Chapter 453: Such Harsh Words

Amina’s heart pounded in her chest. She recalled all the unpleasantness from her last meeting with Zeke’s mother and felt a wave of awkwardness.

But she tried to psych herself up. ‘Zeke is here today,’ she thought. ‘Maybe it’ll really be okay this time.’

She truly couldn’t bear to be without Zeke, truly wanted to be with him forever.

Sometimes she even had a shameful thought: ‘If only Zeke were poor, too.’

Amina hastily threw on her clothes and urged Zeke to go downstairs and open the door.

Zeke finally got out of bed, leisurely putting on his pajamas before pulling her into his arms for a kiss.

“I told you, my mom’s an open-minded person. Don’t be scared. She just didn’t know you before. Once she gets to know you, she’ll definitely like you as much as I do. It’s okay, no need to rush. Go wash your face, freshen up a little. I’ll go downstairs.”

The gentler he was, the better he treated her, the more flustered Amina felt—and the more she couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him.

After a farewell that felt as dramatic as a life-and-death parting, Amina ran into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth, while Zeke, with his messy bedhead and a drowsy look in his eyes, went to open the door.

The moment the door opened, Zeke’s mother looked up and immediately saw the marks on his neck and the dark circles under his eyes.

It was as if she had personally witnessed what happened last night, as if she had seen with her own eyes how Amina had seduced him. Rage surged within her.

“Where is she? Why is it just you? She has the guts to seduce my son, but not the guts to come out and see me?”

Zeke feigned ignorance, asking with a yawn.

“Who? Who are you looking for?”

“Still playing dumb with me? I just heard her voice on the phone! She doesn’t dare come down to see me? Don’t tell me you expect me to go up and see her?”

Only then did Zeke give his mother a pointed look.

“Oh, you mean Amina? You know her? When did you meet? How come I didn’t know you knew each other?”

‘You little brat,’ she thought. ‘So this is the game you’re playing.’

Zeke’s mother gritted her teeth and swatted him.

“How dare you still use that tone with me at a time like this! I must have owed you in a past life to have given birth to a little monster like you!”

“Your father and I have told you this since you were a child! It wasn’t easy for us to work so hard and build the Walton Family to its current position. Who did we do it all for? We don’t expect you to make the company bigger and stronger, to be one of the top players in Veridia like the Vaughn Group, but you can’t at least let it go downhill, can you? Look at everyone in our circle. Who doesn’t marry for…”

It was the same old speech, over and over again. Zeke rubbed his ears in annoyance.

“Mom, what century are we living in? Are you really still trying to drill these outdated ideas into my head? It’s so annoying. And to think I’m always telling people you’re the most open-minded, considerate mother a kid could have.”

“I know it wasn’t easy for you and Dad to build our family up to where it is today, but I never asked you to do that, did I? On the contrary, I’ve always told you not to work so hard. Money is just a tool. As long as you have enough, that’s all that matters. Why do you need so much? You can’t take it with you when you die.”

If Zeke’s mother was merely angry before, now it felt like her entire world was collapsing.

Which of the children in their circle didn’t understand the importance of inheriting the family business and making the family stronger? Who wasn’t fighting tooth and nail, desperately trying to claw their way to the top?

Look at Zeke’s friends—Damien Vaughn, Wyatt Wynn, Brandon Jacobs. Which one of them wasn’t at the absolute peak of their career?

Zeke used to be so driven. How did he become like this after meeting that woman?

Looking at her son now, she became even more convinced of her idea: she had to find him a wife of equal social standing!

‘Only with an ambitious and driven wife will a man stay motivated. Only then will their family not collapse. Otherwise…’

Just as Zeke’s mother was seething with anger, Amina came running down the stairs, her face still wet.

Amina was panicking, having made an elder wait at the door for so long without coming down to greet her immediately.

She reached the bottom of the stairs, but before the timid “Auntie” could even leave her lips, Zeke’s mother swung with all her might, landing a sharp slap across her face.

“Ah!”

Even though Amina had endured many hardships and injuries and never made a fuss about minor scrapes, this slap was forceful enough to make her cry out in pain and stumble back a few steps.

Half of Amina’s face went instantly numb.

Neither she nor Zeke had expected his mother to slap her. Watching Amina’s face visibly redden and even begin to swell, Zeke’s voice shot up an octave.

“Mom! Are you crazy? What do you think you’re doing?”

Seeing her son tenderly cup Amina’s face, his hand carefully caressing her cheek, made Zeke’s mother feel like she was truly about to go insane.

“Yes! That’s right! I am crazy! Zeke, I really raised you well, didn’t I? Now your wings have grown strong! To think you’d call your own mother crazy for some woman! This is just perfect!”

“You bitch! This is all your fault!”

Zeke’s mother had originally intended to control her temper and reason with Zeke properly.

But seeing him act so spinelessly, doing nothing but defending this manipulative woman, she just couldn’t hold back anymore.

She pointed a finger at Amina’s nose.

“You lying piece of trash! You shameless bitch, going back on your word! What right do you have to call me Auntie? I can’t stand women like you who’ll do anything to climb the social ladder!”

“I’ve seen countless manipulative bitches in my life, prettier and more cunning than you. Who the hell do you think you are? Provoking me again and again, do you really think I won’t do anything to you?”

Blood trickled from Amina’s nose and the corner of her mouth, and her ears were ringing.

Zeke frantically tried to wipe the blood away, wanting to take her to the hospital, but he couldn’t stop himself from retorting to his mother.

“Are you even my mother? How can you say such horrible things? She’s my woman, and I won’t let you talk about her like that!”

“She’s not trying to climb the ladder by any means necessary! I love her, and I’m the one who insists on being with her! Can’t you be reasonable?”

Zeke’s mother knew he would say that.

‘That’s how skilled these green tea bitches are,’ she thought. ‘Every man who falls under their spell thinks the exact same way.’

Zeke’s mother was so angry her chest ached.

She tried to suppress her rage, wanting to persuade her son to change his mind.

“Zeke, you’re still young and naive. You’re too inexperienced with the world to understand how conniving some women can be when they’re trying to climb the social ladder for money.”

“I grew up by my own mother’s side, and I’ve been dealing with women like this since I was a little girl. Bar hostesses, singers, masseuses, saleswomen… they come from all walks of life, an endless stream of them. They’re all after a man’s money, intentionally putting on a pleasing act just to climb higher. You’re so well-educated, how can you be as foolish as your grandfather was back then? How can you fall for the same old tricks?”

“I just don’t get it. No matter how much society progresses, these bitches just keep popping up, crop after crop. You can never get rid of them! One of them almost stole my father and destroyed my family back then, and now another one is here to destroy my son? I will forever be at war with these vixens!”

‘Is she ever going to stop?’ he thought. ‘The more she talks, the more worked up she gets!’

Zeke truly couldn’t stand to hear another word.

“What gives you the right to compare me to Grandpa? What gives you the right to compare Amina to those women? You don’t know her at all!”

“I’m not Grandpa, and Amina isn’t one of those women! I haven’t fallen for any of her tricks; we’re genuinely in love! Mom, your words are too cruel. I really hate seeing you like this. Please leave. I need to take her to the hospital now!”