Filed to story: Eight Uncles Beloved Treasure
Pablo glanced at her and said, “You knew it wasn’t just salt, didn’t you?” The spirit was dumbfounded. Pablo continued, “You knew, yet you did it anyway for money. You got what you deserved.”
He had no idea how her severed hand ended up inside the statue, but if the police found the hand and the bag of money, they would quickly trace the fingerprints back to Winona.
Lilly wasn’t interested in their conversation. She tore a piece from her apple and gave it to Polly. Polly happily devoured the apple. As they finished the apple, Bettany stood up to retrieve a pie for them. Lilly smiled and said, “Thank you, Granny!”
Once Bettany left, Lilly tossed the apple core to Polly and playfully said, “Eat this, Polly!” The parrot refused and repeated after her, “Eat this!”
Pablo found amusement in Lilly’s behavior. She had changed a lot and seemed happier now. He hadn’t realized that Winona had entered the house.
“Don’t be so naughty, Lilly,” Winona scolded, annoyed. Polly threw the apple core at Winona’s feet, further infuriating her. Lilly’s face fell, and she apologized, “I’m sorry, Aunt Winona.”
“You bring nothing but bad luck,” Winona glared at her. This little troublemaker had ruined her relationship with Liam, and now everyone wanted Liam to divorce her.
Lilly had heard the same accusation from Grandma. Back then, she didn’t have the courage to speak up, but now she felt compelled to say something. “No, you’re wrong. You have bad luck because your shadow is slanted. I have nothing to do with anyone’s misfortune.”
Whenever Grandpa, Grandma, or Daddy had bad luck, their shadows were slanted. Lilly knew it was the truth, but Winona didn’t seem pleased. Winona slammed her bag down with a loud thud and exclaimed, “This is unacceptable! You should never speak to me like this.”
Does this little troublemaker think she has the right to lecture me? How dare she! Winona pointed a finger at Lilly and scolded, “Have you not learned your manners? How dare you talk back to me like this! I’m doing all of this for your own good, can’t you see?”
Lilly bit her lip and shook her head. “No, you’re not. You’re only doing this for your own benefit.”
Winona was outraged. She glanced around to ensure Hugh and Bettany weren’t present before deciding to punish Lilly. She knew Bettany had a doctor’s appointment that day.
“Get up,” Winona ordered Lilly. Lilly refused to comply. Winona looked terrifying, and Lilly would be foolish to stand there and let her be punished.
Lilly grabbed Polly and bolted out of the room. Winona screamed, “Stop running!”
Lilly ignored her and ran towards the kitchen.
Winona knew it wasn’t worth her effort to chase after Lilly, but she was so angry that she felt like she was about to explode. She needed a way to release her anger.
“Don’t be foolish, Lilly,” Winona shouted, “I will find you sooner or later. You can’t escape from me.” She would make sure Lilly understood not to disrespect her any longer.
“Please allow me to help with the pie, Mrs. Crawford,” Margaret said, concerned. Bettany shook her head. “It is the least I could do for Lilly.”
Bettany had always wanted to make Jean’s favorite food after she recovered, but Jean never did. Now, with Jean’s daughter here, Bettany felt she needed to do her best to take care of Lilly.
Margaret sighed. Bettany was about to bring out the pie when Lilly rushed into the kitchen. “Granny!” Lilly ran towards Bettany.
“What’s the matter?” Bettany asked. Before Lilly could reply, Winona’s voice rang through the kitchen. “Lilly! Where do you think you’re going?”
Bettany frowned. Winona stepped into the kitchen and was surprised to find Bettany there. She looked at Bettany, wide-eyed. “Bettany! You’re here.”
“Where else would I be?” Bettany scowled at
her. “What are you trying to do behind my back?”
“I’m not doing anything behind your back,” Winona panicked. “I was simply asking Lilly to pick up the apple core she threw on the floor, but she used foul language towards me.”
“I didn’t think it was appropriate, so I wanted to explain why to her. That’s when she ran away to the kitchen,” Winona continued.
“Bullshit!” Bettany threw her oven mitts at Winona, fuming. “Get lost! I don’t want to see you here.” She didn’t believe a word Winona said, and she had no doubt that if she hadn’t been here, Winona would have had the nerve to hit Lilly.
Winona was furious. Lilly knew Bettany was in the kitchen, and she made Winona follow her to the kitchen. “What a scheming little brat!” Winona tried again. “Bettany, it’s not right to spoil Lilly. She should already learn right from wrong at this age.”
Lilly bit her lip and looked at Bettany and Winona. “I don’t think I said anything wrong. Aunt Winona said I brought bad luck to her, but it was her slanted shadow that brought her bad luck. I told her the truth, and she wanted to punish me for it.”
Bettany’s face fell. She turned towards Margaret. “Gather Winona’s stuff and throw them out! She doesn’t belong to our family anymore.”
