Filed To Story: Returning to Her Not-So-Poor Family
Alma shook her head, tears spilling over, “Grandma and Grandpa treat me just the same as my five brothers. never have I felt they were biased, nor have I ever felt neglected by them.”
This was her heartfelt truth.
Grandma and Grandpa doted on her; they didn’t treat her differently because she is a girl.
On the contrary, she was a bit of a scamp as a child, and whenever she got in trouble and was scolded by her parents, Grandma and Grandpa would still defend her.
“Grandma and Grandpa are really good to me,” Alma answered honestly, “I’ve never felt that they love my brothers more than they love me.”
Beverly couldn’t hold back her emotions any longer, and her tears burst forth.
She had always thought her in-laws were biased, and when Lucas heard what she had to say, he also felt their parents’ actions were unfair.
Further compounding that, he always felt that he was not valued.
That’s why they kept making one mistake after another.
“Oh, the tragedy.” Cornelia was devastated, and Beverly was in tears as well.“All this time, over such trivial matters, you’ve been tripping u I : on Kenneth and Loyisgy VED tryin to S13) rad tbir home with their newborns inside.” Cornelia couldn’t hold back her tears, “We’re family.”
Lucas and Beverly were full of regret, but it was pointless to say anything now.
They knelt before their parents and brother and sister-in-law tears OY
oi piregmin wn eads bewed like children who had done wrong.
Cornelia had someone bring the family discipline rod, and with each strike, she hit them hard.“I really regret loving you all these years. You two went fogdar, gave dispppoimed the’thd much.”
She hadn’t struck many times before she collapsed from the severe emotional shock she suffered.
“Cornelia.” Bernard reached out to steady her, but he himself could barely stand and almost collapsed.
Luckily, their grandsons were quick, catching Cornelia just in time and steadying Bernard as well.
Such betrayal within the family was too cruel for the two elders to bear.
“You two monsters.” Bernard was in tears, a mix of anger and pain evident in his voice, “Cornelia has been driven to this by you.
Are you satisfied now? You two, don’t you dare say you’re my son and daughter-in-law. I don’t want to see you again in my life again.”
His emotions were overwhelming, and as soon as the words left his mouth, he struggled to breathe and had to be helped away to rest.
Louisa looked at Lucas and Beverly with a cold heart and asked, “The people who broke into Reflections Villa tonight, who set fire to the basement, and the mysterious figure who has been threatening Martin all this time—are they your accomplices?”
“Yes,” Beverly and Lucas admitted in unison.
“Erik was also forced by you to take the poison?”
REST
Louisa decided to reveal the truth, “Actually, Erik died not long after taking the poison and arriving at Reflections Villa, but Bella wanted to draw out the person behind the scenes, so she spread the rumor that Erik was still alive. She even had the servants throw blood-stained gauze into the trash can, and sure enough, you couldn’t sit still and kept coming out to probe.”
Hearing Louisa’s words, Beverly was shocked that the blood-stained gauze was a deliberate ploy by Mirabella.
At the time, she even had someone take these gauze back for testing, and the results matched the poison Erik had ingested.
“When did you start suspecting us?” Beverly looked at her niece on the couch, genuinely surprised by her niece’s sharp mind.
“I had suspicions even before Serena left the family,” Mirabella replied truthfully.
Beverly was even more surprised; during their few encounters, they had been nothing but kind.
Why would her niece suspect them without any reason?
“But I didn’t investigate deeply until around the New Year, when you tried to use a new driver to clear your name, and that’s when I started digging deeper.”
Back then, in order not to have them follow the lead of the film company, Beverly deliberately led them to investigate her new driver. Once they found nothing amiss with the driver, they would think they had suspected the wrong person, thus relaxing their vigilance toward her.
“It was mainly the incident with the driver, your reaction was too deliberate. Since the day I met you, I have never seen you show a nervous expression.”
It was only then that Beverly realized that she had left one crucial mistake, she had been too deliberate back then, and this had given herself away.
But now it was too late for explanations.
Her in-laws had been so kind to her, secretly helping her family in need, and to protect her pitif I selfresteem, t hada RigihY Chinas for so ny years. After her brother took over the factory, they even secretly helped him make connections and introduce him to various people.
