Return of the supreme Consortium heir

Chapter 9

Alex and Via kept smiling seeing the happy faces that were staring at them. Stella and Brandley's presence didn't escape Alex's notice. With a smug grin, he pulled Via into a passionate kiss, heightening the spectacle for all to see. The crowd erupted in another round of cheers, amplifying the grandeur of the moment.

After their tender embrace, Via's gaze briefly met Brandley's, but she quickly averted her eyes, feigning indifference. It was a subtle yet deliberate snub, intended to drive home the message that she had moved on.

As Jacob took the stage to address the guests, Brandley couldn't help but feel a pang of hurt and betrayal. It seemed like everything he held dear was slipping away from him, replaced by a reality that was more painful than he could have imagined.

With a heavy heart, he watched as Jacob thanked the guests, his words ringing hollow in Brandley's ears. Despite the festive atmosphere surrounding him, Brandley felt like an outsider in the same home he had spent the last twenty years of his life, a silent witness to the fact that he was a bastard who didn't know who his biological father was.

While Jacob was still speaking, a gentleman walked up on stage and whispered something in his ears. A sly smile played on his lips as he called Stella to come and join him on stage after asking the gentleman to get him something from his office.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I want you all to help me celebrate Stella Morgan, my ex-wife and Alex's step mother." Jacob announced.

Brandley was surprised to hear Jacob refer to his mother as his ex-wife. He couldn't help but wonder what his step father and half brother were up to. Alex had done his own and now, it was his step father's turn.

Reluctantly, Stella walked up to meet him on stage trying to hide her unease and force out a smile. The gentleman who had whispered something in Jacob's ears earlier returned with an envelope containing documents and handed them over to Jacob. 

"Take, sign this." Jacob instructed Stella as he handed over the documents to her.

"What's this?" Stella asked, unable to comprehend what was going on.

Jacob, amplified Stella's embarrassment, his words echoing through the room with utter disdain. Stella's heart sank, her worst fears realized in an instant. She felt as though the ground had been ripped out from beneath her feet, leaving her stranded and alone in a sea of humiliation.

"I picked up my ex-wife and his bastard son from the slumps. I polished her and made her a queen all because I needed someone to take care of my son Alex as I was a very busy man at that time. But this woman decided to squander my wealth. She even had the guts to tell me that my money which I gave her access to, is her money. It is on this ground that I'm issuing her a divorce. From this moment hence forth, she ceases to be a Morgan. She should not be seen around the mansion or around any of my companies," Jacob declared, his voice cutting through the stunned silence that had fallen over the crowd.

Stella's knees buckled beneath her as she sank to the ground, her heart breaking with each word that fell from Jacob's lips. She had never imagined that he would stoop so low as to publicly humiliate her in front of their friends and acquaintances, and the weight of his words bore down on her like a crushing weight.

Tears welled up in Stella's eyes as she struggled to find the words to respond, her voice choked with emotion. She wanted nothing more than to plead for forgiveness, to beg Jacob to reconsider his decision, but she knew that it was futile. He had made up his mind, and there was nothing she could do to change it.

As she swallowed her pride and attempted to apologize, Jacob's expression remained cold and unmoved. He seemed to revel in her suffering, his eyes gleaming with a cruel satisfaction as he watched her squirm.

Brandley could not hold back his tears seeing his mother being publicly humiliated. He stepped out of the crowd to help his mother but Jacob asked the security personnel to seize him.

"She even brought her bastard son to beat me up." Jacob said with a mocking laughter.

"Sign these papers and leave this place, else I'll ask the security to deal with your good for nothing son." Jacob warned.

Stella, knowing Jacob too well to be a man who would not eat his words, decided to comply. "Don't hurt my son. I'll do what you want." She said, requesting for a pen.

Jacob dipped his hand into his suit pocket and handed her a pen. Still on the floor and with tears in her eyes, she penned down her signature agreeing to divorce.

Jacob bent down to retrieve the documents, a sense of foreboding washing through him. Calling the security personnel, he ordered for Stella and Brandley to be thrown out of the mansion.

"I don't want to see your ugly faces ever again." He blurted out angrily before turning to his guests, "Sorry for that. We can all go back to enjoying the party." He declared before stepping down, the crowd cheering him up as he did.

While everyone was watching, the security personnel dragged the two of them outside. Everyone called them names as they were being dragged out. Via's friends were not left out. 

"Sorry Brandley. Via found someone better to you." They spat at him mockingly.

As the chatter and mockery filled the room, one of the invited guests who had witnessed everything felt a pang of recognition as he laid eyes on Stella. Memories flooded back to him, memories of a time when Stella had been the girlfriend of his boss, Philip Stark, one of the wealthiest businessmen in the Westland.

Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind, stirring a sense of curiosity within him. "Could that be the child she was carrying in her womb when she left Philip?" he asked himself quietly, stepping out of the crowd to meet them outside.