Mysterious Mr.Richard novel Chapter 42

Yoreast Hills Garden was located in a remote luxury residence in Kityall City. Among them, one of the unrenovated thirty-acres villas would start at 3.5 million dollars.      

Helena, Richard's mother, lived there.

The lawn was neat and clean, and the grass was trimmed evenly. The morning sunshine was nice, and the smell of Ceylon tea permeated the air. Under a parasol, an elegant woman was flipping through a magazine. She was wearing a beige Chanel dress. She was well maintained. Even if she was over 50, there are almost no wrinkles in the corners of her eyes.

"Aunt Helena," a woman called.

"Adriana?" Helena raised her head to smile at her guest, "Come, have a seat."

The servants pulled a chair for Adriana immediately. As soonas she sat down, another servant served her a cup of tea.

The servants in the Zellweger family were well-trained, and they carried out their duties prefessionally and smoothly. Any one of them would have been better than the servants in the Wood family.     

 At the thought of her servants' behaviors, she felt embarrassed. At once, she straightened her back to make herself look tough. Howevevr, her tone was still flattering.

"How are you, Aunt Helena? I've been too busy with the wedding to visit you. Richard's always busy, so I should've visited you more often."

"Men should focus on their careers. I know Richard." Helena kept a blank face, but her eyebrows made her look harsh and intimidating. "I'm alright, and I'm healthy. You two should just go about with your lives. Don't worry about me." 

Helena was strong and usually cold. Her relationship with Richard was just so so. Adriana knew this very well. Thus, she had never thought about how close she was to her, as long as she did her part well.

However, Helena still had a strong voice when it came to Richard.

"Richard asked me to do this too. He's busy with work, and I can't help him. I am free, so I can come to visit you more for him and share his cares."

"Thank you." Helena nodded, "Have some tea."

"Okay." Adriana drink her tea, but she was absent-minded.

After chatting for a while, she spoke, "Oh, I almost forgot about that."

She waved to the servant and asked them to bring the gift.

"Aunt Helena, I got this oil painting from an art exhibition in West Haven last month. I heard that you like the artist, so I brought it to you."

Helena glanced at the painting, and surprisingly, she seemed pleasant. She complimented, "It's good. You have good taste, and it's rare for me to find someone who shares similar tastes. I'm glad you're not like those people who pretend to undertand."    

Adriana could tell Helena's meaning behind her words and she knew who Helena was mocking. Then Adriana replied, "Art is difficult to understand. You can draw doesn't mean you can be an artist, there are a lot of wannabes out there."    

Adriana's words pleased Helena, and her stiff face relaxed. She began to ask about the wedding after talking for a while .

"How's the wedding preparation? Let me know if you need antything. After all, you're the Zellweger family's daughter-in-law. I feel bad for letting you handle everything by yourself." 

"Everything is going smoothly. Richard has also arranged people there. So I just need to make a guest list." 

Adriana paused and continued in a hesitation, "Aunt Helena, I think I should tell you about this, so you'll get ready for it."

"What?"

"Pearl came back."

"Who?" Helena stopped drinking her tea and frowned.

"Pearl," Adriana repeated, "Previously, Richard suddenly passed out when I was trying on a wedding dress. We met Pearl there, and I just found out that she came back."

Adriana observed Helena's tense face and added, "It was not surprised for her to come back because her family is here. Even though the Yonng family kicked her out, she would probably come back one day. But Richard..."   

"Richard?"

Helena was anxious at the mention of Richard, even if she was always cold.

"Richard has been very close to Pearl recently. There are a lot of gossips spreading in Zellweger Group..." 

"What does this have to do with the company? What gossips?"

"They say that Richard was divorced and had two kids with his ex-wife."

"Absurd," Helena slammed her cup on the table and said in anger, "This is nonsense. When did Richard get married? Kids?"  

"Please check this." Adriana showed Helena the photos on her phone.

As soon as Helena saw the little girl in Richard's arms, her face became very terrible and frowned, "Who's that child?"

"It's Pearl's daughter. She probably have married someone abroad and got a child."  

Hearing that, a look of disgust appeared on Helena's face. "Look at the child. She must've gotten pregnant right after she left. Didn't she just break up with Richard? Such a shameless woman..."

A trace of relief flashed across Adriana's gentle eyes, after she noticed Helena's reaction.

As the eldest son of the Zellweger family, Richard became the only hope of Helena after what happened to Casper, Richard's younger brother. So Helena was controlling of Richard, especially of his relationships with women.  

Helena was rather specific in choosing a wife for Richard. She was not concerned about the woman's background. After all, the Zellweger family was a top family in Kityall City, and few can match it. She cared more about the woman's personality and how much she was willing to sacrifice for Richard.   

The Yonng family was on par with the Wood family.  Although thery were far inferior to the Zellweger family, they were not bad.

However, Helena hated Pearl very much. It was not difficult to understand that because Pearl firmly believed in gender equality, and she had her own pursuit and dreams. She would never sacrifice her dreams for anyone or be the woman behind a successful man.     

Back then, Helena thought Pearl stopped Richard from inheriting the family business. So she put in a lot of effort to push her away from Richard.

Yet. Few people except Adrian knew about this, even Richard didn't know about it. After all, Helena knew everything about Pearl through her, Pearl's 'best friend.'   

Therefore, Adriana was certain that Helena hated Pearl more than herself for being in touch with Richard. She just needed to sit back and relax because Helena would take an action.   

Just like seven years ago.

The air turned dark when they talked about Pearl, and Helena was displeased.

Adriana knew that it was time to go. Soon she came up with an excuse to leave.

After she left, Helena waved to the butler and said, "Go and find out what Richard has been up to recently."  

"Yes, Madam."