CHAPTER 276

As those suppressed memories suddenly flooded his mind, Brian felt overwhelmed and suffocated, shaking like a leaf from head to toe. When Rachael noticed something wrong with the man, she quickly walked closer to him and showed her concern. "Brian, are you alright…?"

"Get away from me!" Brian rose to his feet abruptly and shoved the lady away, his eyes turning red as he snapped at her. "Why?! You promised me that you would treat Alex like your own son. You promised me you'd look after him, but why did you treat him so harshly?!" The man then hurled the report at Rachael's face, glaring at her like a bloodthirsty beast that was ready to devour its prey at any moment.

Meanwhile, Rachael froze in response, surprised by her husband's unexpected reaction. Despite Brian's humble background from a rural village, his good looks and decent gentility made him an attractive and civilized young man, yet Rachael had never seen him so angry before. At that moment, she found herself meeting Brian's angry eyes, as if both of them were not husband and wife but enemies with a long bitter history. Soon, her trance turned into rage as she hurled the report back at Brian. "That kid may be your son, but I'm not his mother! So why should I be expected to raise him? Furthermore, he is always full of scheming ideas, and he would never stop messing around mischievously. Do you have any idea how much I sacrificed just to raise him for you? Stop pointing your finger at me if you don't know anything about it!"

"You made a promise to me!" Brian snarled at his wife. "When you wooed me back then, I rejected you until you promised me that you could become the mother figure Alex needed once we got married. You said that yourself, and that was the only reason I agreed to marry you, but look at what you have done! How could you treat my son like that?! Where is your heart?!"

"How could you say this to me?!" Rachael glared at the man with her eyes wide open, her blood boiling in every vessel within her body. "How dare you yell at me so harshly, Brian?! After everything I did to

keep the family together and raise our children, this is how you repay me—with a harsh scolding?!"

"What did you just say? You keep the family together and raise our children?" Brian sneered at the lady and kept his eyes closed for a second. When he opened his eyes again, he responded calmly, "Rachael, we're going to divorce and move on in our separate ways."

"W-What? What did you just say?" Rachael couldn't believe her ears.

"I said I want a divorce!" Brian was seen with his bloodshot eyes, although they were filled with indifference and coldness. "I'm going to file for a divorce! After all, I don't need you to take care of Alex because I'm going to do it myself. It's time for me to make it up to Alex and Mom. It was all my fault, and I should now shoulder the responsibility of feeding my own mother and son. I was wrong to count on you to do the job for me back then, but now that I've realized my mistake, I'm going to file for a divorce!"

"Are you out of your mind?" Rachael looked at Brian in disbelief. "A divorce? What about Larry and Lucy? How could you let them live in a broken family?! How cruel!"

"Yeah, I was cruel! To think about what I did back then, I was no better than an animal!" Brian mocked himself. "I was dumb to entrust you with my mother and Alex because my foolishness created an opportunity for you to misuse the money I wanted you to transfer them. This was all my fault! For that, I'll surely go to hell when I die!"

"What are you talking about?! Rachael added in a panicky manner, "Two thousand is more than enough to make ends meet in a rural village. In fact, that's the rough amount an average adult makes in a place like that. Your mother is getting paid an average adult's salary every month, so what more

are you asking for?"

"Of course, that's 'enough'!" Leigh continued to say, "You could spend hundreds of thousands on a fancy piano and several intensive classes for your children but was only willing to give Alex and his grandmother twenty-four thousand a month. That's a lot of money indeed!" Belongs to © n0velDrama.Org.

"What do you know?" Rachael gave the lady an evil eye. "How can you compare the standard of living in a rural village to that of Dusktown? Two thousand is more than enough to live in a rural village!"

"Alex is your child just like your other children. Thus, he must be treated fairly as well." Rachael gazed at Brian and calmly said, "You will give Alex as much money as you give your children, not a single penny less."

"Yes! Yes! Of course!" Brian nodded his head, even wishing he could give Alex his life. Why? Why did I make such a foolish and unforgivable mistake? If I hadn't been so stupid, Alex wouldn't have had to go through so much suffering. What was wrong with me?! How is two thousand per month supposed to be enough for Mom and Alex to sustain their living?

"W-What does that mean?" Rachael glared at Belle, questioning her as her body shivered.

"It means exactly as it sounds." Belle met Rachael's eyes and coldly replied, "With my health condition, I'm pretty sure my days are numbered. So, I must do something to protect Alex while I'm still alive, or my boy's future is going to be doomed once I take my last breath. Therefore, I want Brian to divide his fortune and give Alex the share he deserves. Then, I'm going to save up the money for him and appoint a lawyer to keep an eye on the fund for him."

In the meantime, Rachael hatefully stared back at Belle but was speechless to refute the latter. Wait,

what? Did she just say she wants Brian to give Alex his share of the fortune? Come on! Isn't Alex a little too young for that? Everything that Brian owns should belong to me and my children. Alex has no business in that regard at all. At the thought of that, Rachael gritted her teeth so hard that her gum nearly bled.

When Rachael wanted to marry Brian, her parents didn't agree at first, deeming everything about him perfect except the fact that he had a son. After all, they didn't think it would be easy for Rachael to be a stepmother and tried to dissuade their daughter from marrying Brian. However, she loved Brian so much that she only had eyes for no one but the man himself. In fact, she had no problem accepting and treating Alex as her own son at first, believing her love for Brian should also extend to his son. Because of that, she was confident that she would make a loving and dutiful stepmother, but not long after Brian accepted her romantic advances, she began to fall in love with the man deeper and deeper with time, eventually becoming intolerant of Alex's presence. After all, Alex was the son of Brian with another woman, which always ruined her mood by reminding her of Yuri, of whom she would feel jealous.

Deep down, Rachael could never bring herself to accept the fact that Brian once loved another woman. In fact, she rejected it so much that the thought began to haunt her on the inside. Thus, she became unwilling to live with Alex, thinking she wasn't obligated to raise her love rival's son at all. Because of that, she quickly had herself impregnated without taking any preventive measures not long after she was married to Brian.

Shortly after they both got married, Brian suggested taking Alex with him to Dusktown, which irked Rachael because the child would only get in the way of their honeymoon trip. The situation later went in Rachael's favor as Brian agreed to go along with her. When they returned from their honeymoon trip, Rachael realized she was pregnant before Brian could even set off to collect Alex. Thus, that became her reason to dissuade her husband from taking Alex to Dusktown, as she convinced him to put the plan on hold until she gave birth to her child.

With one excuse after another, Rachael managed to keep things going her way for the next 4 to 5 years until Belle ran out of patience. She then called Brian and gave him a harsh scolding, telling her son that the plan to take Alex with him to Dusktown mustn't wait any longer. It was then that Rachael had no choice but to allow Brian to take Alex under their wing. That was my home! I was the one who built our family, so this is the home for my children, my husband, and me! The four of us were going to have such a beautiful and happy life as a family, but Alex wouldn't stop coming back to ruin it. Alex's presence was a reminder to Rachael that she was not Brian's only wife, as he once loved another woman.