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2024-10-29 19:42:56Four days later.
The Bennett family members were having a wonderful breakfast. Arnold, Jennifer, and their kids, James and Viola, were all in a good mood. James was 19, and Viola was 20. James got his mother’s features, and his face was more oval compared to Viola who got her dad’s features. She had a sharp physique compared to him.
Russell came walking down the stairs slowly and occupied his seat. Russell’s biological mother was a foreigner, so he had a different skin complexion and facial structure compared to his step-siblings.
Russell didn't greet anyone, and he looked dull.
“Brother Russell? Why are you acting a bit strangely since yesterday?” Violo asked, looking a little worried. “Did you hurt your foot or something? Is everything alright?”
Russell didn’t say anything.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Viola pressed him for an answer.
James nudged his sister and whispered, “Maybe he’s got a rash or something. Women aren’t the only ones who get moody every once in a while or feel embarrassed to reveal such things.”
“Ahem,” Viola cleared her throat and touched Russell’s hand. “You’re going to heal soon, Brother. Don’t worry.”
Russell briefly glanced at his father who wasn’t even looking at him.
Viola looked at her mother and pleaded, “Mom, Brother Russell isn’t a kid. He’s what? 26 now? You don’t have to room-arrest him.”
“It’s all for his good, Viola,” Jennifer reasoned. “You think I like doing it? But it’s all part of disciplining one’s children.”
“But you never room-arrested me, though?” Viola argued.
“So you want me to discipline you as well? Fine. I’ll do it from now on.”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant, Mom,” Viola put her focus back on eating.
Russell was trying to eat, but the food wasn’t going down his throat any easily. He silently walked out of the house, even though Viola called for him and told him to sit.
Jennifer asked her husband in a low voice, “Is it okay to let him go out like that?”
“You don’t need to worry,” Arnold assured, though he wasn’t looking at her. “He’s learned his lesson.”
“Haha, so two days of room-arrest did the trick, huh.”
Arnold didn’t say anything. After finishing his meal, Arnold came out through the main door and dialed the number. “Jefferson. How are you doing?”
“I should be the one asking that question,” Jefferson asked with a little tense voice. “How’s your son doing?”
“He’s not speaking a word, but he’ll come around.. right?”
“I did my best to hypnotize him. I still think we rushed it, though.”
“Well, time wasn’t on our side.”
“Mm. But I must say it was a very close call,” Jefferson hadn’t taken a breath in the past half minute. “He was so close to slipping into a coma when we entered his room. If we were any late, things could have gotten a lot trickier.”
“Yeah,” just thinking about it gave Arnold goosebumps. “Who would have thought he’d take sleeping pills? He’s become such a coward. He should learn from Elora on how to absorb stress. She is a sponge when it comes to taking stress. I’m afraid Russell didn’t get that attribute from me or from his mother.”
“Well, it’s God who makes children in the womb, not us. Anyway, let’s hope everything turns out well,” Jefferson hoped. “I wish you good luck. And don’t forget about me after shaking hands and sharing drinks with Liam Lynn.”
“Haha, how could I?”
“And always have someone watch over your son, as he might react in ways we can’t predict.”
“Sure.” Arnold ended the call, and his expression turned serious, which was his usual face. Perro came up to him and rubbed its head to his leg. When it licked his foot, he got irritated and kicked the dog in the face. It backed away for a bit and made a sad face. He brought his hand closer, and it started licking his hand. “Why can’t Russell be like you? Why does he make life difficult for his father?”
Meanwhile, Russell traveled forty miles in his father's car and reached a clifftop.
He stood at the end and kept staring down as sadness seized his heart. And he jumped.
