Chapter 4 No Longer Want to Please Anyone in This Family

Chase's chiseled face was icy cold.

"You think you can just walk away after what you did to Gabriel?"

"What should I do? Should Gabriel kneel and thank me as I leave?"

"Isabella!" Chase's face darkened. "I can't stand by and watch you act like this."

Isabella raised an eyebrow, clearly disgusted. "Then gouge your eyes out!"

Chase's brows furrowed instantly.

"What did you say?" He couldn't believe it.

The Isabella in front of him was a far cry from the one he saw yesterday.

Yesterday, she had greeted him with respect, calling him "Chase" politely.

In just one day, she had changed completely, becoming so arrogant and rude.

Isabella, visibly annoyed, snapped back, "Can't you hear? If you're deaf, get it checked."

Chase stared at her, unable to detect any hint of pretense.

She was genuinely irritated with him.

Realizing this, Chase felt a sharp, inexplicable pain in his heart.

His frustration grew.

"Isabella, you have no respect for your elders."

"Respect for my elders?" Isabella found it laughable.

"Chase, you demand I respect my brother, but why don't you ask Gabriel to respect his elders and care for the young? Where were you when he was acting crazy earlier?"

"Gabriel drugged my water, dumped me at Heather Bluff in the middle of the night, and what did you do about it? When he put dead rats in my room and needles in my bed, you turned a blind eye!"

Faced with Isabella's accusations, Chase gripped his fork tightly, his knuckles turning white. He wanted to say something but couldn't find the words.

Finally, Isabella stared at him with extreme disdain and said, "Chase, your holier-than-thou act makes me sick."

"You... what did you say?" Chase looked at Isabella in disbelief, as if she were a stranger.

Sickening?

That was Isabella's verdict on him.

How could that be?

Chase felt an inexplicable tightness in his chest, like he couldn't breathe.

When he finally came to his senses, all he saw was Isabella's indifferent figure heading upstairs.

Everyone was stunned.

It took Gabriel a few seconds to react. He angrily shook the food off his head and charged upstairs like a mad lion, "Isabella! I'll kill you!"

How dare she dump food on his head.

She was asking for it.

"Gabriel, don't..." Bianca gently tugged at his sleeve, looking at him with tearful eyes like an angel, "Don't fight with Isabella."

Gabriel was fuming, "She dared to bully me!"

Who did she think she was?

She hadn't even earned his approval and already showed her true colors?

"Enough!" Chase took a deep breath and looked at Gabriel coldly, "Drugging her, planting needles—you're something else."

With that, Chase got up and left.

Eating was the last thing on his mind.

Gabriel watched Chase's retreating figure, clenching his fists in frustration.

His eyes reddened with anger as he shouted, "Isabella dared to tattle!"

She used to stay quiet.

"Gabriel, don't be angry." Bianca clung to his sleeve, "Isabella didn't mean to tell Chase all that."

Gabriel was unwilling to let it go, "So she tattled? Big deal, I'll tell Dad when he gets home, and he'll deal with her!"

Besides, Isabella used to listen to him. Why wasn't she listening now, and why was she so harsh?

It made him feel miserable.

——

That afternoon, Isabella locked herself in her room, and no one knew what she was doing.

Gabriel spent ages in the shower but couldn't get rid of the smell of food on him.

All because of Isabella!

In the evening, as soon as Hayden and Olivia walked in, Gabriel rushed over to complain about Isabella's actions at lunch.

Hayden's face tightened. "She was that rough?"

Isabella had been brought back this summer. Though her manners weren't perfect, she was a shy, honest girl, quite introverted.

Such outrageous behavior didn't match their usual impression of Isabella.

"Dad, you should've seen her. She didn't respect me at all, she was so arrogant." Gabriel stuck his neck out, "I didn't hit her only because she's a girl! Dad, you have to stand up for me."

Hayden walked towards his study with a stern face, "Bring her here!"

Gabriel eagerly went to knock on Isabella's door, looking quite pleased with himself, "Isabella! Dad wants you in his study!"

"Let's see what you'll do now."

"Don't think Dad doesn't know what you did to me. I'll make sure he kicks you out of this house!"

Gabriel knocked several times before the door finally opened from the inside.

Isabella stood in the doorway, looking at him.

Unlike her bare face from the afternoon, Isabella now wore purple lipstick, heavy smoky makeup, her dry, coarse brown curls, and her arms covered in tattoos.

Gabriel was startled, then angrily shouted, "Why did you make yourself look so ugly again?"

Isabella looked at him indifferently, "Because I want to."

She knew this look was unattractive, and the Taylors wouldn't like it.

But what did it matter?

She no longer cared to please anyone in this house.

Gabriel frowned, "Don't you know you look awful like this?"

Isabella walked slowly towards the study, "What you think is ugly has nothing to do with me."

Gabriel was stunned.

He stood there, watching Isabella's back, and after a few seconds, he caught up, "Isabella, I can't wait for Mom to scold you!"

As soon as Isabella entered the study, Olivia noticed her and frowned, "What's going on?"

When Isabella first came to this house, she wore heavy makeup like this. Olivia thought she lacked the elegance of a socialite, so Isabella changed and never wore makeup again.

Now she had reverted to her bad habits.

Isabella nonchalantly played with her frizzy wig, "It's natural for girls to want to look good."

Olivia's face was stern, "Is this what you call looking good? You're embarrassing the Taylor family!"

Isabella smirked sarcastically, "Mrs. Taylor, it's not up to me to embarrass the Taylor family. From the start, I've just been a maid's child."

"You..." Olivia was momentarily speechless.

Indeed, when Isabella returned, Olivia had told her not to have any delusions. The Taylor family wouldn't announce Isabella's identity. They would say she was the child of a deceased maid, temporarily staying at the Taylor Villa, supported by the Taylor family for her living and education.

Because if they announced Isabella as the Taylor's biological daughter, the truth that Bianca was adopted would come out.

Bianca was emotionally fragile and couldn't handle such a blow or the judgmental eyes of others.

Olivia had kindly advised Isabella not to compete with Bianca for the Taylor daughter's identity. Isabella had agreed, saying she just wanted to be with her parents and didn't care about the title. She even said she was happy to treat Bianca as her sister and give her the identity.

Besides, Olivia had her own reasons.

Isabella came from a rough background, unpolished in many ways, not fit for high society. Olivia had invested so much in Bianca, molding her into the perfect socialite. In her heart, Bianca held a place that Isabella could never reach.