Chapter 11: Your Upbringing Isn’t That Great?

"Dating is a good thing." William spoke unhurriedly, his voice lazy yet carrying a hint of coldness. "But if it's cheating, that's definitely not a good thing."

He turned to look at Wayne, his tone becoming respectful. "Dad, you've been devoted to Mom your whole life. I'm sure you wouldn't want the Ashford family descendants to include some promiscuous, lowlife bastard, right?"

This statement flattered Wayne immensely. His face darkened as he sternly reprimanded Steven, "Steven, William is right! We the Ashford family absolutely cannot allow such disgraceful behavior! This is called being promiscuous, understand?"

"If your mother were still alive and saw Ethan acting like this, she'd be furious enough to get sick! You're almost fifty years old, can't even discipline your own son properly, and you still dream of me handing over the entire Ashford Group to you?"

Steven had originally come to discuss getting more management authority from Wayne, but before he could even speak, he got dragged down by Ethan.

He was thoroughly humiliated, cursing inwardly: That bastard Ethan, I'll have to teach him a good lesson when we get back!

Watching Steven's setback, William was in great spirits.

He casually picked up an apple from the table, took a bite, and stood up. "Dad, you guys take your time chatting. I'm heading upstairs."

Seeing him about to leave, Steven felt even more resentful and couldn't help taking a jab at him. "You just got back, what's the rush to go upstairs? Can't you spend more time chatting with Dad? When you're not home, Dad talks about you every day."

William glanced at the hypocritical Steven and smiled. "I'm in a rush to go upstairs and date."

"No matter how much Dad misses me, it doesn't compare to how much he wants me to bring home a wife soon, right? Dad, I'm heading up now."

Hearing this, Wayne was so delighted he couldn't stop smiling, waving his hands repeatedly. "Go, go! Have a good chat with your girlfriend!"

Steven was so frustrated he could spit blood. He worked so hard for the Ashford Group but couldn't get a single word of praise from Wayne, only scolding; yet William, this bastard, just by dating someone, could make Wayne this happy? This was way too biased!

7 PM, The Hughes Villa.

Victoria finished replying to emails on the second-floor balcony and pushed open the French windows to walk back to her bedroom.

As soon as she entered, she saw Sarah bringing Ethan into her room and rummaging through her things.

Sarah pointed at the sports trophies from Victoria's middle school years on the bookshelf and laughed. "Ethan, look how funny Victoria is. Instead of studying properly, she had to practice high jump, running, swimming. My parents always said she was all brawn and no brains. That's why my dad never thought about handing the Hughes family business over to her."

This behavior made Victoria's temples throb with anger.

This was her room, and Sarah, just to put her down in front of Ethan, had thrown away even basic manners!

Victoria was thinking about how to deal with this pair of jerks when Sarah suddenly slipped—to create physical contact, she deliberately let out a delicate cry and fell limply into Ethan's arms.

Ethan instinctively reached out to catch her, and both lost their balance, tumbling together onto Victoria's bed.

Perfect opportunity!

Victoria sneered, turned and walked to the balcony corner, picked up the basin of water she'd been using to water plants, and without a word, dumped it right over the two people on the bed!

The full basin of cold water accurately drenched both Ethan and Sarah completely.

The bone-chilling cold made Sarah scream. She awkwardly wiped the water from her face and shrieked at Victoria, "Victoria, are you crazy! Why did you splash us!"

Ethan also wiped the water from his face, his eyes dark with murderous intent. "Victoria, if you're sick, go get treatment! What the hell is wrong with you!"

The commotion upstairs alarmed Charles and Jade downstairs. They rushed upstairs, only to see Ethan and Sarah soaking wet, lying on Victoria's bed in an extremely suggestive position.

Sarah's carefully styled hair was now plastered to her scalp, still dripping water.

"What happened? Sarah, did your sister bully you again?" As soon as Jade entered, she immediately blamed Victoria without asking any questions.

Charles also felt embarrassed and sternly reprimanded, "Victoria, what are you doing! Ethan is our honored guest. Is there some misunderstanding between you?"

He was at least trying to save face by using the word "misunderstanding" to smooth things over.

Victoria crossed her arms and laughed mockingly. "Dad, even if Ethan is an honored guest, he shouldn't be running into my room to flirt with my sister on my bed, right?"

"As soon as I walked in, I saw the two of them hugging and kissing on my bed. I splashed them with cold water to help them cool down."

Her gaze swept over Jade and Sarah like a knife. "Dad, the Hughes family is at least a respectable household. We can't have rumors spreading about Sarah bringing a man to have sex on my bed, right?"

Charles's face instantly turned dark, his knife-like gaze shooting toward Sarah.

Sarah panicked and quickly struggled out of Ethan's arms. "Dad, it's not like that! It's really not like that! I was just showing Ethan around our house, and we happened to be in Victoria's room when I accidentally slipped."

This weak explanation wouldn't fool even an idiot.

Seeing Charles truly angry, Jade quickly tried to smooth things over. "Charles, this must be a misunderstanding. Ethan and Sarah are both well-mannered good kids, they would never do such a thing."

Though Charles wanted to curry favor with the Ashford family, if such a sordid scandal got out, how could he face anyone? He stood there with a cold face, saying nothing.

Looking at this ridiculous family, Victoria felt extremely satisfied.

She picked up her bag and walked out casually. Before leaving, she didn't forget to turn back and add one more jab. "Dad, Jade's way of raising a daughter really isn't very good."

Dropping this line, Victoria left The Hughes Villa with a mocking smile, not looking back once.

Jade watched her arrogant figure leave, so angry her nails dug into her flesh. But the current Victoria was no longer the little girl she could manipulate at will.