118 Chapter 118

'This place reeks of her touch,' Vernon thought. His sister-in-law had this weird hobby of acting as if she didn't have money and always tried to live on a budget, even though Vernon literally handed her his black card for her to use.

He thought she did it because she just wanted to humiliate him, indirectly telling him that he was poor compared to Vincent— his Big brother. Because his Big brother could provide Chloe with all the lavish things, this world could offer.

"This way, Sir," the maids led the way for Vernon. He walked through a long corridor and noticed many hanged family pictures of his Big brother's family— Vincent, Chloe, Mackie, and a little bit of that old hag Dorothea Gray lined on the corridor wall.

'ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ Novel(B) in.ᴄᴏᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴇxᴘᴇʀɪᴇɴᴄᴇ ꜰᴀsᴛᴇʀ ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ sᴘᴇᴇᴅ.',

This house was surprisingly very tidy and homey…

Unable to contain his curiosity, Vernon finally asked the maids, "I heard from my Big brother that my sister-in-law left the house with my niece. Do you know what happened?"

The maids went silent for a while. Vernon noticed that they were glancing at each other before one replied, "Pardon, Sir. We're just maids who work from dawn to dusk, so we don't know much about Mr. And Mrs. Gray's life."

"Are you sure?" Vernon asked. He found it quite unbelievable because his sister-in-law was a stay-at-home mom. She seemed to be a homemaker as well, seeing how meticulous she was trying to make this mansion look homey.

'Visit (No ve (l)B i n) to read, pls!',

Thus, these maids must've known something about what happened in the house since Chloe was mostly at home.

But Vernon couldn't pry more than this, at least not in a direct or confrontational manner, because he already expected that his big brother must've ordered these maids to escort him for a reason.

"My sister-in-law is a homemaker, right? Did she arrange everything here?"

"Yes, Mr. Phoenix Gray. She is the one who orders us around," one maid replied. They glanced at each other for a split second, and the other added;

"She is mostly just giving orders. She doesn't actually do any work around."

"Really?"

"Yes, she is… a wasteful lady— if I may quote Mr. Vincent Gray."

"Wasteful? Like a gold digger?"

"Yes…"

"That's interesting. Because I've noticed many cheap furniture and knick-knack around the house. I don't think a gold digger would want a cheap thing when she has the resource to buy anything she wants."

"T—That's…"

Vernon smirked and seemed to catch on to something. "Hmm~? Is that how you describe the mistress who hired you? That's a bit too spiteful, don't you think?"

The maids jolted out of shock, but luckily, they had arrived in front of Vincent's office door.

They opened the door and welcomed Vernon to enter, "Please wait inside, Mr. Phoenix Gray. Master Vincent Gray will be here soon."

"Sure," Vernon entered his big brother's office. The maids wanted to close the door, but Vernon's hand suddenly grabbed the door hinge, and his head peeked out, "What's your name?"

The maid was astonished when Mr. Phoenix Gray suddenly asked their names. If they weren't in the Gray mansion, they would be head over heels to be noticed by such a handsome hunk who happened to be a Gray family member.

But, this man had this very intimidating aura around him, and the fact that they had witnessed how horrible Master Vincent Gray treated his wife— they were actually scared to even say their names.

Vernon watched their face turn pale, and they looked terrified. It wasn't all that surprising for him, though. People who worked with the Gray family tended to be subservient and even intimidated by fear.

'So it's not that different here. Either Chloe has intimidated them to the bone— which I think is impossible, or my big brother intimidated them instead.'

'I think the second one is more believable,' Vernon thought.

"Aww, too bad. I was going to ask my big brother to give you two a raise since you've shown me good hospitality," Vernon grinned. "You can leave now."

',

"P—Please excuse us, Mr. Phoenix Gray."

The maids closed the door. Their palms were sweaty because they thought they had faced the devil himself.

Vernon Phoenix Gray was a lot more intimidating than Mr. Vincent Gray, despite being all smiley.

"Goddamn, he is so scary. I thought I might die of a heart attack when he asked us our names," one maid said to the other. "Did he see through our lies? I thought we were already convincing enough."

"Y—Yes, but he starts asking questions we can't answer. Of course, we can't just say that Mrs. Chloe Gray has been emotionally abused until she zipped her mouth completely when Mr. Vincent Gray is around."

"Yeah, I don't want to get fired, or even worse… Mr. Vincent Gray might notice our fault and actually ruin my life…."

They were hired by Mrs. Chloe Gray around the same time four years ago, and they came together to the mansion. She was such a sweet lady who told them about the stuff they needed to do around the house. She smiled and asked them if they also had children at home. Once they said they did have children at home, Mrs. Chloe whispered to them that she would give them a bonus at the end of every month aside from their salary. She said it was a bonus for the kids.

She was all sweet and helpful until the legendary Mr. Vincent Gray arrived home in the late afternoon.

Then, that smiling lady just vanished out of thin air. Mrs. Chloe Gray became so soulless— almost doll-like. She looked terrified when Mr. Vincent Gray would look at her and ask her things. She became very silent and only spoke when Vincent Gray told her to speak.

'ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ No(v) e lBin ᴏɴʟʏ.',

Soon, they noticed that Mr. Vincent Gray would use his charm and money to pick a few of the younger maids and fucked them, even when Mrs. Chloe Gray was at home.

They also noticed how Mr. Vincent Gray bullied his wife for the smallest thing, nitpicking at every little detail until Mrs. Chloe Gray broke down in tears many times.