They never despised her for being compromised in photos, nor did they think less of her for HH asing her Rls td Sere er brother’s debts. The y didn’t reject Lucas marrying her because of her family’s debts. From start to finish, they treated her as one of their own.
They didn’t favor sons over daughters, nor were they unfair. It was her own jealousy that blinded her.
As if resigned herself to fate, she closed her eyes and after a lon pause, she co cosedrkorsarly “Fipdeichshd Alma never knew about any of this. I implore you to forgive them, as for us, dispose of us as you see fit.”
Even if it meant making public all the things they have done, their reputations ruined.
Even if it meant going to jail for the rest of their lives, or being executed.
Let them fall from heaven to hell, left with nothing.
It was all their own doing.
They admitted it.
“When you set out to ruin Bella, did you ever stop to think that she was your niece? Did it ever cross your mind to spare her?
Now you beg me because you’ve been exposed. If we had all been burned to death in that fire back then, you two would’ve inherited the corporation, gained both fame and fortune, would you still be as regretful as you are now?”
Louisa’s voice cracked with emotion, her eyes rimmed red with the force of her feelings.
At this moment, Beverly didn’t dare to expect anything else. Silently she shed tears, and not uttering a word.
“It’s all our fault. Our hubris blinded us, our jealousy clouded our judgment, leading us to commit these indefensible actions. I
know nothing we say now will make any difference, you can deal with us however you please. Please, accept our deepest apologies.”
Lucas bowed deeply, his voice breaking, “I’m sorry.”
He bowed again, his face wet with tears, “We have wronged you, we have wronged the child.”
“I’m sorry.” Beverly joined her husband, bowing deeply toward Mirabella, her voice sincere and filled with guilt, “Bella, I’m so sorry.”
For eighteen years, they made their niece suffer, allowing Serena, the imposter, to live the high life in the Collins family home.
They knew Serena wasn’t their brother’s biological daughter, but out of spite, they kept silent.
“Get out.” Kenneth sobbed, “I can’t bear to see you anymore. From now on, we each go our separate ways. I no longer have a brother, and don’t you dare call me ‘brother’ again.”
Frederica tried to comfort her father, but Lucas felt a deep ache and couldn’t bring himself to stand.
Was his brother truly cutting ties?
“Get out!” Kenneth roared, his body trembling with emotions, his eyes bloodshot with anger.
“We’ll leave, right now. We will reflect on our actions. I’m sorry, please, calm your anger.” Alma hurriedly helped her mother up, bowing in Mirabella’s direction, “I’m sorry, Bella.”
She knew it was her parents’ fault, and that nothing they said could make amends.
The two sisters helped their parents leave, no longer in the mood to pick up the jewels scattered on the floor.
But Lucas and Beverly walked away with tears in their eyes, continuously looking back with each step they took.
In the past, they had once fantasized about how their brother and m sister-in-law w. aq if t new TARRY would definitely be very angry and upset. Just by thinking of them being upset, they felt satisfied.
Yet now, at this moment, they deeply regretted their past deeds.
They even felt themselves less than beasts.
“Bella.” Beverly stopped, her eyes full of dig tears as sh looked sit!
bellg words Taling her. Finally, shé simply said, “Take care.”
A thousand words condensed into two simple words, lightyas a feapiien t {he caput WSyelis felt they ht like a mountain.
The moment they turned around, the light that seemed to suffuse their very beings dimmed.
Not until the family of four had left Reflections Villa did Kenneth and Louisa burst into tears.
The trust they had built bit by bit with their younger brother’s family over the years, the affection interwoven in their lives, the time they spent together—like a huge mountain collapsing suddenly, leaving them reeling, wounded and bleeding from the unexpected blow.
Their sons approached to console them. Only Sean approached Mirabella, gently patting her head in a comforting gesture, as if to tell her that it was over and that everything was over and they would start a new life.
Mirabella carried a heaviness in her heart.
Even with the truth laid bare, there was not a trace of joy to be found within her. Perhaps it was because too much had happened recently.
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.