North felt a lump in her throat as her face heated up.Gerald looked down at that photo. She could not tell if he was smiling or not. “No rush,” he said.“What do you mean, no rush?” North lost her temper again. “They’re dragging you into this mess! You don’t even know who spread these rumors—”At that moment, Gerald’s phone rang.Cedric roared on the other end, “Get back here right now! You’d better think about what you’ve done, sparking such a huge scandal! I should give your company to your brother instead! What have you ever done apart from getting into trouble?!”Gerald hung up with a cold chuckle and looked at North. “Now we know, don’t we? I told you there was no rush.”North understood at once. “You mean Mike was the one who did it?”Gerald smiled, as if he did not take the matter seriously at all. “Mike’s sent two moles to my company, so it’s high time they made a move. Can you do me a favor, Mrs. Howard?”North did not say a word.Why did she feel like she was his pa
It was like North had dropped a bombshell. Everyone began murmuring amongst themselves.“What?! That woman was Mrs. Howard herself?”“Now that she mentioned it, the woman does resemble her. They have the same figure and height.”“It’s understandable if we couldn’t recognize her, but why couldn’t Mike recognize her?”“Benson was the one who took the photos and got them trending on Twitter yesterday. Now, Mike’s here to take over the company… They didn’t plan for this to happen, did they?”“They probably did. It can’t be helped, Mike’s a useless man whose only option is to take what he wants from Mr. Howard. Sadly, he kept failing to find his weaknesses, so all he could do was slander him and accuse him of being unfaithful.”“Disgusting…”Mike’s face twisted in horror. “What are you babbling about, North? That’s ridiculous! Security, shut her up! I want her—”Ring!A ringtone interrupted Mike while North answered the call without hesitation.Connor said anxiously on the other e
“Go back to the Souths?” Gerald repeated mockingly.“Yes!” Cedric said firmly.Gerald put on a half-smile. “On what grounds are you kicking me out of the family, Cedric?”Cedric thought, “You’re getting in our way, obviously!”However, out loud, he said self-righteously, “The Souths took you in for so many years, and yet you refuse to even visit them? Have you no heart?”“And why did the Souths take me in?” Gerald said coldly in a very intimidating voice. “Aren’t you fully aware of why they did that, Cedric?”Why did the Souths “take him in”? Obviously, it was because the Howards “lost” him shortly after he was born.He did not expect this b*stard to be resilient enough to survive this long. Gerald even became the respectable man everyone called “Mr. Howard” while he, his own father, had to look before he leaped because of him too!“How dare you!” Cedric raged uselessly. “Who gave you the audacity to spout all this nonsense?! I’m your father! Everything you have, the Howards
Connor was puzzled. “You… need help?”Gerald replied slowly, “I’m a businessman, after all. I want Cedric to pay for this… with interest.”…Meanwhile, when North picked up Connor’s call, she had just finished dealing with Mike. Mike was still standing next to her fearfully.The next thing she knew, she heard Connor say, “Come to Howard Manor, Madam, quick! Mr. Cedric was pressuring Mr. Gerald to give Mr. Mike the Deep Pool Corporation shares, but he refused so Mr. Cedric hit him several times with his walking stick. Mr. Gerald’s bleeding…”North “accidentally” connected her phone to the company’s Bluetooth speakers.Immediately, the entire company heard what Connor said.Gerald had refused to give Mike the shares, so he got beaten up… Mike’s face fell. He lunged for North’s phone and tried to grab it, but North sidestepped him.Then, she pretended to reply worriedly, “Mr. Cedric’s gone too far! I’m coming over immediately!”Connor sighed dramatically. “It’s not fatal, but how
North replied softly, “Yeah, I’m distraught to the point of tears.”Gerald looked at her lazily, but amusedly. “If you’re so sad, then why aren’t you shedding any tears?”North froze. A moment later, she stroked his hair and pretended as if nothing had happened. “Don’t you know that you stop being able to cry if you’re too sad, Mr. Howard?”Gerald looked down and laughed before saying nonchalantly, “I got hit on the chest, Mrs. Howard. Don’t blow my cover.”North realized she was pressing down on his chest and fell silent.Then, she immediately got up and backed away. “Relax. When it comes to acting, I’m a professional.”As if on cue, rushed and furious footsteps sounded outside the door. Patricia barged into Gerald’s room with a bunch of people, including Mike.With an arrogant and mocking tone, she asked, “Were you raised in a barn, Gerald? You’ve pissed off your father the moment you came home. Can’t you be more considerate of him since he’s getting old?”North narrowed he
Everyone lowered their heads. Even Levi and the servants did so.North’s tongue… certainly was sharp.Patricia had been spoiled for the past few years, so no one dared to talk back to her. That was why North’s words enraged her so much. She felt lightheaded and had trouble breathing as her face turned green.“You… This has nothing to do with Mike…”“It doesn’t? That’s weird. If it’s got nothing to do with Mike, then what was he doing at Deep Pool Corporation?”North pretended to be confused. “He even announced that he was the company’s new owner from now on. Was he trying to steal his own brother’s things behind your back? You mustn’t let him get away with this, then. Otherwise, you’d be accomplices. Isn’t that right, Madam Howard?”Each word North said was like a knife to Patricia’s heart. She was so furious that she charged without thinking and tried to slap Gerald.However, North caught her hand and laughed coldly. “Madam Howard, your biological son is injured. Are you real
“Don’t push your luck, North—”“Is that so hard to answer? Looks like you’re still biased toward your ‘adopted’ son. Oh, dear. I’d better ask Madam Bracken—”“He knows! Mike knows!” Patricia replied with gritted teeth. “I’m sorry, Gerald. I’ve been fooled. Mike said you were already so successful, so you deserved a proper break after working for so many years. When he said he was willing to manage Deep Pool Corporation for you, I believed him.“I’m your biological mother. Why would I help an adopted son steal your life’s work? It was an honest mistake. Please don’t let any outsiders ruin our relationship!”“Oh… So, you’re saying it’s all Mike’s fault?” North beat Gerald to the punch with a passive-aggressive tone. “You’d better punish him properly then. A false heir trying to usurp the true heir? How dare he? Am I right, Ms. Patricia?”“How dare you?!”“North’s right.” Gerald suddenly smiled with a mysterious look in his shifting eyes. “Mike’s shares should be mine. If we’re talk
Mike remembered that because of Gerald’s “b*stard son” status, he had been humiliated in dozens of ways. He had been imprisoned in the basement, denied food, and shoved into a mountain cave to starve and freeze… He shuddered at the thought of it.However, at the same time, he was extremely indignant. “But I was your biological son, and yet you called me your adopted son!”Patricia hastily reassured him, “Don’t worry, Gerald won’t be able to keep that arrogance up for long. It’s just that North seems to have guessed the truth, so we can’t let her keep investigating. For the time being, you need to get back on Gerald’s good side, and make everyone think today was just a big misunderstanding—”“What?! I need to flatter him?!”“Listen to me, Mike. North’s right. What if Paige’s son isn’t dead? What if you’re her son?!” Patricia said deviously. “If you become her son, then you’ll be the true Howard heir. That means you’ll get to lead both the Bracken and the Howard families! Wouldn’t th