Chapter 766
Gary’s face was ashen, and lips were quivering with barely contained rage.
“Dad. What are you saying?! Isn’t Gary your son? After what Jareth did to him, we don’t even know if he can have a normal life anymore! Instead of offering comfort or seeking justice, you’re blaming him? Are you trying to drive your own son to his grave?!” April stared with wide, incredulous eyes; her distress caused her to stomp her foot in frustration.
“Seek justice? How? Jareth is now the CEO and second–largest shareholder of Fairhaven Enterprises. The board has turned their allegiance to him. Going against Jareth would be detrimental to Fairhaven Enterprises” interests! As the patriarch of the Fairhaven family, shouldn’t I consider the bigger picture?”
Gary clutched at the hospital sheets, feeling the anger in his chest crackle like a firestorm!
This wasn’t about the bigger picture; it was about sacrificing him completely!
Barry’s bushy white eyebrows knitted together in a display of deep concern. After a long silence, he spoke with finality, “Gary, I’ve bought you a plane ticket. Rest up for a few more days, then you and your wife should move abroad to focus on your recovery.”
“Move abroad?”
Gary felt as if he’d been struck by lightning. “What do you mean by that?!”
“With things between you and Jareth having escalated to this point, it’s clear there’s no turning back. You’ve sold your shares and lost your position in the company. What’s the point of staying in Elmsworth? To give outsiders more to gossip about our family’s downfall? It’s meaningless.”
Barry made to leave without further discussion, almost as if he feared being caught in an emotional tangle, “Right now, you simply don’t have the means to contend with Jareth. If you persist in overestimating your strength, it won’t just be your arm that gets broken next time–it’ll be your life!”
Mrs. Fairhaven and Edith also took the opportunity to follow Barry out the door.
The once bustling hospital room fell into a sudden eerie silence.
Seeing Gary’s defeat, April couldn’t help point at his forlorn face and laugh mockingly, “Hahaha. Your dad has completely abandoned you. You’re worthless in his eyes now. The Fairhaven family is nothing but a wolf den devoid of any warmth! Ha–ha, no, not entirely. Your older brother Kris was the only good soul, the only one with a heart, who always took care of his little brother. It’s just a pity that thanks to you damn guys, he kicked the bucket way too early.”
“Shut the hell up!” Gary snapped, his temples throbbing with fury.
As his wife, April knew too many of his secrets.
April snorted coldly, pulling out a set of divorce papers from her expensive handbag and tossing them onto the hospital bed, “Sign this divorce agreement as soon as possible. You must meet all my demands, otherwise, the secret you’ve been hiding for over a decade won’t stay hidden any longer.”
After speaking, April left with a look of disgust, not even glancing back.
Alone in the desolate hospital room, Gary succumbed to hysteria from the double blow of abandonment and divorce, screaming and smashing everything in sight.
Then, trembling, he dialed Edith’s number.
Edith hung up on Gary’s call but then received his veiled, threatening text message.
Realizing she couldn’t avoid him, she made up an excuse to get out of her car and headed back to the hospital “Uncle, you wanted to see me, for what?” Edith asked with a rigid smile.
“My dear niece, you’ve got some nerve, huh? laughing in the face of my misery.” Gary said; “All thanks to your brilliant advice, I’ve become a cripple! Why should I end up like this while you get off scot–free? It’s just not fair,
is it?”
“Uncle, what’s done is done. What more can you do?”
Edith quickly distanced herself from any wrongdoing. “Originally, it was you who spread Marilla’s psychiatric evaluation at the board meeting, and it was you who arranged for her to be taken and confined within the company. I had no part in any of it. And without proof, you have no evidence that I gave you that report. I’m afraid your wishs of dragging me down with you are going to be dashed.”
“Oh, really?”
Gary suddenly burst into maddened laughter, a laughter so unsettling that it made Edith’s scalp tingle, “My dear niece, do you think the things you’ve done are unknown to everyone? You haven’t forgotten the time in. school when you led the bullying against that Abernathy girl, have you?”
Edith, startled, felt her heart clench and her face drained of color:
“What are you talking about? Who bullied her?!”
“Heh. I have lived thirty years longer than you anyway; if I hadn’t learned to be cautious, that would have been a wasted life,” Gary sneered maliciously, “I have witnesses and video evidence that prove
just how terribly your bullied, that Abernathy girl. Now that she’s turned out so messed up, I suppose you played no small part in that, did you?”
In that moment, Edith’s heart pounded against her chest, and her forehead turned beaded with sweat.
Back in school, the bullying group had six members, including Alston–two girls and four boys.
It was possible that one of them had secretly recorded her abusing Marilla and had kept the video hidden, only for Gary to threaten them and obtain it as leverage against her now! NôvelDrama.Org holds © this.
“If I give these to Jareth. oh, my dear niece, can you imagine the surprise your loving brother would have for you?”
Gary’s eyes were filled with malice, “What do you think, will he chop off your right hand, or your left? Tsk tsk. It’s a shame that before long, my dear niece will have to say goodbye to playing the piano forever.”
“Enough! What do you want?!” Edith shouted; her anger and shame were boiling over.
“I want you to avenge me.”
Gary’s eyes swirled with maniacal red, “I want Jareth to live a life worse than death!”
Leaving the hospital, Edith was pale and anxious; she chewed on her fingernails so fiercely that it seemed she might bite them off completely.
Edith couldn’t shake off the image of Gary’s empty sleeve from her mind; it fluttered like a ghostly flag in her memory. At the thought of Jareth finding out about her past bullying antics, she was so petrified that cold sweat gathered at her brow. She feared he might tear her to pieces, metaphorically speaking. If he ever discovered what she’d done.
In a sudden stroke of what she hoped was genius, Edith frantically dug into her jeans pocket, her hands. searching for her lifeline. Her fingers finally clasped around her phone and she pulled it out with a sense of urgency. She scrolled through her contacts as if it were a matter of life or death until she found the one person she believed could help her out of this bind – a person nicknamed “Mad Dog“.
With shaking fingers, she hit the call button, praying that Mad Dog would pick up and, somehow, would have a solution to the mess she had gotten herself into,