Chapter 724 Chapter 723
724 Chapter 723
In the room.
Oliver was helping old Mrs. Horton to the bathroom. Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.
Midway there, she suddenly stopped and looked at him."Do you know why I like Lewis and not you?" she asked.
Oliver was taken aback. "Grandma, what are you talking about? Have you remembered Lewis now?"
Old Mrs. Horton smiled. "How could I ever forget Lewis?"
Oliver stared at her in disbelief. "What do you mean?"
Realization dawned on him, and he became angry. "So, you've been pretending all this time?"
"Ha!"
Old Mrs. Horton chuckled and let go of his arm. She sighed. "I used to question myself whether it was wrong not to give you and the others a chance for Lewis's sake."
She shakily reached for her cane. "So, recently, I gave you all a chance."
Oliver jumped in. "Grandma, we've been sincere with you. Since you've given us a chance, surely you can tell?"
Old Mrs. Horton replied with a smile. "I can tell you all want me to give you the shares."
Oliver was taken aback.
"But we are genuine in our intentions! You, as the elder, shouldn't be so biased."
Old Mrs. Horton sighed. "Oliver, you know, every time Lewis looks at me, there's sincerity in his eyes. All he sees is me, not my shares. But you, your mistress, and that illegitimate daughter of yours, you're all driven by greed. You only see my shares. I'm not so blind that I can't see what you're really like."
Oliver's anger flared. "What do you mean?"
"From the moment you entered the house at fourteen, I knew we were never meant to be close. Your gaze was too calculating."
Old Mrs. Horton looked at him. "You only care about the Horton family's wealth but not about the people. You have no real feelings for your father… Even though he has always protected you. He has only ever cared about you."
"Shut up!"
Oliver shouted. "What does he care about me? If he cared, he wouldn't have abandoned my mother when the family needed an ally in Clance!"
Old Mrs. Horton sighed. "Your parents didn't divorce because of that. They did it because they were incompatible."
"Forget about 'incompatible'!"
Oliver glared at her. Hearing her refer to his fourteen-year-old self as opportunistic, his restraint snapped.
He stared at old Mrs. Horton, shouting, "So many rich families have had incompatible marriages. Why did they have to divorce? It was all to clear the way for that woman from the Ye family! My mom left feeling so bitter. She took me abroad, and we lived in misery for fourteen years!"
Old Mrs. Horton looked at him calmly. "When your mother and father divorced, the Horton family gave her plenty of money."
"But it was all swindled away!"
Oliver yelled. "In the first year abroad, it was all gone! She gave birth to me and had to beg for a living in Country M! Do you have any idea how hard those fourteen years were for me?!"
Oliver thought back to his childhood, to the bullying and hardships. He could still feel the lingering trauma. He glared at Old Mrs. Horton. "At school, I was bullied and abused. They stripped me and made me drink…"
He couldn't bring himself to finish.
Those years were a dark nightmare that still haunted him.
Only when he saw the clean rooms at the Horton house did he realize that such a life was behind him.
He looked at Old Mrs. Horton with renewed anger. "It was all your and my father's fault! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have lived such a miserable life!"
Tears streamed down his face. "Even in her lowest times, my mom never came back to him. It was only when she passed away that I had to return home because I couldn't survive abroad anymore!"
Oliver looked at old Mrs. Horton. "The moment I came back, I knew I had to fight for everything in the Horton family! It was all rightfully mine. The Horton family owes me!!"
He seemed to lose his composure.
Old Mrs. Horton spoke again. "But that doesn't justify harming Lewis. Of everyone in this family, Lewis is the most innocent. When you arrived, your schemes drove his mother away and forced him to be born prematurely. I know everything you've done to Lewis!"