The Woman From Hell

"Hahaha, this young lady is pretty shrewd, huh? You're a good judge of character, accepting such a perfect lady as your goddaughter, Petra. Mr. Grant is really lucky to have such a clever and beautiful wife.” Mr. Zach happily raised his glass.

Theo stood up and took the wine glass from my hands, giving Mr. Zach a professional smile. "Thank you for the kind words, Mr. Zach. My wife is pregnant and can't drink, so I'll toast on her behalf."

"You’re too polite, Mr. Grant. Cheers!” Mr. Zach clinked glasses with Theo with a wide grin.

"Alright, you don't have to worry anymore now. Since Mr. Zach has agreed to help you out, he'll definitely get everything settled soon. Sit down and have something to eat. You’re pregnant, and you shouldn’t starve yourself." Petra pulled me to my seat with a smile, sounding just like a loving mother.

I finally breathed out a sigh of relief. I softly said, " Thank you, Petra.”

She smiled, not saying a word, and turned around to chat with the others.

After another round of toasting, everyone started chatting about the past.

Mr. Zach looked me up and down and asked Petra, " Petra, have you gotten any news about your daughter yet? I've been asking around in Salt City but..."

Petra, who had been smiling, suddenly revealed a pained expression. She dropped her head and said," I've been looking for her, but I've not received any news so far. It’s been so many years-it’s really tough!"

"Your efforts will pay off one day. As long as you don’t give up, I'm sure you'll find her." Mr. Zach patted her shoulder, comforting her.

Petra’s voice was slightly choked up. She looked at me and said, "If she was still alive, she would probably be around the same age as Wanda now."

"Now that you've mentioned it, Mrs. Grant’s features d o bear a slight resemblance to yours when you were younger, Petra. Now I know why you accepted her as your goddaughter-it was fated!" said another middle-aged man, looking at me. 2

The rest nodded in agreement. All of a sudden, everyone's eyes were on me.

I was a little unsure of what to do. I could only keep quiet and eat, my head bowed in embarrassment.

Fortunately, everyone soon moved on to chat about other things. The crowd's attention shifted away from me.

As I was eating, I felt some discomfort in my stomach, so I got up to walk to the bathroom. I propped myself u p with the sink and dry-heaved for a long while before I finally felt much better.

The moment I looked up, a glass of water appeared in front of me. "Rinse your mouth. It’ll help you feel better." 1

Theo stood in front of me with a glass of water in his hand, looking worried.

"Why are you here?" I took the glass of water and rinsed my mouth out.

"We can head back early if you don't feel too well." He took my hand and tried to walk out.

"No way. If Petra is sincere about helping me out, this dinner party is a good opportunity for me. I can't just leave." I stood at the sink, unmoving, and peered up at him. "Were you the one who asked Petra for help?"

Theo looked at me, mixed emotions in his eyes. After a very long time, he said, "I happened to bump into her on the way to the police station today. After she heard about what had happened, she offered to help." From NôvelDrama.Org.

"Does she need your help?" Although Theo was a VIP i n Salt City, he was still just a businessman. A rich and powerful lady like Petra would never take the initiative to offer help if she did not need a favor in return.

He did not reply, nor did I ask further questions. It was probably something to do with work.

"By the way, she spoke about looking for her daughter.

Does Petra have a daughter? Isn't she Xander’s mother?" I suddenly recalled the things they had spoken about at the dinner table. I could not help but feel weirded out by the strange stares they had been giving me.

"Xander isn’t Petra's biological son. Before she

married Xander's father, Petra was married to another man. Petra had a daughter, but her daughter had been abandoned by her husband at that time. Because of that, Petra divorced her husband and went abroad. She's been searching for her daughter all these years.”

I understood now. No wonder Xander never really spoke about his mother. It turned out that Petra was just his stepmother. Xander's father passed away two years ago, so it was expected for them to not be as close.

I did not think too much about it as I returned to the dining table with Theo.

Dinner lasted for a very long time, and everyone left at a very late hour. I fell asleep in the car, feeling exhausted, and Theo carried me upstairs.

When I woke up the next morning, Theo had already gone to work.

Miss Woods had prepared a table laden with every kind of breakfast food, a massive change from my days of gnawing on cold bread.

Thinking about the fact that the show would start filming tomorrow, I took a few hasty bites before rushing to work.

Miss Woods saw how little I had eaten and quickly said, "Mrs. Grant, you can’t eat so little while you're pregnant. It’ll stunt the baby's growth. I'll pack some soup and desserts up for you, so you can eat them on the road."