May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 29: Revelations

Aila wanted to see James and Vivian more embarrassed, but she saw how pitiful Honeylet was holding her young child. Cristine was clearly scared of the shouting and Honeylet was having a hard time coaxing the young child. To save her from trouble, Aila stepped in and distracted her uncle to take a breather.

“Uncle Martin!” Aila called to the raging man who was just a step away from committing murder.

Hearing her voice, Martin let go of James and turned to Aila with a much more friendly face. Regardless how fearsome this guy is, he is quite conscious in front of the children of the family. Every time before they do something not appropriate for the young people’s eyes, he always makes excuses for them to leave first before he commits something.

Martin was 50-60% similar to Stephen in appearance. Only that Martin was more stern-looking and heavy minded. And not to mention, he is smaller in structure compared to Stephen by at least a head.

“Aila,” Martin fondly said as Aila went forward to give him a tight hug. “It’s been a year since we last saw each other. You’ve gotten more beautiful than the last time I saw you! How are you now?”

Aila smiled at the man and said she was okay and well. Saying she heard that her uncle Martin was here, she came to say hello.

“Well, things are a little messy over here,” Martin said as he gave a glare at James, who was giving him resentful eyes. “Can you ask Cindy for Jasper's contact information? I’ve been trying to reach out to him for a while now and he is not answering me.”

“I’ll tell her about it later.”

“Since you are here, would you like to come inside for a while? The house might not be in the best state at the moment, but I can certainly offer you something to drink,” Martin said as he gestured her to go inside.

“I would like to, uncle.” Aila said as she glanced at the uncomfortable Honeylet at the side. “Can we also invite Honeylet inside? I have some business to ask her if it's okay with you?”

Martin frowned a little as he heard it, but thinking that his treatment of the woman was really rude to her given that the woman was really an innocent victim in all this, he allowed it. But he firmly told James and Vivian to get lost, telling the guards to not let that blasted Vincent not come in if he came over later. He does not want to see any of James and his spawns in front of him.

Honeylet was warily following the two Justines inside. Behind her were the scorching eyes of her husband and his bastard. She dared not peep a sound as she drew strength from her now calm child. Justines has always been good towards her, but she is not too comfortable with others' good will after being treated like dirt for so many years.

Martin ordered his bodyguards to brew them some tea he had brought. He dares not use anything those Leighs’ things in disgust. Who knows what is mixed into those things? Last time he heard that James' debauched boy brought questionable people and things into his home. He does not want to touch anything that could potentially be stained by those dirty things.

“So tell me the real reason you are here.” Martin never beat around the brush and directly asked what his niece's purpose was.

“A contingency plan, dear uncle,” Aila simply said, as her parents should have told their relatives about the situation. Whether they believe it or not, she needs her uncles’ participation in this if she wants their family to survive.

“I already heard of the situation.” Martin was solemn as he said this. “It was unbelievable in so many ways, but I have no choice but to believe it. I have already taken ample action in regards to my company and other things. But from the look of things, the people around me have some problems as I comb through things.”

"Lemme guess your good wife has messed up the order of things." Aila was calm and sharp as she said that, not minding Honeylet's discomfort hearing all that. "Uncle, it is not my place to say it, but your wife is really not a good thing. Even her own child would say the same as I did."

Martin declines to say anything about his wife and prefers to keep his silence about how he will deal with the problem at hand. Honeylet gets terrified at the implications and decides to speak out at this moment, not for her husband but to protect herself, her child, and the kind in-laws who did their best to make things better.

“If you will not mind me speaking,” Honeylet said with cautiousness laced in her tone. She was so cautious. But the hand she had on her child was so gentle, coaxing the child into a gentle nap to not disturb the ongoing talks they had.

The child was obviously tired from crying before. Under the soft lulling of her mother, she was already half asleep when the adults started talking. And just a few moments more, she was already in her dreamland.

“Of course you may talk, Honeylet. This also involves you at some point.” Aila masked her business persona. “That being said, I want you to do something for all of us, maybe with the exception of your wonderful husband and his vile spawns.”

