Filed To Story: Returning to Her Not-So-Poor Family
Additionally, Erik’s will revealed even more shocking details. Eighteen years ago, during the clinic fire, Martha, in her last moments of consciousness, saw Louisa carry away her daughter. But weakened from childbirth and smoke inhalation, she was powerless to stop it, and ultimately, it was Erik who rescued her from the clinic.
It was only after reading the next day’s newspaper, which announced that the Collins family matriarch had safely given birth to a daughter, that Erik and Martha realized that their child had been taken by a wealthy family.
At the time, Louisa had given birth to five sons and now had a daughter, but she was unable to nurse. The baby girl refused milk formula and cried incessantly, leaving Louisa no choice but to hire a nanny.
Torn between the need for money and the longing for her daughter, Martha applied for the job.
To everyone’s surprise, Serena stopped crying at the sight of Martha and even reached out to be held by her.
After being nourished by Martha’s milk, Serena became unusually calm, prompting Louisa to keep Martha on to care for her.
Once Martha’s position was secure, she brought Erik in.
Erik gradually worked his way up to the position of butler, earning Kenneth and Louisa’s trust.
After being bought off by Lucas and Beverly, Erik spent years feeding them information about Kenneth and Louisa’s whereabouts, including their daily lives and social circles.
Lucas and Beverly could never have imagined that Erik had secretly amassed such a comprehensive trove of evidence.
“You knew all along that Serena wasn’t my own flesh and blood, yet you hid it from me for eighteen years, forcing Bella to suffer on the outside.” Louisa’’s voice choked with emotion, her eyes bloodshot with fury.
Kenneth’s voice was hoarse with grief as he faced his younger brother. “Did you really wish your own brother dead? Do you even consider me your brother anymore?”
Lucas kept his head down, and Beverly didn’t lift her eyelids either.
But it was Alma, clutching her mother’s hand in disbelief, asked, “Mom, is this really true? Why would you do this? Haven’t our families always been close?”
Serena had indeed been annoying, but her uncle and aunt had always been particularly kind to her and her sister Frederica.
She couldn’t understand why her parents would do such things.
The evidence continued to play on the TV.
Erik mentioned in his will that he once overheard Lucas telling Beverly that he regretted not being able to end Kenneth and Louisa’s lives in the fire eighteen years ago.
Hearing this, Kenneth could no longer hold back his tears, which flowed down in an instant.
He shook his brother’s shoulders, weeping as he questioned, ” I
been goo Io JOUIhEER ars? What HedE [4 ne to deserve your longing for your elder brother’s death, tell me, what did I do wrong?”
Louisa’s tears also fell. From her first day in the Collins family, she trea Lucas and Bev, iy aschEou ?
spying) Veh more so than her two brothers who lived abroad; she had never guarded against them.
The betrayal by Serena had hurt her, but now Lucas and Beverly had also wounded her.
Her heart was riddled with pain, struggling to breathe.
“I was pregnant at the time; no matter how much you hated me, the child was innocent.”
Louisa sobbed, “How could you bear to harm her. You were her uncle aunt. If it hadn! hesndor Bella ilck, Be) igaakerhn y the Melton family, if our people hadn’t arrived in time, three lives would have been lost that night.”
Louisa was crying so hard it seemed she might run out of breath.
Three lives at stake.
“How could you. Why would you do this? Why?” Louisa cried out in anguish, “What’s so wrong with me as your sister-in-law? Tell me today, clear, and plain, what did I do, what did I say to make you wish me, my husband, and my children to be damned, speak up!”
This was the first time Mirabella had ever seen her mother so utterly undone.
All her grievances, anger, and sorrow. were vented out in this moment.
At this moment, all Mirabella could do was to wipe her tears, gently pat her on the shoulder, and then quietly step back.
Her brothers, too, passed tissues to their father, their silence speaking volumes.
“When I married into this family, you received your wedding gift a year later than I did, but yours was significantly more substantial. Even the house you got was more expensive, more luxurious,” Beverly looked up with a touch of sadness and a sense of loss, “That was the first time I felt the unfairness from our parents.”
Before Beverly could respond, Cornelia, clearly upset, interjected, “How can you say that? The year you got married, gold was priced at $10 per gram. I got you 999 grams, hoping your love with Lucas would last forever. The following year, when Louisa married into the family, the price of gold had risen to $13 per gram, but I still got her 999 grams—the amount was the same!”
“No, it’s not the same. The total value was much more in her case!” Beverly’s eyes shimmered with hurt, “You gave me gold worth $99,900; you should’ve given her gold at the same price to be fair! And at her wedding, she had twenty more tables of guests than I did.”
“That’s because during Louisa’s year, your father and I had made many new business acquaintances. Those friends had looked out for our business, and it would have been rude not to invite them.” Cornelia hadn’t expected such a trivial matter to be held against her for so long.
“You say Louisa’s villa is nicer and more expensive. I already explained that to you. Before either of the brothers settled down, Lucas firstly picked out the villa, stating he wanted to live there after marriage. It was only two years after Lucas bought his villa that Kenneth chose the Lakeview Villa. By then, property prices had gone up, and Lakeview Villa was a new development in a prime location.”
