes you, but she wouldn’t stoop so low. Please don’t think of her that way. You’re just going to cross

Oscar again. These are trying times for our family, so just focus on your recovery. Don’t pull anything

funny.”

Stephanie instantly grew irked. “Mom, you’re still defending her when she might be the one behind

this?” she questioned angrily.

Olivia tucked her in and stated firmly, “Calm down, Tiff. I’ve already scolded your brother because of

this. Almost yelled at him too, and I did it for you. Amelia knew I was being unfair, so let’s stop while

you’re ahead. You don’t want us to fight among ourselves, do you? Besides, there’s a silver lining in

this, since you’ve also learned a lesson. Yes, I know nobody wanted this, but I’m not trying to defend

Amelia either. I just know she’s not the kind of person who’d stoop so low for something so petty. Just

rest up and don’t do anything funny.”

Stephanie’s wounds were already torturing her, and her mother wasn’t helping the situation at all. Since

Olivia wouldn’t help her out, the wounds felt twice as painful. However, she knew shouldn’t talk back to

her mother, no matter how much she wished to. If she wanted to live a happy life, she had to rely on

Olivia, who was an elder, not to mention that she’s also Oscar’s mother. As long as Olivia was

defending her, Oscar wouldn’t do anything to her.

Making an ally out of Olivia was a good move from Stephanie. She would do anything to get all of

Olivia’s love, even if that meant being the woman’s pet. Stephanie knew she stood now that she was

no longer the young lady who could do whatever she wanted. After she had lost Oscar’s support, her

life had become significantly harder.