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Tears streamed down his cheek nonstop as Russell stared down from the clifftop. However, because he was hypnotized, his expression was flat. Nevertheless, his heart was heavy. He jumped without even closing his eyes.A fall from that height would result in a quick death for sure.However, Russell felt someone grabbing his shirt and pulling him back just in time. It was a vicious pull where he got tossed onto the ground.“Whoa, dude, you couldn’t find a better time to commit suicide than when I’m going out to make pizza delivery?” a guy removed his bike helmet and kept looking at Russell’s face to better assess his state of mind. He snapped his fingers right before Russell’s face, and Russell was snapped out of the spell he was put in.Russell, for a second, found himself staring at this man. He was so good-looking even though he wasn’t tall like Russell. He had one of those ethereal faces you wouldn’t mind looking at for hours. “W-Who are you?” he looked around, wondering where he was
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Russell’s house was on the northern side of the city, where his father and everyone else from the family except Elora lived.Elora was living in a small farm house bought on the southern side of the city. This was done so she would be staying as far away from the main house as possible. Russell didn’t like that. However, he could understand why his father had to do it. Elora was no longer Arnold’s wife. There was no need for him to take care of her, but for her sake and for Russell’s sake, he was taking care of her medical bills and other expenses. Then again, if Elora had filed for alimony, she would have made Arnold’s life difficult.Now, Arnold had spent only 10,000 dollars on the farm house in the past, and it was still his house. Its price kept increasing with every year. Today, it would sell for more than 70,000 dollars, so Arnold didn’t really lose anything, and he was also getting his mother treated by a friend, so the expenses were kept to minimum.Russell’s mother was suffer
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An Alfa Romeo SUV stopped in front of a premium Myers clothing store. Two young women got out of the car, all wearing fashionable clothing and with thick makeup on their faces and more.“You want to buy your wedding dress here?” Natasha’s elder sister, Skarlette, frowned straight away. “It’s too much for us. A single dress here might cost more than the wedding itself.”Natasha, however, waved her father’s credit card and laughed.“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” “It’s going to be fine,” Natasha assured. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I want everything to be posh and perfect.”“But you don’t want to look too rich because Denver might think you’re trying to compete with him,” Skarlette suggested. “You don’t want to make your man think that.” Her sister hadn’t even introduced him to her yet, so she had little to no idea about him other than knowing how he looked and a few other things her sister had shared with her. Denver was also Natasha’s schoolmate, and his family grew to b
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A shop assistant came over to Natasha and Skarlette and helped them choose the dresses. No matter which dress they saw, they were all priced over 500,000 dollars, and Skarlette kept using one word: No. After receiving ten nos on a trot, the shop assistant took them to a different section where the prices were more affordable, ranging between 100 to 300 thousand dollars. Skarlette could finally smile and say yes to whatever the shop assistant tried to show to her sister. After a long forty minutes of trying many dresses, Natasha finally chose a jasmine-patterned wedding dress with a hooded see-through cape. “Oh my, Nattie!” Skarlette covered her mouth in joy and astonishment. “You look like a royal princess in this.” She quickly checked the price. “It’s 325K, but it’s worth it. I can’t believe I’m saying this.” “I’m happy that you liked it. Do you think Russell, I mean, Denver, will like it as well?” “If he doesn’t, there must be something wrong with his eyes!” “Haha,” Natasha lau
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A minute ago.Russell was inside the changing room, staring at the price tag more than the pastel pink suit itself. “2.7 million dollars for a wedding suit…”Just what was in this suit that made it so pricey? No matter how much he worked his head over it, he couldn’t understand. He and his family could live happily ever after with this much money, after all.While he was buttoning up, he heard a voice talking with Kyra. It felt somewhat familiar, but he didn’t recognize it. That voice belonged to Skarlette. “Maybe she met with some old friend?” he thought.Russell looked at himself in the mirror. Though the suit made him look good, there wasn’t much glow in his eyes. He pressed his hand against his face in the mirror. “She rejected my face. She rejected my love. She rejected my honesty. She rejected my lifestyle. With one swing of her hand, she rejected my everything… and I thought she was my everything.”He remembered the moment when he had met her at the children’s amusement park, w
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Natasha snorted and gave her credit card. The cashier swiped the card in the machine, but the swipe got declined.The cashier swiped again. The same thing happened.He looked at the sisters once, and Skarlette told him to do it again.The cashier tried again, and it didn’t work.“I’m sorry, the transaction has been declined. There must be an issue with the card.”“That’s impossible,” Natasha raised her voice. “Check again.”He checked again, but the same thing happened. He gave them the card but not the items. “Can you please move aside?”Skarlette was shell-shocked, whereas Natasha quivered with mortification and could not lift her head to look in Russell’s direction.Being told to move aside by a mere cashier… was there anything more humiliating?Seeing their pale expressions, Russell whispered to Kyra, “Can you pay for them?”Kyra didn’t expect that, so she couldn’t hide the look of surprise. “I can, but…” she answered in a low voice, “it might be taken in the wrong way.”“Skarlett