“But the area he picked was a full 200 square meters larger than ours.” Beverly said through tears.
“That’s because that villa came with a larger yard, with extra space included.” Cornelia never imagined that even the size of the house would be a sore point for so many years.
Later, Kenneth and Louisa, through their own hard work, moved to the Reflections Villa.
They hadn’t lived in the Lakeview Villa for more than a few years.
“When I asked you back then, you told me any gifts would do, whether you were satisfied with the matrimonial home, and,if.th Phage ako change. I told you not to be shy, to speak up. You said everything was fine, that you loved Lucas. At the time, I thought you were a good girl, and we didn’t want to shortchange or upset you.
Just the gift alone, I can say that no other family in the city gave as much as we did.”
Not to mention the gold, there was also cash, a car, a store, and so much more.
“But Louisa got more.” Beverly looked at Cornelia, her eyes faintly filled with grievous tears, ‘l know my com Fogger a’s are different, she comes from a prestigious family, it makes sense to give more. But Lucas and I worked so hard after our marriage, we strove, yet you didn’t see it.”
“What do you mean by we ‘didn’t see it?” Cornelia asked coldly, “Is it because we didn’t hand over the family business fo you temdndge?
Eyatyard kibws that the Collins family business is traditionally handed down to the eldest son. Even if Louisa had five sons, Hans would still manage the company, the principle is the same.”
“But Lucas and I are clearly better at business than my elder brother and his wife. Why can’t we manage together? Why can’t we inherit the company and let my brother and his wife take dividends?” Beverly asked grievously.
Over the years, Kenneth and Louisa led a life that was the envy of the town, hailed as the town’s wealthiest couple and showered with respect wherever they went. Lucas and Beverly, on the other hand, seemed forever doomed to languish in their shadows.
To the world, it was always Kenneth’s family that shone the brightest, with Lucas and Beverly as mere afterthoughts.
Some even looked down on them, feeling they were not as capable as their elder brother and his wife.
“Is it because of this, you two wanted to take down Kenneth and Louisa—is that it?” Cornelia asked with heartache.
“Yes.” Beverly lifted her gaze. “Whose fault is it that you never gave us a fair chance from the start?”
Cornelia was furious; she never thought this dearly-bought daughter-in-law could be so vicious in heart and dare to talk back, anger driving her to fiercely slap her.
A crisp slap resounded in the room, leaving a vivid handprint on Beverly’s cheek.
“Do you think we decide let Kenneth run the family business randomly? If he lacked the talent, or if he was a profligate, do you honestly think we would entrust him with the family business?” Cornelia trembled with anger, “Since they were little, many great teachers and mentors posed challenges to them, and Kenneth’s responses were always superior to Lucas’s.”
“That’s because Kenneth is older than Lucas, and you’ve been grooming him since he was very young, so naturally he knows more.” Beverly’s voice was heart-wrenching.
“Kenneth is only two years older than Lucas. Besides, when we handed over the business to Kenneth, we gave Lucas assets of equal value. If you two were as talented and business-savvy as you claim, then over the years, your ventures should have outshone Kenneth’s.” Cornelia retorted, her chest heaving with indignation.
“But the truth is, you’ve thrown countless obstacles in Kenneth’s way behind the scenes, and yet, they’ve risen to the top through their own merit. What about you two?”
The fact proved that entrusting the business to Kenneth had been the right decision.
Even if Lucas and Beverly had the business acumen, their narrow-mindedness was detrimental to the long-term development of the family business.
“Is it because the corporation wasn’t handed over for you to manage that you felt wronged and thus harbored thoughts of murder?” Kenneth looked at his younger brother with a heart full of sorrow, “Do you remember when we were kids, how our parents would come home late from managing the business, and you told me how nice it would be if they didn’t have to work so hard.”
Tears welled up in Kenneth’s eyes as his voice grew hoarse, “l tho pl that by takin on the @3pnSRIly of the Eat could enjoy a more relaxed life with the dividends.”
At that time, Lucas seemed indifferent to taking over the business.
Furthermore, when their parents had divided the inheritance, they had given him the business and Lucas the assets of equivalent value.
But in Beverly’s eyes, the business was the key to wealth in the long run.
The roads to success 12d beerD (1)
ved by their PARIS, connections i through their efforts, and all Kenneth had to do was follow the plan, easily keeping the wheels of wealth turning. But money depreciates.
Though their parents had given Lucas assets of equal value, starti their own busi ss fremscrétdn and saga &Vetyt ing from the ground up, was far more challenging than the path laid out for Kenneth.
“You had the gall to trip up your own brother and sister-in-law, to hire killers and set fires. You even dared to take the lives of my wife and daughter—why couldn’t you just come to us and say you wanted this company.”
Kenneth’s face was streaked with tears, his voice choked with sorrow, “As long as you speak up, tell me what you want, and I
would be willing to step down. I’d rather give you the company than to see what you have become, than to be separated from Bella for all these years. I didn’t want her to suffer outside, don’t you understand?? Do you understand how important family means to me.”
His tears were pouring down like rain, he asked angrily, “Do you understand?”
To him, family was everything.
Lucas’s eyes brimmed with tears too. This was the first time he had seen his elder brother break down like this, pouring his heart out to him.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.