Winona couldn’t believe it. “Whatever! Let Lilly do and say whatever she wants! She’ll never learn, and she’ll always be a spoiled brat.” She stomped out of the kitchen and went straight to her bedroom.
Winona locked the door behind her. “Nobody can make me leave!” It was clear as day that the little girl deliberately said those things to turn Bettany against Winona, but everyone just let Lilly do and say whatever she wanted.
At the same time, Bettany was infuriated. “What a horrible person! She wouldn’t allow us to discipline her kids, and yet she had the nerve to lecture my Lilly.”
Margaret coughed and reminded Bettany that Lilly was in the same room. Lilly gently touched Bettany’s back and said, “It’s okay, Granny. Please don’t get angry.”
Lilly felt sorry for upsetting her Granny. She promised Mommy she would make Granny happy, but she had failed.
Bettany sighed and decided she would deal with Winona after this. She brought Lilly the pie and then waited until Lilly fell asleep before going after Winona.
“Where is Winona?” she asked Margaret. Margaret answered, “She’s gone out to fetch her children, Mrs. Crawford.” Winona had sneaked out when Bettany waited for Lilly to fall asleep.
“Have you gathered all her stuff?” Bettany asked. Margaret nodded. “Yes, I have.”
Before Bettany could order Margaret to throw all Winona’s stuff out, Hannah was heard crying at the entrance of the mansion. “No! I don’t want to!”
Zachary entered the house, annoyed. He greeted Bettany hastily and went into his room. Margaret quickly wheeled Bettany to the entrance to see what was happening.
Winona was seen trying to comfort Hannah at the entrance. On their way back, out of fear of being kicked out of the Crawford family, Winona asked Hannah to give Bettany a massage and to give one of her toys to Lilly.
Sure enough, the request upset Hannah, and she threw tantrums as Winona had expected. It was the best way to distract Bettany. Winona pretended to comfort Hannah. “It’s okay, Hannah. Please don’t cry and make me sad.” However, Hannah cried even louder.
Bettany saw the two at the entrance and was irritated. It wasn’t the first time Hannah tried to get what she wanted by crying and throwing tantrums. This wouldn’t work today.
“Stand there and cry all you want,” Bettany frowned at Hannah and ordered Margaret to bring a bucket. “Don’t stop crying until your tears fill up the bucket.”
Hannah was startled and stopped crying for a brief moment. Winona pulled her aside and confronted Bettany. “What are you doing, Bettany? You’re scaring Hannah!”
With her mother’s support, Hannah continued to cry and throw tantrums. Bettany seemed unfazed. She decided she had to teach them a lesson today, and nobody could stop her.
“Margaret, throw all her stuff out,” ordered Bettany. Margaret quickly brought all Winona’s stuff to the entrance and threw them out onto the streets.
Winona was dumbfounded. She didn’t believe Bettany would do this to her in front of her children. She had always used Hannah and Zachary to distract everyone whenever she got into trouble, and it had always worked.
“I understand you’re angry, Bettany,” Winona tried to calm Bettany down. “However, it’s not good to do this in front of the kids.”
“You don’t belong here anymore,” said Bettany coldly. “Get out of here now!” Winona’s face fell.
Bettany ordered the guards to throw Winona out. Winona was flustered. “My Hannah! Fine, I’ll leave, but I’m taking Hannah with me!”
“I’m sorry, but you cannot bring anyone else with you,” one of the guards said, as he pushed her out onto the streets and locked the gates.
The guard had been employed by Anthony and now only took orders from Bettany. The guard whom Stephen and Debbie had hired previously had been dismissed by Anthony.
Winona was seething with anger. Lilly was responsible for all this chaos! Lilly must have spoken ill of her to Bettany in secret.
Hannah, in the meantime, was so frightened that she stopped crying. Her sobs turned into hiccups and soft sobs.
Bettany’s temper flared. Her expression turned icy cold. “You enjoy crying, don’t you? Cry as much as you want! You’re not allowed to stop until you fill this bucket!”
Sure enough, the girl burst into full-blown wailing after being scared.
Initially, she had cried to cause a scene, but now she was howling uncontrollably.
Her tears were genuine this time.
The child held the bucket in her hands and continued crying, with each tear falling into the container.
Mrs. Bettany Levine, the head of the Crawford household, was a stubborn woman. She silently watched as the young girl cried.
The older woman had a childish side to her.
You want to act out? So can I. Both were now locked in a stalemate until Hannah grew exhausted from her endless whining.
Hannah was too afraid to stop. She cried even harder when she realized her tears wouldn’t even fill half a cup.
She choked up as she sobbed, “I can’t anymore, Granny. I’m thirsty… I want water…”
Margaret could barely contain her laughter.
Bettany was both angry and amused. “Are you going to keep crying?”