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“I will build a great monument for you, Natasha,” a manly voice kept giving promises to her over the mobile, and she couldn’t help but blush. “Our names will be etched in history as the greatest lovers the world has ever seen.” “Stop it, Denver. You’re exaggerating your love a bit too much.” “I’m actually understating it, dear,” Denver’s voice was rough yet tender. She could feel a comforting warmth in his voice, which she didn’t feel all that much in Russell’s voice. “If you cut open my heart, you will find yourself in it.” Natasha’s blush deepened. She missed getting praised like this. While Russell’s company wasn’t particularly bad, he wasn’t anywhere as romantic as Denver, and she had to actively kiss Russell to even get a kiss back from him. “I should have realized your love for me sooner, Denver.” “It’s alright. I’m glad you finally accepted my love. You’ll be my princess forever,” Denver blew a kiss that tickled her ears. “See you tonight.” “Tonight?” “Yeah, I’ll sneak int
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AUTHOR'S EPISTLE
THANK YOU:: The Secret Successor has found his family as well as his love! There’s no one more lucky in the world than one who has a family that loves them. They don’t say blood is thicker than water for no reason. But I’d say, love is even thicker than blood. So, Russell is lucky to have a loving mom, dad, grandfather, and a childhood girlfriend. How lucky are you in your life in terms of relationships? Do you have people who support you when you are down? I hope so. I started the novel with the thought of finishing it in 500 chapters, but it took this long. To all those who read every chapter and reached this page… you have my humble and grateful thanks. A big thanks to reader Oyewale Gabriel for your immense support. And then to Mickey Ritch for your votes as well as comment support. Next is Ricky, who is one of the earliest readers of this novel. Good to still see you around. To Charlie Mcmillen, who has a silent but strong presence, you have my Mcvery thanks. And then, we hav
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EPILOGUE
A few weeks later.Charlotte was at her home, eating peanuts, which didn’t taste good on her tongue right now. It wasn’t the peanuts that had the issue, but her tongue and her mind.“Even the food isn’t going inside,” Charlotte pitifully said. She called Kyra’s mobile, but Kyra didn’t answer.Seconds later, Kyra sent a text message: Don’t bother me.“Tsk, she’s completely cut herself off,” Charlotte tossed the mobile away at the wall. “But she’s sticking with Liam and Russell when they’re not even related to her by blood. It doesn’t make any sense!”“Do you want me to kidnap her and bring her here?” William asked.“Do you want Liam to kill both of us?” Charlotte asked him back.“N-No.”“Forget about Liam…” Charlotte looked at the file in her hand. “This bastard Russell came up with such a clever contract. If I sign this, I’ll basically be giving up my shares in the company, but in return, I’ll earn in the billions.”“Since he’s going to trouble you anyway, he’s giving you a profitable
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CHAPTER 635
Jessica was never gifted so many chocolates by anybody before. She immediately hugged Russell with excitement. “You’re the best!”“Wait, they are not just for you,” Russell said. “You’ll be sharing these with everyone at the table.”“U-Uh, of course,” Jessica couldn’t smile as freely anymore because there weren’t multiples for some types of chocolates, and she didn’t want to give those away to others. “I-I will do it after we finish dinner,” she said. “I mean, if we eat chocolates before, then we won’t be able to eat the meal properly.”“You can just distribute them now,” Russell said.“U-Um,” Jessica reluctantly got up and began to distribute the chocolates to everyone at the table. But when she came to Russell, she didn’t put any chocolate on his plate.“Wait, you forgot me,” Russell said.She leaned in and whispered in his ear, “Didn’t you say that I AM your chocolate?”Russell blushed. “Ahem,” he quickly controlled his expression. “I see.”Jessica sat down. The waiters began to se
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CHAPTER 634
A few nights later.At Tuna Waves restaurant.The entire top floor was booked by the Lynn family for the night.A large dining table was arranged in the center of the floor. Kyra was the first to attend, because she was the only one who arranged this dinner and invited the people she believed she should.As she waited a bit nervously, to her shock, Jessica was the first to arrive. She was dressed in her work attire and didn’t even have makeup on. Was she coming straight from work?Jessica sat down at a chair but didn’t speak to Kyra and just waited.There was an awkward atmosphere between these two.“I’m not going to eat you, so you can talk,” Kyra voiced her mind. “You came here early so that you can make sure nothing ‘strange’ happens, right?”“Well, I have to protect my guy,” Jessica replied, putting her mobile down, “so that I won’t lose him again.”“Don’t worry then. I think of Liam as my dad, so Russell becomes my brother now,” Kyra stated. “I can’t marry my brother now, can I?”
