Chapter 4

Carson O'Connell frowned as he entered the living room well dressed.

"You're leaving already soon?" his mother called out.

"Hmm."

That was all the reply she got.

His mom frowned. "What's with the attitude son?"

"Nothing. Anyway, where's your husband?" he asked, glancing around the house.

"Don't call your father like that, Carson. It's rude."

Just then, a middle-aged man looking to be around 50-55 walked in with his hands clasped behind his back. He glanced at Carson slyly with a smug expression. Carson clenched his fists feeling the urge to strangle someone. To add insult to injury, a frail-looking but handsome man was walking behind him, he refused to show his face, hiding behind the older man.

The middle-aged man Mr Wilfred O'Connell wore a nonchalant expression, as if he didn’t care about anything.

Carson knew confronting his father would be difficult so instead, he decided to call out his brother.

"Bastoni! Come out here and explain what you did yesterday."

The frail-looking man stepped out.

"It wasn’t me. It was all Dad’s idea, I couldn’t possibly disobey him you know," he said, immediately throwing his father under the bus.

Mr. O'Connell was shocked. He looked at Bastoni disapprovingly before turning to Carson.

"So what if it was my doing? It’s not as if I did anything bad. In fact, I was just taking desperate measures to save my son and it worked," he said, appearing very proud and happy with what he had done.

'This old man is just like his father,' Carson growled inwardly. He had grown up with his grandfather all these years and knew how shameless and difficult the old man could be. It was a trait his father had inherited.

Mrs. O'Connell only needed to ask her younger son to find out what had happened. She was immediately angered.

"How dare you, Wilfred? You know I’ve been preparing Stephanie for our son, and I even promised their family that they would marry."

"Ha! This is a completely different matter. You know your son’s problem, I was only trying to solve it, and besides, what do I care about your arrangements?" he said self-righteously.

Mrs. O'Connell was left speechless. Her husband was shameless, but there was also some truth in what he had said. She couldn’t refute it.

Carson felt he couldn’t stay any longer, so he excused himself and left the building. Once settled in his car, he wore a deep frown.

After that night, he had investigated the girl. He didn’t believe he had slept with her just because he was drunk. He had been drunk before and knew that even alcohol couldn’t break his strong resolve.

After his investigation, he discovered something important, something he had suspected all along. She wasn’t the same girl who had been prepared for him. Somehow, the two girls had been taken to the wrong rooms, he also found out that she had been drugged, which unsettled him because he felt he had taken advantage of her, even though it wasn’t entirely his fault.

Still, he felt a strange sense of relief that the incident had happened. This was the first woman he had slept with in the past five years. Ever since his first love died, he had avoided any physical contact with women. It had gotten to the point where his parents began to worry, thinking it was turning into something else given how he shunned the opposite gender.

Even his old grandfather had been so worried that, before he died, he willed all his properties and companies to his favorite grandson, Carson, with one condition though, he must be married in order to inherit any of his properties.

This must have been why his father had decided to step in so actively. As a businessman, his father knew that the sooner Carson inherited everything, the better. If he kept wasting time, the company might not remain the same.

Mr. O'Connell had his own company so he was never part of his father’s business, nor was he an executive. At least if he had been, he could have kept an eye on the other executives and board members.

'I think I know the best way to solve all this,' Carson thought, his eyes lighting up as he considered a way to resolve his current predicament.

"Why haven’t I thought of this before?"

***.

The next day, Lena visited her mom in the hospital. She stayed for a few minutes before leaving after speaking with the doctor.

The doctor had warned her that her mom’s health was deteriorating and they couldn’t afford to waste time. She couldn’t help but consider Uncle Williams’ disgusting offer from the day before.

Lena was embarrassed. She had told herself yesterday that she would even sacrifice her body if that’s what it took to save her mom. Yet, when Mr. Williams offered to help her in exchange for sex, she felt a strong sense of disgust. Perhaps it was because she had always seen Uncle Williams as a father figure and couldn’t believe he harbored such thoughts about her.

She was furious and had given him a piece of her mind before leaving.

Lena felt so overwhelmed, as if she were carrying too much on her shoulders. She had just suffered a betrayal by her ex-boyfriend. The two had formally broken up the day before because she no longer wanted anything to do with him. She had called him and announced their breakup.

Even so, she wasn’t feeling great about it. Her mother’s illness and the mounting hospital bills were a heavy burden she couldn’t bear alone.

It seemed like the only option left was becoming Williams’ mistress, but she wasn’t willing. Whenever she looked at Williams, she saw a father figure, and she knew she couldn’t bring herself to cross that line.

Of course, if there were no other options after exhausting all possibilities, she might have to make a huge sacrifice against her conscience to ensure her mom’s survival.

Lena was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn’t notice someone approaching until she bumped into them.

"Oh, sorry," she quickly apologized and tried to step aside, but the man blocked her path. She frowned in annoyance and looked up.

Her mouth fell open, and she gasped.