Chapter 535 - Feel Free To Sue Him Then
Chapter 535 Feel Free To Sue Him Then
The voice was clear and pleasant but cold, shocking everyone present. Everyone suddenly turned around to see Joel, who had returned home at some point, standing outside the crowd. The man, who usually had a smile on his face, had a frosty look at the moment.
Everyone who saw him subconsciously stepped aside and made way for him.
Just like that, Joel took step after step toward Tanya and went up to her. As he stood beside her and held her hand, his attractive fox-like eyes glanced at Jill. Jill’s heart trembled at the sight of him.
But when she thought of how Joel had always shown her mercy in the past, she became bold again. “The Joneses brought Tanya up. By virtue of our kindness in bringing her up, how are we unworthy of it?” The Joneses had brought Tanya up? The woman must have forgotten again how Tanya had survived!
At the Joneses, she survived by eating garbage that the others had left behind. The money that she bought her school textbooks with were all earned by working as a babysitter for the Joneses. The nine-year compulsory education was free of charge. Even the money for her tuition in high school had come from her distributing flyers during summer vacations!
What kind of financial support had they given her?
Joel had decided not to hold it against the Joneses all this time simply because Jill was Tanya’s mother.
No matter how badly she treated Tanya, she was her biological mother. This was a fact that would never change!
He hadn’t made any moves because he was afraid that Tanya would come to regret it in the future. After all, they were mother and daughter related by blood, and Tanya had indeed grown up under her supervision.
Moreover, Tanya initially had Karl to stand up for her, so Joel was more than happy to hide at the back.
Firstly, this gave Karl an opportunity to do something, which would help with him repairing his relationship with Tanya. Secondly, as a junior, it ultimately wasn’t appropriate for him to be too merciless with his elders.
But now that Karl had been imprisoned, if Joel still didn’t step forward, wouldn’t Tanya be bullied to death?
The previous night, when Jill took money from other people, demanded that Joel did what she asked, and then left after saying that, Tanya had already thought it through.
On that night itself, she had already told Joel that she wanted to sever ties with Jill!
Tanya had already made up her mind.
Jill had no boundaries. There was no way Tanya would allow such a shameless parasite to leech off the Smiths!
It was because she had finally made up her mind that Joel stepped forward today.
He didn’t want outsiders to rebuke Tanya and say that she didn’t have a conscience. In that case, he would be the bad guy instead!
He stared straight at Jill and sneered, “What does the fact that you’re Tanya’s mother have to do with the Smiths?!”
The question stunned Jill, and she stood where she was in a daze. She frowned and asked Joel perplexedly, “Tanya is your wife, so that makes me your mother-in-law! How am I unrelated to the Smiths?”
Joel’s eyes suddenly turned cold. “Oh? Sorry, but I’ve always been a cold and heartless man, and I believe there are a lot of people who have said that about me behind my back. They call me the smiley Hades, right?”
Joel and Justin were equally famous in New York, but he wasn’t as fearsome as Justin because he always looked like he was smiling.
However, everyone knew that he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
One could never figure out what he liked. He might be smiling at you one second, and then taking your life the next!
Many years ago, a real estate company had been driven into a corner by the Smiths. Desperate, the boss had approached Joel and gotten down on his knees in front of him to beg for forgiveness.
The smiling Joel had told him to stand up.
Thinking that Joel had let him off, the boss had left gratefully. However, the next day, he found out that the company had still gone bankrupt! In the end, the boss threw himself off the top of a building.
This incident was also the first thing that Joel had done after he took over the Smiths. It had intimidated all of New York, and no one had dared to underestimate him ever since.
At this moment, when Jill heard what he said, chills suddenly ran down her spine.
She stared at Joel and swallowed. “W-what are you planning?”
Joel took out a stack of evidence proving the Joneses’ crimes of tax evasion and waved it back and forth. He replied, “I just thought I’d cooperate with the authorities and crack down on some tax evasion.”
Jill swallowed at once, the look in her eyes going blank.
She stared at Joel incredulously. “H-how dare you!”
The authorities had been very strict in cracking down on tax evasion recently. Should the evidence about the Joneses’ tax evasion be submitted, the Joneses would definitely go bankrupt!
Not only would they lose all their money, but Mr. Jones would even have to go to jail! Joel cast his eyes down. “I have already dialed 911 just now. I’m sure the police will come and retrieve the evidence very soon.”
His simple one-liner made Jill’s knees go weak with fright.
It was at this moment that Mr. Jones, who had sent Jill here, finally couldn’t hide anymore. He got out of the car at the side, stepped in front of Jill, and said to Joel, “Mr. Smith, this is all a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding! I will take her away now, okay?”
Jill said angrily, “No!”
Smack!
Mr. Jones slapped her across the cheek at once. “Shut up!”
Then, he wanted to drag her away and leave.