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CHAPTER 633
Other than Arnold, nobody was told that Liam was Russell’s biological father, as Elora and Liam just didn’t feel the need to do so.They believed that revealing that truth now would only bring unnecessary complications.Elora felt like a lot of burden had been lifted off her heart after she told Arnold the truth.Russell also felt happy that Viola was talking to him. Though James was still clouded by his anger, Russell didn’t feel bad about it as James was known for his impulsive behavior.Russell believed that James would understand with time.Liam and Elora went away in a different car, whereas Russell left in his Boyen Redemption. Driving with an injured hand wasn’t easy, but he somehow managed it and got home.Regan was talking with Gage’s dad and introduced him to Russell. “This is the man I trust the most in the world. He’s your friend Gage’s father. His name is Steven.”Russell saw that Steven’s eyes were completely white. “Nice to meet you, Steven?” he looked at Regan. “Is he b
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CHAPTER 632
“I don’t get it. Why do you want to marry her of all people?” Teresa asked quickly. “She’s been sick for decades, and no one knows when she might get sick again and die, not that I’m wishing for it, but I’m just stating the possibility. In addition to that, Russell is already your son-in-law, isn’t he? So, if you marry his mother now, what will the world think of it?”Liam smiled and asked her, “You think I didn’t consider all those things?”“U-Uh…” Teresa didn’t know what to say because he looked calm despite everything she had just said. She looked at Elora. “Are you not going to eat anything?”“No, I’m full,” Elora said, even though the real reason she refused was because she didn’t want to eat what was brought by Jennifer. Elora then glanced at Arnold. “Can we talk privately?”Arnold was not expecting that. Without even looking at Teresa or Jennifer, he said, “Sure. Why not?”Jennifer didn’t want them to talk, but all she could do was stand there and watch as Arnold and Elora walk
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CHAPTER 631
Charlotte left the hospital, but on her way home, she received pictures from one of her friends.And these were pictures of Liam and Elora eating at a restaurant.“Stop the car,” Charlotte said.William quickly pressed the brake. He looked back, and Charlotte was fuming.She felt like her body was set on fire. She wasn’t able to stand it.“How can he…”Seeing Liam hold some other woman’s hand, she wasn't able to digest it and pulled her hair with one hand. “Fuck! This isn’t happening. Fuck! Fuck!”“What’s wrong, ma’am?” William quickly asked.“He’s getting away from me,” she said angrily as well as sadly. “He’s really getting away from me.”One mistake cost her everything.Her husband, her daughter, and even her sister, all of them moved away from her.The only person that was still with her was William.“Why won’t you also leave my side?” she asked him.“Does a dog ever leave the side of its master?” he said. “They may be manipulative, abusive, but the dog still loves its master.”Ch
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CHAPTER 630
“Fuck off, bitch,” Natasha pressed the trigger.However, nothing happened.Jessica thought she died, but she didn’t. She quickly recovered from the mental shock and slapped Natasha’s hand, making the gun fall out of her hand. “That’s an autoloader. You should manually cock for the first shot for it to be fired.” She kicked Natasha in the gut as hard as she could.Jessica was a very powerful woman, and so her kick sent Natasha crashing back violently.Jessica then sat on Natasha and began to hit her.“W-Wait,” Natasha tried to speak. “That gun wasn’t loaded.”“You expect me to believe that?” Jessica began to punch her face repeatedly, making her lips rupture and bleed. Still, she didn’t stop and kept going.The other employees gathered around. One of them picked up the revolver and checked for the bullets. “Ma’am, this gun really is empty.”Jessica was a bit shocked to hear that. “What?”“I told you…you fucking bitch!” Natasha grabbed Jessica’s throat and squeezed it. “I’ll kill you fo
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CHAPTER 629
“Aww,” Elora crashed on the floor and cringed in pain. Liam rushed over to help her and tried to help her get up, but she got up on her own, saying, “I’m not that old yet.”“I never said you were,” Liam put forward the bouquet of lilies.“What the… too white and bright,” she blurted. “Your taste sucks.”Liam was shocked because it was Russell’s suggestion.Elora plucked just one lily from the bouquet and smelled it. “Anyway, what brought the great Liam Lynn here. There’s no child in this house, you know.”Liam’s expression suddenly hardened. Whether she was trying to mock him or was purposely trying to tease him, it felt like a joke that went too far. However, he saw not a ounce of negativity in Elora’s eyes. It was as if she was testing him to see how he’d react. “My child, no, our child is in this house, is he not?” Liam replied.Elora somewhat smiled. “Yeah, he is upstairs. You can go and talk to him.” She sat back on the couch. “If you move out of the way, I’ll watch the TV. The c
