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The Secret Successor CHAPTER 19
A young brunette in a long pony-tail was walking slowly, looking disheartened. Her bag felt all the more heavy today. This was Jessica, one of Russell’s schoolmates, and she used to be pretty close to Russell when they were kids, so close they exchanged lunch boxes and also used to greet each other every day with kisses. But that was all when they were in middle school.She was not tall like Natasha, and she didn’t know how to perfectly apply contour to her face, which Natash was extremely good at. She didn’t have money like Natasha. Her parents had divorced each other and stopped caring about her and her younger brother, so Jessica didn’t even have the chance to join a university. She had been working many part-time jobs to take care of herself and her douchebag of a younger brother.Jessica’s phone rang. It was a used mobile she bought from the one that was calling right now.“Hey, Jessie, where are you?” the one on the other side asked in a hurry.“Just walking. I lost my most-payi
The Secret Successor CHAPTER 20
Jessica was checking the online posts while heading home on foot. She never used a cab because it was too expensive. She used to have a bicycle, but her younger brother, Derek, had taken it this morning, so she had no other choice but to walk to work and to return home the same way. Right now, Jessica wasn’t worrying about the fact that she had to walk many blocks because the comments she was reading made her utterly furious. Irene: Natasha escaped hell by rejecting Russell because I still remember it vividly… he came in twenty seconds the first time we did it… and his timings only got worse afterward. Irene’s comment twisted Jessica’s gut. Irene was Russell’s first girlfriend; in fact, the only girlfriend he had until he eventually started dating Natasha. Irene used to be fat when she was in school. No boy would even look at her twice, even though she was always in the top 10 class rankings. On one January 1st, Irene asked Russell out on a date, and he accepted her. They dated for
The Secret Successor CHAPTER 21
Charlotte kept giving one reason after another as to why Russell wasn’t a good match for her. “Be it in terms of beauty, or wealth, or elegance, or talent, he’s nothing compared to you. The college he graduated at is a joke, and his job is even a bigger joke.”Kyra was utterly puzzled. “Weren’t you the one who chose him because he’s ‘part’ of the relatives?”“Yeah, but…” Charlotte then explained about the dog poo incident.“What?” Kyra was shocked. “He did such a thing?”“No matter how upset he may be, he has no right to smear your wedding dress with dog poo,” Charlotte had the look of disgust on her face. If Russell was around, she would have probably slapped him ten times and scolded him a thousand times. “Being upset doesn’t give him the right to insult and taunt us like this!”Kyra still couldn’t believe it. “But he seemed so genuine…”Charlotte stood and hugged her daughter. “We should be glad we came to know what type of a man he is before the marriage.”Kyra hugged her mother t
The Secret Successor CHAPTER 22
As Russell walked out with William, Jennifer was scolding the old maid vehemently. “You’ve done enough. We don’t want to waste money on you anymore. Just leave.”“How can you kick me out like this without prior intimation?” the old maid cried out. She was short and stout, but she was experienced at working. “And I haven't been paid the salary for the past six months.”“Weren’t you free-loading everything growing on the farm? And you want more?” Jennifer raised the frying pan in her hand, bent the old maid with force and struck her on the back with the pain.“AHH!” The old maid cried out harder. “My back!”Russell ran over to help the old maid.“Young Russell, this woman is trying to kill me so she wouldn’t need to pay my salary,” the old maid cringed in pain, still unable to stand straight.“I’ll do something about it, so why don’t you go home?”“Home? If I don’t take money with me, my sons won’t even let me into the house,” the old maid cried some more. “Please help me. Do something,
The Secret Successor CHAPTER 23
While Russell stood frozen, having received a completely different response from what he had expected, Liam didn’t say another word.Liam entered his car first, followed by William who made a slick, reverse U-turn around Russell before speeding up like a ghost in the wind. The car barely made any sound even though it went so fast.Russell had never seen someone handle the car so well, but he had more important things to care about than appreciate William’s driving skills.“They didn’t cancel the wedding?” his mouth widely opened, and his face regained a bit of glow. He believed that Jennifer was going to force Elora out of the house sooner or later, but now, he was sure Jennifer wouldn’t do it.He was elated by this. He ran into the house and sat by his mother’s bed and excitedly said, “Mom, the marriage wasn’t canceled. Liam himself personally came here and told me to properly get ready for the marriage.” Elora, however, didn’t seem surprised at all.“What? You don’t believe me?” Ru
The Secret Successor CHAPTER 24
Russell quickly said. “I don’t want to be a live-in son-in-law.”“Don’t be foolish,” Elora softly rebuked him. “There’s nothing wrong with being a live-in son-in-law.”“Then… I’ll take you with me,” Russell said. He didn’t want to let his mother live in the same house as Jennifer.Elora pitied her son’s innocence, as she knew there was zero probability of the Lynn family accepting for Elora to live in the Lynn estate. She touched Russell’s cheek again. “I know you’re going to do fine as a husband, but as your mother, there’s one thing I want to tell you: Don’t ever make your wife cry. It is better to never marry than to marry and make your partner cry.”“Mm,” Russell nodded a bit emotionally.Arnold, on the other hand, was not looking all that happy as he had made Elora cry in the past by having an affair with Jennifer even before Elora got sick, and now he was starting to wonder if Elora knew about it all along. And this sped up his heartbeat.Meanwhile, at Jessica’s house.Jessica
The Secret Successor CHAPTER 25
Fredrick wasn’t able to eat well even though he had no tooth pain. He wasn’t able to sleep well even though there were no bugs in his bed. He wasn’t able to even sit peacefully in his house after hearing that Arnold and his family moved back to the duplex house, his duplex house which he owned until very recently. It was now owned by Arnold Bennett, which he couldn’t digest. He had been in a bad mood ever since hearing that Tyler himself had gone to Arnold’s farm house and begged him to return to the old house. “I shouldn’t have sold the house to that dog!” When his wife, Diana, tried to bring him coffee, biscuits, or meals repeatedly even when he told her not to, he got angry and threw the coffee in her face. Though she got angry, she controlled herself and said, “Why do you not want to see Arnold prosper? Isn’t he your best friend? Didn’t he help you with money in the past?” “Stop trying to preach to me and clean the floor,” Fredrick snorted. “And just to be clear, Arnold didn’t
The Secret Successor CHAPTER 26
Russell’s heart was broken by Natasha, not just because she rejected him but the way she rejected him, saying he was a fool to think she would marry him. She was the one who came to him and started dating him, and she was also the one who said he didn’t deserve to even dream about marrying her.Only Russell knew how much he cried after Natasha’s rejection. When he was driving back in his rented car, returning home after getting rejected, his eyes were clouded by tears, and his heart ached more than when he had buried his first pet cat and was walking away from its grave.Crying wasn’t anything new to Russell. He would often break into tears easier than women, and some of his classmates mocked him for that, but it wasn’t his fault that he was born with a sensitive heart.Even after many days had passed, and even though Russell thought he had forgotten Natasha and believed he was very much ready to move on with his life, his heart still felt like it was being squeezed when Denver put hi