Chapter 723



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Herman, who didn’t know that he had already hit Justin’s head, kept talking about how powerful Philip was.

As he spoke, Iris kept lowering her head.

She knew she had destroyed the family’s peace and quiet.

Just as she was suffering her psychological ordeal, and as Herman stood on the moral high ground and criticized her….

Justin suddenly said, “So that’s why you were willing to give your wife to someone else? And even cooperate with him to act as if your son had been kidnapped?”

His simple words made all sounds in the room abruptly cease!

Iris’s head snapped up as well and she looked at them in disbelief.

Herman was still open-mouthed. He was looking at him dumbfounded because he had been exposed and it looked like he hadn’t expected Justin to say something like that.

Iris went from confused to shocked. Her eyebrows slowly drew together and she looked at Herman in disbelief. She swallowed hard and asked, “Justin, what do you mean?”

Herman immediately shouted, “Justin, don’t you dare make false accusations!”.

Justin lowered his eyes. “I didn’t want to embarrass you thoroughly, but since you insist on getting in the line of fire, then let’s talk frankly here!”.

He looked at Herman and said, “When Philip Coleman visited the house as a guest and talked about his ex-girlfriend, you already knew that the ex-girlfriend he was talking about was Mom, didn’t you?”

Herman didn’t admit it, but he suddenly couldn’t bring himself to look at Iris. “What nonsense are you talking?”

Justin scoffed, “In the years that followed, the Hunts showed faint signs of being suppressed. During those few years, the Smiths were also gaining ground, and it looked like they would soon overtake us and become the number one family in New York, didn’t they?”

Herman immediately said, “That was because Ian Smith is so impressive, while I have no business talent at all!”

“Is that so?”

Justin looked down. “The Hunts are not in the habit of letting only the eldest son or people of direct lineage inherit the title of head of the family. Even if you were a bit of an idiot then, Grandfather had chosen you. He must have had a reason for doing so, right? Uncle Raymond, as well as my other uncles, were looking out for your position, but they couldn’t take it away from you. Why was that, was it also because you had no talent for business?”

Herman choked up.

Justin continued speaking with a sneer. “All the outsiders say that Elder Lord Smith had put all his energy and concentration into the company during those times because of the heartbreak he had suffered, but at that time he was totally stunned, so how could it be possible that he had such great ambitions?”

Feeling that there was nothing left to live for, Ian had sought to die at one point. He no longer even cared about his family’s assets and had given it all to his nephew.

In fact, one might even say that before Nora’s return, he hadn’t even considered adopting Joel as his son. Instead, he was just giving him the gift of companionship.

Even if Ian had turned his grief into motivation after Yvette’s departure, it was still impossible for him to really want to expand and develop the Smith Corporation. He would only casually work for Smith Corporation out of sheer boredom.

But even when Ian was in a bad mood, the Hunts had gone from bad to worse. Besides, during that time, his grandfather was still around and in charge of the Hunts. Herman hadn’t even taken over the family yet!

Herman was not at all as incompetent as outsiders made him out to be. Otherwise, how could he have possibly taken Lauren to another country, started from scratch and achieved what he has achieved today in just twenty years?

That’s right, Herman and Lauren already had a successful business overseas. The fact that Lauren had immediately organized such a large orchid show when she had just returned to the country was proof enough of her current financial strength. Besides, there was something Justin hadn’t been able to figure out all these years.

Even if Herman had done something wrong and cheated on his wife, would anyone really be like the Elder Lords Hunt, and kick their son out of the house but keep their grandson?

These were all decisions that the Hunt’s had been forced to make at that time.

When Elder Lord Hunt and Herman felt that they had reached the limit of their strength as far as the company was concerned, they immediately understood what had happened. Thus Herman had quickly and decisively deceived Iris, in order to make her lose hope in him.

At first they had thought that Philip would leave them alone once they had sacrificed Iris, but they were wrong.

At that moment, the only thing Iris cared about was her son. When she went on a trip, she met up with Philip. However, she had no plans to rekindle her relationship with him.

This made Philip even more cruel, and he found someone to kidnap Justin!

One could say that the Hunts had refrained from acting at the time, despite their ability to do so. The Hunts were so powerful in New York, how could they have been unable to find the boy when he was discovered missing?

It wasn’t that they couldn’t find him, but that they hadn’t looked for him at all.

By the time Iris returned and discovered that he had been kidnapped, too much time had passed. By then, even if she sought the Smiths’ help, the kidnappers would have already fled New York. Not even the Smiths could do anything about it.

Therefore, the Hunts had forced Iris to get close to Philip.

They wanted to use Iris as a sacrificial offering.

Unfortunately, Iris still had no intention of reconciling with Philip. Instead, she made a different agreement with him, which was to watch her son grow up in the Hunts without interfering in his life.

When Elder Lord Hunt learned of this, he realized and understood that since Philip loved Iris so deeply, he would never hurt her. Furthermore, if he wanted Iris to protect the Hunts, it would only be possible if Justin stayed in the family.

Thus, Elder Lord Hunt had intended to drive Herman away, and he also declared that he would see to it that he would never have a son like him. His purpose in driving him away was so that Herman could go abroad, start a new business, and open up a new world for the Hunts.

This was so that the Hunts could avoid a crushing defeat if anything ever went wrong with Philip and he attacked the Hunts in the future.

It might seem that Herman had abandoned the family without taking a penny, but when he went abroad back then, his father would surely have secretly given him a sum of money as seed money.

All his plans were closely interrelated. The Elder Lords Hunt, who apparently had a deep sense of love and righteousness, were only doing all that for the Hunt’s sake.

Justin had only been slowly piecing things together after Iris told him the truth.

This was also the reason why he hadn’t immediately sought revenge against Lauren for kidnapping him, because she wasn’t the one who had instigated the kidnapping at all.

It was Philip.

Justin’s words, like a sharp knife, cut through the Hunt’s veil of pretense, exposing all its ugly and unpleasant colors.

Iris was shocked and amazed. She felt that the world view she had held all these years had collapsed around her. She thought she had caused the Hunts a great deal of trouble, but little did she know that the Hunts had been using her all this time….

Herman refused to admit it. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand anything, you…”

“You don’t understand, do you? In that case, should I lay out all the evidence one by one?”

Justin’s voice was low and deep, but there was a smirk at the corner of his lips.

Herman narrowed his eyes.

After a while, he finally dropped the pretense. He said calmly, “Since you’ve figured it all out, take your mother with you and leave the Hunts at once…-because, I, the real Chief of the Hunts, am back.”

Justin glared at him.

Herman lowered his head and looked at the family members who had rushed over after hearing of his return and the discussion. He straightened his back. In his face, which had three parts similar to Justin’s, his eyes were dark and deep.

He said calmly, “My father left me all the shares of the family back then.”

After saying this, he immediately pulled out a will.

Seeing the stock transfer agreement, everyone was surprised.

When Elder Lord Hunt passed away, in his last words he had only left instructions for Justin to take over the company. Therefore, Justin had naturally inherited his shares.

However, with the will, Justin would be out of the picture.

All the family members were silent. They stared at the will and then at each other, not knowing what to say.

Roger said, “Uncle Herman, if there is a will, then Grandfather’s shares should be turned over to you. In that case, as of today you will be the Chief of the Hunts.”

Some of Justin’s supporters said, “But is the will really valid, who can prove it?”

Along with these words, someone supported a trembling Elder Mrs. Hunt as she walked out. She said unhurriedly, “I can prove it.”

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