Mr. Louis, a competitor of Neil in business, remarked on their behavior towards Bryan, Neil responded trying not to make people believe in Mr.Loui's words, "Don't jump to conclusions, Mr. Louis, we care deeply about our son.""Really?" Mr. Louis sneered, "No one here can see that in your wife's uninterested behavior towards him, I don't think anyone would disagree with me, am I wrong?"Neil sighed, realizing the conversation was taking a bad turn and making people to get into their own conclusions, "My wife is just upset with our son for not attending the party, you should understand a mother's pain at missing her son.""Is that so?" Mr. Shervian asked while raising his eyebrows, "Why doesn't it seem that way, brother? It looks like my sister-in-law loves Jake more than Bryan, Are you sure she's just concerned? Or are you misunderstanding things too?"Neil shook his head as their assumptions creating a huge headache for him, "I don't understand why you're also talking like this, Sherv
Mr. Wilson's words took Neil by surprise, leaving him confused and lost in thinking for a way to convince him, just as Neil was growing more anxious and nervous, Mr. Wilson suggested with a smile, "Let's discuss this further when Bryan is here."For a moment, Neil felt his heart would stop working out of tension, though he was somewhat relieved it wasn't as bad as he was scared since Mr. Wilson has a smile on his face rather than a furious expression.Mrs. Wilson came forward speaking while holding her husband's hand, "We know you love Bryan a lot and trying to keep him out of the spotlight to protect him from danger, people often don't understand a parent's heart unless they're in our position, as a doting parents to our daughter, we understand your affection for your son, even if others misunderstand it, so please don't take their words to your heart.""Exactly," Neil said, finally took a breath in relief, since nothing happened as he was scared of and everything was well and fine a
Felix was startled for a moment, thinking Stacy had figured out his real reason for being at the party. Still, he didn't want to reveal anything until he was sure, so he decided to play innocent unless Stacy reveal regarding, what she truly desires to know, "What do you mean by 'purpose,' my lady?" He asked glancing at Stacy."It's exactly what I asked," Stacy replied, with a smile, "What brought you to attend this party?"Felix responded just as the plan he stick to before coming to the party, "Your parents are well-known to me, and I'm one of their well wishers, my lady, moreover as the principal who noticed your brother from closer, I wanted to meet them in person."Stacy crossed her arms questioning him further, "So, you came all the way here because of my brother?" Felix hummed as cunning as ever, "partly yes, he has been raised to be a gentleman, I wanted to praise your parents for raising him so well, not most of the children from reputed families were like this, sometimes it'
Mia's words momentarily stopped Stacy from moving forward, making her focus entirely on Mia and her words, "What do you mean by suspect? What should I suspect?" Stacy asked raising her eyebrow trying to know more about what Mia is talking about."Ever since that guy left, nothing has gone right," Mia said with a frown, "Dad raised his voice at Jake for the first time, Mom and Dad argued which we didn't notice before, the only time I've seen our parents is when they lost that guy years back, and the parties in our home, which were never ruined and always magnificent, was a disaster today, directly or indirectly, our family got humiliated infront of everyone. Does any of this seem natural to you?"Stacy sighed at Mia's words, "First of all, that guy has a name, it's Bryan, whether you accept it or not, he's our younger brother, now, if things seem unnatural, do you want to blame him for everything?""No, that's not what I mean," Mia tried to explain, but Stacy cut her off before she wou
It all started the day Josephine brought Jake home, Alicia, the Madam of Winterwood, already grieving the loss of Bryan in an unfortunate incident, was agitated when Josephine arrived with a young Jake clinging to her legs."Who is he?" Alicia demanded, her authority as the head of the house can't be ignored, Josephine, obliged to answer, so gave her response, "He is the son of someone to whom we owe a lot but forgot to repay."Neil, who overheard everything Josephine spoke stepped forward inquiring her with a hopeful look, "Son of Benjamin?" Josephine nodded with a faint smile, "Yes, he died saving you, and his wife became emotionally unstable and went overseas by hiding the truth of her pregnancy from everyone, then I found out through a common friend that he was abandoned by her relatives after she died, I couldn’t leave him just like everyone, so I brought him home."Neil looked at Jake sympathetically, holding him in his arms without further questions, knowing he was the son of h
Neil sighed at Stacy for bringing up something he is angry about already, "Don't start this again, Stacy, leave me alone, don't make me more furious than I'm already."Stacy knew her father's anger well, but she couldn't back down at this moment, when she came here all the way to know the truth, "Father, I don't mean to frustrate you more, but this is the question even Uncle Shervian has asked us, others are curious too while uncle Shervian asked the others are fabricating the answers to their convience by themselves, so I can't help but seek an answer from you rather than believing any of those assumptions, only if I get an answer then I can think of something to stop all this.""Do you think I did everything intentionally?" Neil shouted, his anger boiling over as his furiousness reached the threshold point, "it's because of your mother, she's the one who wanted Bryan's existence hidden."Stacy's eyes widened in shock at her father's revelation which she never expected to hear, "Mom?
