After Divorce I Married a Tycoon-Chapter 64: If It’s Abnormal, There Must Be a Monster
Claire Mercer let the phone ring, having no intention of answering.
In her eyes, the Mercer family was no different from the Sinclair family’s pack of hypocrites.
Neither treated her like family.
They just weren’t quite as hypocritical, that was all.
But the phone kept ringing, grating on her nerves.
Eventually, she gave in and answered.
"What is it?"
Julian Mercer didn’t bother with pleasantries, getting straight to the point.
"I heard you were kicked out by the Sinclair family?"
"Isn’t this exactly what you wanted?" Claire Mercer retorted instead of answering.
"And for the record, I wasn’t kicked out by the Sinclair family."
"I was the one who planned to divorce Gavin Sinclair all along."
"They just happened to agree to it this time."
"Now that I’m completely out of the picture with Gavin Sinclair, your precious biological daughter can use her pregnancy to marry into Rhonia’s most prominent family."
"You all should be celebrating at home, shouldn’t you?"
’And they still have the nerve to call me.’
"Claire, just listen to yourself," Julian Mercer said.
"We may not be your biological parents, but we did raise you for all those years."
"It would be a lie to say there are no feelings between us. You’re still the young lady of the Mercer family, still our daughter."
"Of course we want you to have a good life, and for Scarlett to have a good life, too."
"Now that you’ve divorced Gavin Sinclair, you should come back home to the Mercers."
"The Mercer family might not be as wealthy as the Sinclairs, but we can certainly put food on the table for you." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
Hearing this, Claire Mercer felt not a flicker of warmth. Instead, her mind flooded with suspicion.
’Was this really her cold, taciturn adoptive father talking?’
’When did he become so eloquent?’
’If she didn’t know them so well, she might have actually been moved by his words.’
’This is too strange. There must be a catch.’
Her intuition told her that something was off about Julian Mercer’s call.
It was too abnormal.
’Is there some kind of scheme at play?’
"Fine. I’ll be back in a bit."
After she hung up, Adrian Sutton asked,
"You’re going back to the Mercer family?"
Claire Mercer nodded.
"I’ll go over and see what they’re up to."
"Besides, one of my design sketchbooks from college is still at their house."
"Alright, I’ll take you."
After dinner, Adrian Sutton drove Claire Mercer to the Mercer family’s villa.
"If anything seems wrong, call me."
"Okay. Thank you, Adrian Sutton."
"You don’t need to thank me."
He really wanted to go inside with her.
He was worried about what the Mercers might do to her.
But he had no right to, so all he could do was wait outside.
Inside the house, when Julian Mercer and Judith Caldwell saw Claire Mercer return, they both plastered on welcoming smiles.
This was something that had never happened before.
Especially Judith Caldwell, who had never once shown her a pleasant expression.
Today, she was acting even more strangely than Julian Mercer.
"Claire, you’re back. Have you had dinner?"
"If you haven’t, I can have the kitchen whip something up for you."
Judith Caldwell’s beaming smile made Claire’s stomach churn with unease.
"I’ve already eaten," she said flatly.
"You called me back today for a reason, didn’t you?"
"Not at all," Julian Mercer said.
"Your mother and I were just worried about you, afraid you might do something drastic."
"Why would I do something drastic? I was the one who insisted on divorcing Gavin Sinclair."
"I’m finally free from the Sinclair family. If anything, I should be celebrating."
"That’s good," Judith Caldwell said. "We’re relieved you see it that way."
Claire Mercer watched them maintain their enthusiastic smiles and felt that something was definitely wrong.
"Are you sure there’s nothing else?"
"Really," said Judith Caldwell.
"However, your brother is coming home tomorrow."
"If you don’t have anything planned, don’t go out. Just stay home and get some rest."
"We can all have a family reunion dinner together in the evening."
Claire Mercer nodded and headed straight upstairs.
When she reached her room, she froze in disbelief.
Her old bedroom, the one she had before she married, was gone.
It had been turned into Scarlett Jewel’s walk-in closet.
The entire room was filled with Scarlett Jewel’s clothes, bags, jewelry, and shoes...
’Heh.’
She had never owned such designer clothes before.
’A biological daughter really is treated differently.’
’She should have known. How could the Mercer family suddenly be so kind?’
’All that talk about her still being the young lady of the Mercer family, still their daughter...’
’And now, here she was, without even a room to her name in the Mercer household.’
Judith Caldwell, who had followed her upstairs, let out a contemptuous snort.
Then, she plastered on that fake smile again and stepped forward to explain to Claire Mercer.
"Oh, Claire, we just figured that since you were married, the room would just be sitting empty."
"So we knocked down the wall between your room and Scarlett’s to make a walk-in closet for her."
"You enjoyed twenty years of comfort in the Mercer family, while Scarlett endured so much hardship out in the world."
"You’ve always been so well-behaved and understanding. I’m sure you can appreciate our position. You don’t mind, do you?"
Claire Mercer gave a cold laugh. "I don’t mind."
’It’s not like she ever expected anything from them anyway.’
’She was already utterly disappointed in these so-called parents.’
’So none of this really mattered.’
But what about the things she had left in her room?
"What happened to my things from the room?" she asked.
Judith Caldwell said, "We moved your bedroom next door. Everything’s in there."
’Next door?’
Claire Mercer’s gaze followed Judith Caldwell’s pointing hand, and she couldn’t stop a bitter laugh from escaping.
"You’ve really gone to so much trouble for me, clearing out the storage closet to use as my room."
It was the dark, damp storage closet next to the shared bathroom on the second floor.
Even the live-in maid’s room was better than this one.
Judith Caldwell said, "You are a daughter of this family."
"It wouldn’t be right to make you stay in a guest room downstairs, would it?"
"On the second floor, besides your brother’s room, the gym, Scarlett’s room, and your father’s and my room..."
"...this is the only room left."
"So, Claire, you’ll just have to make do."
Claire Mercer wanted to snap back, ’Why should I have to make do?’
But she held her tongue. It was pointless.
She hadn’t planned on staying at the Mercer’s house anyway.
Right now, all she wanted was to get her sketchbook and leave.
She didn’t want to exchange another word with them.
She walked into the small, dark, damp room.
She rummaged around for a long time but couldn’t find her sketchbook.
"Where are my things?"
Scarlett Jewel strolled out from her bedroom and said casually,
"Oh, those? I threw them out. This room is tiny, and they were just taking up space."
At her words, Claire Mercer’s breath caught in her chest with rage.
"What gives you the right to touch my things?"
The sketchbook she had poured so much hard work into had just been thrown away by them, just like that.
Losing her room was one thing.
But how dare they trample on the fruits of her labor?
"Do any of you even know the meaning of the word respect?"
Scarlett Jewel said, "Big sister, what do you own that wasn’t bought for you by Mom and Dad?"
"They spent so much time, effort, and money raising you. What’s the big deal about them touching your things?"
"Is there any need to throw such a fit?"
"Shut up," Claire Mercer snarled at her. "Get out of my sight."
