Chapter 35 - The Andersons From New York?!
Nora stood up and got ready to head out to receive the guest.
However, after she took a couple of steps, she saw that Henry and the others were still seated with their noses in the air and putting on an arrogant display. It was obvious that they didn"t care about the guest.
She ignored them and went straight out. At once, she saw an elegant and presentable middle-aged woman standing at the door.
The woman was well-maintained and wore a cla.s.sy long-sleeved dress. It seemed as if a beauty had walked straight out of a painting, and there was a kind of serene and composed charm around her that was found only in a scholarly family.
Mrs. Lane, who was holding disinfectant spray, originally thought that she would see a meek and dirty country b.u.mpkin entering. Little did she think that the guest would actually look like that instead. For a moment, she didn"t even dare to spray the disinfectant she was holding anymore.
Melissa Anderson smiled gently and said, "We meet again, Nora!"
Nora didn"t expect to meet her here. Rather surprised, she said, "You…"
Melissa came forward a couple of steps quickly and grabbed her hand. "This is fate, child! It was your own uncle who you saved!"
Inside the house, Angela, who was dying to mock them, couldn"t wait anymore. When she saw the two of them speaking at the door, she walked straight toward the door while saying, "Have you disinfected the place, Mrs. Lane? We mustn"t just let any random person into the h—"
Her words came to an abrupt end when she saw Melissa!
After a three-second pause, her voice instantly became much louder and she exclaimed sharply, "You"re Nora"s aunt?!"
Upon hearing her reaction, Wendy and Henry also stood up and walked toward the door.
Wendy whispered, "Angela is still too young and inexperienced. It"s because she"s never seen a country b.u.mpkin before that she"s overreacting so badly. Sigh."
With a look of smugness all over her face, she straightened her back quietly.
When she married Henry back then, everyone had said that she wasn"t as pretty as his deceased wife, so she had been holding a huge grudge all these years. But now, she could finally hold her head up high when it came to the family background!
She would show Nora"s poor relative what she was made of!
The next moment, she immediately spotted Melissa.
Wendy came from an average family. When she married Henry, she was considered as having married someone of a higher social status. During all these years of socializing with rich men"s wives, she had worked hard to learn and copy their style and mannerisms.
She had originally thought that she was doing pretty well, but little did she think that the air around Melissa and her presence when she was merely standing there would already give her a crus.h.i.+ng defeat!
For a while, none of them spoke.
Melissa had grown up in a wealthy family. Her emotions had overwhelmed her when she first saw Nora, but now that she had calmed down, she immediately sensed something amiss.
The corners of her lips curled up into a smile. She ignored Wendy and looked at Henry instead as she asked, "You must be my brother-in-law?"
Henry had already recovered from his surprise by then. The arrogance on his face had completely disappeared. Instead, he gave her an ingratiating smile and asked, "You"re…?"
Melissa cast her eyes down and said, "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I"m an artist."
After glossing over the topic, she said, "It doesn"t look like I came at a good time, Nora. Let"s find somewhere else to talk instead."
Nora nodded. "Sure."
She took the lead. Her voice sounded a little deep as she said, "Slow down."
Angela only dared to speak again after the two of them got in the car and left. She asked, "Dad, Mom. Who is she?"
During the emergency at Hotel Finest the other time, Melissa hadn"t looked her usual self because she was crying very badly due to worry, so Angela didn"t recognize her just now.
Wendy gritted her teeth. Then, she immediately took Henry"s arm and said, "Oh you know, artists. No wonder she looks so cla.s.sy. But I"ve heard that there aren"t many artists who are making money nowadays. Instead, there are a lot of people that try to scam others by calling themselves artists."
Angela curled her lip. "So that"s what it is. I thought she was from a wealthy family because of how she had behaved! That makes sense, though. If Nora"s mother"s family were rich, her mother wouldn"t have been so down and out!"
Henry, however, was staring at the doorway and looking very distracted.
All the outsiders thought that Nora"s mother was dest.i.tute and had only managed to survive because she married him. But actually, she had a company under her name back then…
While he was lost in thought, Wendy spoke up and said, "Nora"s mother"s last name is Anderson, right? That"s an unusual last name in our circle. There isn"t any distinguished family with that last name apart from the Andersons in New York."
Her words made Henry come back to his senses.
She was right. Apart from the Andersons in New York, all the other businessmen with the last name Anderson weren"t important people.
He snorted and said, "They are probably just putting on an act. I"m just afraid that Nora is stupid enough to let them trick her!"
Wendy smiled and said, "Alright, that"s enough. Don"t we have a dinner appointment with the Grays tonight? Let"s get ready, lest we be late."
Henry nodded. "Yes, that"s more important."
Angela grumbled, "Someone has already reserved Hotel Finest"s VVIP room. Otherwise, how nice would it be to have dinner there? Sigh!"
Outside the house.
Nora saw an understated black Cayenne parked there.
The car was a high-end model and its estimated value in the domestic market was around $700,000.
For her aunt to be able to afford such a car… Was she really just an artist?
However, she didn"t ask about it and just followed Melissa into the car. Melissa instructed the chauffeur, "To Hotel Finest."
After the car started, Melissa observed the girl next to her. Her cat-like eyes were downcast and she had long eyelashes. Although she was beautiful, she was unusually pale.
She sighed and said, "You must have suffered a lot all these years, Nora."
Nora thought to herself, … Actually, it wasn"t that bad. After all, it makes no difference where you sleep.
When Melissa saw her keeping quiet, she knew immediately that she didn"t want to talk about the Smiths.
The report that Justin had sent them was more detailed than what they could see on the surface. She felt sorry for her niece, so she changed the subject and said,
"By the way, your uncle is still in the hospital. The reason why we were able to find you was because someone helped us greatly, so your uncle wants us to treat them to dinner tonight as thanks. Is that alright with you?"
Nora didn"t mind, so she nodded. "Okay."
Melissa breathed a sigh of relief.
When they arrived at Hotel Finest, Melissa said, "Don"t you have a daughter, Nora? Can I meet her?"
Nora could sense that Melissa was a kind person, so she agreed. She called Mrs. Lewis and told her to bring Cherry to the restaurant on the third floor.
The two headed to the restaurant first, intending to have a good chat with each other after entering the private room.
Half an hour later, the Smiths arrived just in time to see a distracted Anthony coming over to pick them up. After meeting up with them, he said, "I heard the Andersons from New York are in the VVIP room. Let"s see if we can talk to them later."
The Andersons from New York?
An indescribable feeling suddenly arose in Henry as if he had just let something slip by him.
At the same time, at the elevator hall on the third floor.
The presidential suite on the top floor had an exclusive elevator while the rest of the floors used public elevators.
Ding!
Ding!
The doors to both elevators opened at the same time.
Justin, together with Pete and Chester, came out of the presidential suite"s exclusive elevator.
The other elevator"s doors slowly opened to reveal Cherry standing inside.