The fresh morning with bustling classes and busy students running for their classes, Mirabel had been searching everywhere for Bryan, since she was late to college for waking up late, she couldn't find him in class as he doesn't like boring classes. Finally, she remembered the only two places Bryan loved to be in the entire college, either the classroom or the library, Mirabel rushed to the library hoping to find him there.As she entered the library, she greeted the librarian, "hello Mr. Klaus, how is your day?" He smiled at her, "I'm fine, just busy as always, by the way what brought you to the library today? Need any books?" "Books and I are sworn enemies!" Mirabel exclaimed with a funny facial expression, "I'm here to search for someone, have you seen Bryan, the freshman from the business department?""That odd guy who surrounds himself with piles of books and reads like he is preparing for war?" Mr. Klaus joked about Bryan's seriousness while reading the books, Mirabel giggled a
Bryan sighed at the urgency of Ronald, took another sip from his water bottle calmly, and glanced leisurely at Ronald, "No rush, dude, I know why he's calling me, we can go whenever we want, there's nothing to worry.""Still, why don't we go see him,?" Ronald suggested thinking it'll be disrespectful if they delay more, "He's been looking for you everywhere, let's just go and meet him, why delaying rather than getting over with it?" Bryan hummed in agreement, got up from his chair, and said to Mirabel, "We're going to meet the principal, we will be back in a bit, either stay here or go back to the dorm, don't wander here and there."Mirabel nodded while laughing at his words treating her as a child, as Bryan and Ronald were about to leave, Bryan looked back at Mirabel, remembering her words, 'I'll always choose you over everyone, and I'll never abandon you', he hadn't realized how much he craved to hear those words until she said it, unintentionally a smile brought on his face as soon
"Why is this mystery never ending?" Bryan sat in his study, surrounded by stacks of old documents and family records. Unaware of what Josephine is plotting behind his back, he is so busy in getting the truth that was buried in the past. The faint glow of the desk lamp made him feel uneasy to stare at the papers, however he is so busy and involved in flipping the pages. He had been checking through the Winterwood archives for hours, determined to find any trace of evidence to support his suspicions regarding the mysteries. As he reached the bottom of an old wooden chest, a red envelope caught his attention. The paper looked too old, the edges were torn, and the handwriting on the front unmistakably belonged to his late grandfather, Edward Winterwood, "grandfather? This handwriting is similiar to grandfather's, I still remember the handwriting of grandfather from my previous life while helping my father, if so why is grandfather's handwritten paper is here?" With a curiosity, he
"Sure, I can," Stacy said and took the file, as she checked the details, apart from very minimalistic nothing else found, "Bryan, if you don't mind, can I ask who is this man? If you don't want to say it's okay." Bryan took a deep breath and said the conversation he had before with officer Hobbes."What the!" Stacy was beyond surprised, "how can this be?" Bryan replied, "I don't know either, but the maid is already dead too, I don't believe our mom is doing all the things alone, I'm sure someone must be helping her," Stacy looked curious, "so, did you figure out anything more about these things?" Bryan sighed, leaning back to the bedframe, "Not yet, but I have a feeling this man from mom's past holds the key to everything. If I can figure out who he is, I might be able to predict her next move, until then I'm not sure of anything because things are different from my previous life at this moment, so I can't take a blind step believing in intuition." Stacy frowned in deep thought. "
"These are the files you're supposed to look at and take care of," Josephine sat at her desk in the office, glaring daggers as everyone who was looking down on her, whereas Nancy, had been firm but fair in her leadership. To Josephine, it felt like a constant reminder of her fall from grace. Once the madam of the Winterwood household, but she was now reduced to a subordinate, a reality she bitterly hatred.Just then, her phone buzzed on the desk. It was a text from Bryan, "I think you love your new life, Mrs. Winterwood." Josephine slammed her phone down, with an angry look, "The audacity of that bastard to treat me this way! I don't know what got into him out of a sudden, all these years, I've tamed him perfectly, but he became a fox out of a sudden pulling strings to annoy me." When Nancy walked into the room, holding another set of reports, Josephine couldn’t contain her anger."Just because your father made you a CEO, do you think you're superior to me?" she hissed, with a ton
