Chapter 485 485

"Hm, I think that's good. Vincent will never yield unless you kick him off his high horse. Let's see what we can do to help Vernon."

Chloe's jaw dropped just as Dorothea dropped the bomb. She said it so lightly, as if it was a topic worth discussing over an evening coffee break.

Dorothea was amused watching Chloe's change of expression. She looked like she had just seen a ghost or heard a ghost talking to her ear.

"Was it that surprising?" Dorothea asked.

"Of course!" Chloe snapped. "I can't believe that you're thinking about helping us ruin Vincent's life."

"And why's that surprising?" Dorothea continued asking. "I thought I told you already that I want to separate myself from Vincent or else I'll go insane."

"Yeah, but this is just—" Chloe shook her head out of disbelief. "—I don't know if I should trust you or not, Dorothea. I still remember how you always saw Vincent as a perfect man who can do no wrong."

Dorothea's smile faltered, and she sighed, "I think, deep down, I already know that he is not the perfect son I always wanted him to be. But I turned a blind eye to all of his obvious red flags. Because… you know… I'm just a mother with high hopes for my first son."

"And to me, Vincent is my future. I want him to be great and perfect, so I can have something I can be proud of despite all the failures in my life…." Dorothea started to drown in self-pity. "My marriage life is a total failure, and I thought if I can pour all of my love to Vincent, he will grow up different from his father, and I can at least rest my heart on my son and give myself peace of mind."

"And now that he turns out to be Vaughn 2.0…." Chloe murmured.

"Yes, he is just as terrible as his late father, and I— I will not let a monster like him run hurt an innocent woman like you," Dorothea said. "I love him still, but I want him to know that he is not invincible."

The more Chloe heard about Dorothea's story and point of view, the more she realized they were very much alike.

Chloe also had the same idea in her mind.

She wanted to protect Mackie, teach her to be a smart and sensible child, and always stay humble despite her origin.

She knew that her marriage with Vincent was a failure anyway. She wanted to raise Mackie right so she wouldn't become Vincent 2.0.

Chloe wished that Mackie would be a perfect woman when she reached adulthood.

Chloe imagined if one day she found out that Mackie grew up to be a monster just like her father, she might as well jump to her death because she had completely failed everything and everyone in her life.

So she understood the unhealthy connection between Dorothea and Vincent.

"Well then, now that I've decided to help you and Vernon, I think I already know the first step I can take," Dorothea stated confidently.

"Huh? You do? But I haven't told you anything about Vernon's plans."

"I don't need his plan," Dorothea said. "I know that all of his plans involve something to do with his businesses, right?"

Chloe nodded.

"Well, Maria already sniffed some of his movements. But she can't do a thing without Vincent's approval, or else she'd be heavily reprimanded, even worse— fired."

Chloe took a deep breath as she started to get nervous. Vernon had already told her a few times that his Big bro was suspicious, but everything was handled well so far, so Chloe had nothing to worry about.

But still, Chloe felt that Vernon was walking on a thin rope connecting between two giant chasms, one misstep, and he was done for.

"Thanks to Vincent's affection for his little brother, he hasn't suspected a thing," Dorothea said, which calmed Chloe's heart a little. "Unfortunately, I can't do anything to help Vernon on a business scale, because Vincent has stripped me of my rights in any of the Gray family businesses."

"I don't have any shares within the company anymore. But I get my money from Gray family properties," Dorothea said.

"Then, um… what can you do to help him?"

"Publication."

"Huh?"

"I'm actually the one handling all the charity works for the Gray family under his name," Dorothea said. "I manage all of them, and always make sure that Vincent will get a favorable impression in the public's eyes."

"I don't know if this will help Vernon in the long run, but I can create some ripple within his charity works, maybe I can cut educational funding for a few months and surely, the parents of the students will start complaining on the internet."

"It will at least put some stress on him and Maria, because publication is very important for him. He's obsessed with maintaining his image, just like Vaughn."

Dorothea's idea was actually brilliant. Chloe could already imagine people's fuss when they realized the Gray family had pulled funding and scholarships from them.

But that would also put huge stress on those innocent students…

Dorothea already sensed the concern that Chloe had, so she answered before Chloe spoke her worry;

​

"Don't worry about the students. I will send their money cumulatively. I can probably hold their money for at most three months at most before sending them all at once. In those three months, I will see if I can also stir up something in the media. Though don't expect too much from my involvement in the media, because Vincent's PR team is one of the best— if not the best PR team in the world."

Chloe nodded.

She understood that it was difficult— perhaps even impossible to ruin Vincent's public persona. He slept with so many women. Some were even high-profile celebrities who could ruin his image in public with just one tweet.

But none of them dared to speak up. Even if rumors were circulating around, Vincent's PR team could always make something up to shift people's attention.