Honeylet did her best to be coherent in her words as Aila gave her permission. At this moment she thought that the real scary person in the Justines was not the current master, but this often unremarkable girl in front of her. She lacks no deterrent presence and she proves herself capable of holding her stand in front and negotiation. Like what is currently happening, Aila has all the initiatives even when she is talking to her uncle.

“I know nothing of what James has done and what he is doing. But I can give information on things he did not bother not to hide from me.” Honeylet clearly knows the dangers and she wants a way out for her and her cherished people. The wrath of Justines is not something they can afford, so she doesn't mind if she sold her husband and his sister.

“April has been transferring properties under the name of James and herself for the past months as far as I am aware of. She has transferred the name of this house to James and has encouraged us to move in here. And from what I know, they were doing something to gain the properties under the names of the other Justines. Arthur Justine was the one James had been working on at the moment after Aila suddenly came here with her friends.”

“They dare!” Martin was livid as he heard how the pair of siblings was actually out to swallow all the assets under the name of Justine. He thought that things were okay for a while now, but who would have thought they were doing such a big project without him knowing?

“There is nothing they would not dare, Sir Martin.” Honeylet smiled particularly bitterly as she said this. “If they dared to cheat on their parents, what else should they mind not doing? The old Leighs were already so heartbroken about what they were doing that they moved out to the province to get a piece of mind. Afraid that to gain some petty fortune, the two will actually kill them for gain.” Honeylet then told them how she has been protecting the old couple as there have been attempts on their lives a few times now. Subtly conveying that something like that might be already brewing on Martin’s side without him knowing.

“If things were indeed as terrible as you say, why haven’t you left your husband for some, many years now,” Aila asked as she knew the words Honeylet had said were true. “Why suffer so much under the same roof of a soulless man you describe your husband is.”

“I loved the old Leighs.” Honeylet’s expression was loose as she said that. “They treated me well and cared for me when I lost my parents so young. And at the expense of tearing the faces of their children, they protected me as best as they could. I would hate to break the connection we had if I divorced my husband. As foolish as it sounds, the moment I leave James will be the time the old couple will die under the joint effort of their children. I cannot leave with that knowledge in mind.”

“You’re afraid without your protection the two will die unknowingly.” Martin summarized, as he particularly sympathized with the woman’s plight.

“Yes, that is why,” Honeylet said. “ If you hear me out, when you deal with them, I want to ask for leeway for us who are tied down with those two. You may bankrupt us and everything, but please let us have a way to live. At least for the two old people on the eve of their sunset and for my child who is just seeing the dawn of her sun rise.”

“I can promise you that,” Martin promised, as he had never involved an innocent in something others had done. Let this be his mercy on the unfortunate. This misfortune was something they did not incur themselves and they deserved not to suffer others' retribution unjustly.

“But I would advise you to divorce James as fast as possible. If you can’t petition for a legal separation between you two and put a restraining order on him and his spawns. I can’t tell you much, but this is the best course of actions you can do for yourself and for those you care for.” Aila sternly said with a coldness in her eyes. “In at least three months from now, you will be in trouble if you do not do anything and your child will go with you.”

Honeylet was a little alarmed by the girl’s convention that she would really have such an incident, but she knew this was the push she needed to be firm in severing ties with her bastard husband. She had been thinking about it for so long, but she was really indecisive about what to do. Afraid that she will disappoint the old couple who treated her well.

Exchanging a few more words, Honeylet and her child left the mansion. Aila and her uncle were the only ones left and it was evident that the successive blows Martin heard today were too many. He cannot believe that things are really this bad because he married a woman who cannot be satisfied.

“Don’t blame yourself, uncle.” Aila told her uncle. “The woman was a good actor, she was very good at wearing her masks for so many years that it was not a surprise you are soft on her.”

“We have been married for twenty-seven years now, Aila.” Martin seemed to age so much as he said this. “I obviously gave her anything she asked and I never restricted her from anything she wanted. Although there are times I cannot be with her due to the nature of my standing, I did my best to be with her. Where have I gone wrong for her to be this ruthless?”

“No one knows, uncle. No one but the person in question.” Aila was sad as this fact hung deafly between them. Because no matter how good you are to them, some are really such people who bite those who feed them. This is the nature of humans and, no matter what era and period it is, this is something that will never change in the past, now, or in the future.