"Mother," Josephine spoke in a low tone, "you know whatever I do, it is for this family, I've been in this house for so long serving as his wife and your daughter-in-law, I built the reputation of this family along with my husband, how can you say this to me when I was also a part of the glory now winterwood family enjoying?"Alicia snapped at her, "glory? You brought nothing but shame, don't forget how you became the daughter-in-law of this family, from that day till now, there's nothing but humiliation and insults surrounding this family." Josephine opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, Bryan finally stepped forward, "Grandma, right now, I don't think it's important for us to discuss the past." Everyone turned to him, with a curious and surprised expression trying to know what he is trying to do, as they're not sure why Bryan is helping Josephine who treats him nothing but as an enemy."Bryan, this is none of your concern," Neil said sharply. "I advise you to stay out
"So, are you pitying me?" Bryan asked making Ronald to smile, "not once but thrice, because you'll be one's husband and forever brother to two sisters, I think sister Stacy is also one of them, so not even thrice but four times I pity on you." Bryan rolled his eyes, Mia who glanced at Ronald and Bryan speaking to eachother just frowned, when Ronald looked at her, she immediately turned her face away."Why is she angry with you?" Bryan who observed the fierce reaction of Mia, asked Ronald, but he just lied, "I don't know." At the sametime, Stacy came with a smile, "everything is done, we can go home now." Bryan held Mirabel's hand, "I want to take you home, but this isn't the right time Mira, so...." "Come on prince, did I ever blame you for anything?" Mirabel gently hugged him, "I'll go back to dorm, don't forget to give a call when you reach home." Bryan nodded, she gave a kiss on his forehead, "take medicine well, you need good rest too, don't stress and don't overwork, it's no
"No, this can't be real!" Josephine is stunned to see all the shares she has invested are running in a huge loss, forget about profit, she can't even get the amount she used to invest.Josephine is overconfident about the results and invested more and more not even thinking about the risks she'll be taking.Now finally the time for her to suffer came, as she was left with nothing, even the current mansion is also under mortgage, she is going to loose it completely.Josephine became crazy by the stress and called Stacy multiple times, since Stacy is the one who gave that list to Josephine, but Josephine who was busy with taking care of Bryan didn't even bother to answer Josephine's calls and messages."This bitch!" Josephine clutched her mobile, "why isn't she answering her call? Don't tell me she and Bryan planned this together? No way....that can't happen, I'm sure this must be a mistake, but how am I supposed to solve it? Should I make her get money from Bryan? After all he loves hi
'If you ever tarnish this family’s name again," Mr. Wilson continued, with a cold voice, "I will cut you off entirely from this family, no more money, no more support, no more anything. You’ll be on your own, do you understand me?"Tracy nodded slowly, her lower lip trembling. "I understand," she whispered .Her mother folded her arms, her expression still harsh but slightly softened, as after all Tracy is their only daughter whom they loved and cherished a lot."Good, and as for the Winterwoods, we’ll be distancing ourselves from them for a while. After what you’ve done, I don’t want to see or hear their name in this house," those words from her mother left Tracy to be heartbroken.Tracy’s head shot up, panic flashing in her eyes. "No, please! Don’t do that! I—I’ll fix this! I’ll apologize to Bryan, to everyone, and I'm sure Bryan will believe in me, he'll forgive me, I'm the only friend he had, so give me a chance to apologize to Bryan." "It’s too late for that," Mr. Wilson said fi
The tension in the Wilson household was quite evident, the air thick with anger and disappointment. Tracy sat on the velvet couch in the grand living room, her head bowed, tears streaming down her face. Her parents stood nearby, their expressions a mix of fury and humiliation. The scenes of the disgraceful behaviour of Tracy at the Winterwood party were still fresh in their minds."Do you have any idea what you’ve done, Tracy?" Mr. Wilson, roared, his voice resounding through the room. "You’ve humiliated not only yourself but this entire family! Thanks to you, I can't raise my head and go out in public anymore." Tracy flinched, her hands gripping the edges of her dress tightly. "I didn’t mean to," she began, with a shaking voice, as she isn't sure how things changed from what she originally planned, she wanted to drug Bryan and force him into a relationship with her, but things changed in a different way leaving her as a laughing stock in front of everyone."Didn’t mean to?" Her m
"This is so exhausting, I don't prefer any kind of parties, from now onwards," Nancy said stretching her arms, looking at the guests leaving.Bryan smiled at her, "I thought you're the one who enjoyed it mostly," Nancy glanced at Bryan, ruffling his hair, "I did just as you said, nothing as enjoyment is here, what about you, did you enjoy the party?""I'm totally blown out, my head is heating up," Bryan said, making her chuckle, as all the guests left, Bryan said to John, "Mr. John, I'm tired, can you manage all these, I'll go to my room to get some rest." John nodded his head, "sure young master." With that, all of them returned to their rooms, Bryan closed the door and collapsed on the bed with a sigh.The night was eerily quiet within the Winterwood estate. Bryan laying on the bed, with his thoughts consumed by his earlier conversation with Mr. Hobbes. The revelation about Josephine and her past truly thrilled him, yet his determination to uncover the truth burned brighter than