Joel stared at Mr. Jones. He had threatened them several times with their company previously and each time, Mr. Jones would come forward and take Jill away. But a short while later, Jill would always pop up again.
Every word of hers had even stabbed right into Tanya’s heart this time.
Joel said dispassionately, “I’m afraid the two of you won’t be able to leave this time.”
Mr. Jones had initially thought it would be the same as before this time too. If they behaved themselves for a while, Joel would let them off. He didn’t expect to hear a response like that instead.
He was so scared that sweat instantly trickled down his forehead. His face paled a little and he said, “Mr. Smith, we’re all family here. Your mother-in-law was just too angry. Please forgive her this one time! I promise she will never show up in front of you ever again.”
Joel looked at Mr. Jones. “It seems like you’ve been saying this same thing every time.”
The look that Joel was giving him made Mr. Jones choke on his breath at once.
He glared at Jill furiously, stretched out his hand, and hit Jill’s face again, causing her cheek to swell at once. He said, “You bitch, I told you not to come, but you simply had to! Hurry up and get down on your knees at once, and apologize to Tanya and Mr. Smith!”
Get down on her knees?
By demanding that Tanya’s mother kneel down and apologize to her, were they really apologizing, or were they trying to drive Tanya into a corner?!
Everyone present could see this very clearly.
Jill burst into tears at once. “Tanya, you have no conscience whatsoever! Do you really want me to get down on my knees in front of you?!”
Everyone looked at Tanya in unison and began to persuade her.:
“Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Jones knows that she’s in the wrong. Why don’t you let her off this time…”
“Yes, Mrs. Smith, one must have boundaries in what they do. She’s your mother…”
Tanya stared at her and merely smiled sarcastically.
“No, it’s fine.”
Joel suddenly spoke up.
Jill immediately breathed a sigh of relief. She just knew that so long as she was Tanya’s mother, there was nothing Tanya and Joel could do about her!
She was still thinking about it when she suddenly heard Joel continue. He said, “If you have anything else to say, you can tell that to the police!”
As he said that, the police came over in the distance. “Mr. Jones? Someone has reported you for tax evasion! Please come with us to the police station to assist in investigations!”
When the police officers showed up, everyone present was shocked. No one had thought that Joel actually meant business this time!
Everyone looked at him in shock and swallowed hard.
Jill also came back to her senses. She immediately burst into tears again and cried out, “Tanya, Joel! Are the two of you really going to drive me into a corner until I’m dead? How can you be so heartless?!”
Like before, Joel spoke without waiting for Tanya to say anything. He said, “I have always been a heartless man. After all, I’m someone who doesn’t even want his biological parents.”
Joel’s relationship with his parents had always been bad. After Ian had chosen him to be the heir to the Smiths, he had stayed with Ian all these years and rarely interacted with his parents.
Joel was a very straightforward and decisive person. Since he had already made the decision to pull no punches, he would not show any mercy anymore. Even if Tanya blamed him for it in the future, he would still get rid of the scourge for her today!
His expression was cold and there was no emotion in his eyes. He clearly looked like he was going to completely abandon Jill and the Joneses.
Jill and Mr. Jones panicked for real when they saw him like this.
Mr. Jones became furious and kicked Jill. “It’s all your goddamn fault!”
Despite being kicked, Jill did not retaliate. Instead, she looked at Tanya and Joel furiously and asked, “Are the two of you really going to push us this far?”
Tanya didn’t reply.
Joel replied with a smile, “You’re mistaken. I didn’t force you to evade tax.”
It was obvious that he wasn’t going to be persuaded otherwise!
At once, Mr. Jones knew that he was finished. He glared at Jill huffily. “Goddamn it, if I am going to be finished, then I am definitely taking you to hell with me!”
The look in Jill’s eyes became flustered at his words.
Given what the two of them had done back then, if he spilled the beans, both of them would be doomed no matter what!
Therefore, Jill mustn’t let him be detained!
She yelled, “Tanya! Joel! If the two of you dare to give the evidence to the police, I will make a police report that Karl raped me!”
Her words made Tanya’s eyes widen abruptly.
Jill stared at them and said, “I wonder how many years of imprisonment Karl will be sentenced to if a rape charge is added? Life imprisonment? Tanya, if you really hate me that much, then I will sue him!”
Tanya and Joel, who didn’t expect Jill to be so shameless, frowned.
All Karl had done was transport some bad guys into the country, so even if he was sentenced to jail, it would just be for two to three years. However, if Jill were to sue him and the rape charge was proven, then Karl’s sentence would increase by a lot more years!
Despite that, Joel remained unmoved. “Do you have any evidence?”
“Evidence?” Jill yelled furiously, “Tanya is the evidence! If the two of you don’t give me a way out, then even if I die, I will take her down with me!”
Seeing that the atmosphere was more or less ready and that she was about to achieve her goal, Nora finally walked out slowly. She said with a smile, “Feel free to sue him, then.”