CHAPTER 275

Belle glared at Rachael irritably. "Before you married Brian, you said Alex was too young to live without a mother, which was all the more reason you both needed to get married so that you could be the mother figure for the child. Nevertheless, not long after you were married to Brian, you were pregnant, and that became an excuse for you to stop your husband from taking Alex back to Dusktown. Then, when your son grew older, I figured it was time for Brian to register Alex for kindergarten, only to be told that you were pregnant the second time. While Alex was forced to wait once again, I already saw through you for who you were, lady. At that moment, I changed my mind and decided not to let you take Alex with you, even if you agreed to. After all, you were full of lies with all your empty promises about looking after Alex. That kid was just a toddler back then, and if I had handed him over to you, something terrible could have happened should you overlook him."

Rachael's face flushed in resentment. "I wasn't lying. I was indeed pregnant not long after Brian and I got married. Larry and Lucy were not in good health, and I was barely coping with taking care of them, let alone looking after one more child."

"If you couldn't handle the job, you shouldn't have made that empty promise!" Belle refuted her disappointing daughter-in-law. "In fact, I even made it clear to you that Brian had a son with his former wife, and looking after the child would become your responsibility should you insist on marrying him. Does that ring a bell now? You promised me that you would treat Alex like your own son, but unfortunately, I failed to see through your sweet lie and fell for it. I wish I had known that you were a liar back then because you had no qualms making any promises you never intended to keep just so you could marry Brian. After you married Brian, you tried to brainwash my son into favoring your children over Alex, indirectly turning him into an orphan with no mother—and father! For that, you're no different from Brian because you both don't have a heart, anyway. I guess that was what made the two of you fall for each other. You guys are meant for each other as both of your shamelessness knows no equal!"

On the other hand, Brian slowly became oblivious to his surroundings as the angry voices around him began to suffocate and drown him. However, he didn't think he was the person whom Belle had been condemning, as he didn't believe he was the man she said. Despite the thought of that, he couldn't deny a single word she just uttered because those were indeed the things he did in the past.

When Brian was managing everything at once back then, he had so much on his plate that he couldn't afford to think carefully about every single decision he was making. Therefore, he didn't see a problem with his actions back then until his mother, Belle, brought up each and every one of them in public. It was then that he realized he had made so many unforgivable mistakes. Oh gosh! I have wronged so many people, especially Mom and Alex. Mom is right. I'm an idiot! An animal! When Belle first made a scene about their domestic conflicts, Brian was too embarrassed to confront her because he was concerned about his reputation. However, he slowly began to grow numb with the accusations, eventually agreeing with Belle that his mistakes were unacceptable. I deserve to be punished! This humiliation serves me right!

"No, I wasn't lying to you! Instead, I was actually telling you the truth!" Rachael tried to explain herself desperately. "Who would have thought that I'd get pregnant not long after Brian and I got married? I wanted to take good care of Alex for Brian, but when I got pregnant, I was completely worn out by my morning sickness."

"So, what? You starved Alex and kept him poorly fed? What was that all about?" Belle wished she could just skin Rachael alive when she talked about Alex. "I don't know how much longer I can hold on until my last breath, but I knew it was definitely time for Alex to start going to school, which was why I told Brian to come and take the boy with him. Don't you think it's ironic for a boy to suffer from starvation while his father makes thousands and millions in a year? What was even worse was that you even abused Alex and turned a blind eye to your children as they bullied him. You don't deserve to be a

human, Rachael! You're an animal! I was wrong to let Brian marry you! In fact, I have made two of my biggest mistakes in my life—the first was giving birth to Brian, and the second was allowing you to marry into the Carter Family!" Belle shook from head to toe in exasperation.

When Alex saw his grandmother's reaction, tears rolled down his eyes. "That's enough, Grandma! Let's go home now! I don't want to see them any longer. I just want you to be in good health, Grandma. Come on, let's go home now!"

"No, I've never abused him before, and neither did I ever starve him!" Rachael tried to talk her way out. "How could you believe a child's words? Furthermore, he never once left your side throughout his life, so when he came to Dusktown, he couldn't stop missing you. So, those things that you heard from him were lies that he made up just so he could return to your side!"

"Besides you and I, only God knows whether you're telling the truth!" Belle seized Alex's hand and gave the lady an evil eye. "However, I doubt a wicked lady like you believes in god. You have no belief, and neither do you have a heart because you had no qualms abusing a child. Thus, I don't believe someone like you has any faith in god."

"I did some check-ups on Alex." Leigh held a medical report and hurled it at Brian's face. "Your son has been suffering from an excessive period of malnutrition. He is a 7-year-old kid but only has the height of a 5-year-old child. Your wife is smart enough not to leave any marks on the child's body. Otherwise, I'd be sure to put her behind bars from child abuse!"

Meanwhile, Brian began to flip through the papers with his shaking fingers as soon as he caught the report with his hands. As he went on to skim through the content, his vision slowly became blurry, and his eyes filled with tears. At the same time, his legs gave away as he crouched on the ground and wrapped his head with his arms, biting his lip to fight back his tears. I let you down, Yuri. I'm sorry.

Deep down, he loved Yuri dearly while feeling indebted to her, but that was precisely why he didn't want to face Alex. After all, every time he saw the boy, he felt as if there was a voice whispering in his ear and reminding him of his betrayal for giving up on Yuri and starting a family with Rachael.

Although Yuri remained missing, Brian had been fooling himself into believing that he had a perfect life with a beautiful wife and two adorable children. Nevertheless, Alex's existence only served to remind him that the happy life he was enjoying now was all because he gave up on Yuri, but Yuri was only just missing, not dead. In fact, Yuri went missing on her way back to Dusktown after she made a trip to Sanguine Mountain to visit Belle on Brian's behalf. After that, Brian desperately committed himself to all attempts to search for Yuri, only to be dismayed and disappointed when his efforts were met with futility. Despite being grief-stricken by Yuri's bizarre disappearance, Brian was forced to carry on with his job.

A year after Yuri went missing, she was presumed to be dead by everyone else, while Brian was faced by Rachael's tenacious romantic advances. In order to win his heart, the lady even promised to treat Alex as her own son with the reason that the boy needed a mother figure. Although Brian initially disagreed with that, he unknowingly ended up sleeping with Rachael after he got drunk one night. While that night cost Rachael's first time, he was bound by honor and his respect for the lady's father, who was still his mentor at that time to marry her. For that, he later went about Yuri's death pronouncement and proceeded to marry Rachael. Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Before they were married, Rachael pledged with her own life to take good care of Alex, but in hindsight, Brian began to doubt whether his wife really did keep her word. After all, he never once returned to his hometown to visit Alex ever since he married Rachael. Even after Alex came to Dusktown, Brian didn't get to spend much time with his son due to his demanding work. Then, when he was done with his project, he couldn't bring himself to face Alex, whom he was afraid would remind him of Yuri. Because of that, he ended up avoiding the child most of the time, but little did he know that his constant absence

had become an opportunity for Rachael to exploit as she starved his only son with Yuri and made him suffer from malnutrition.