Chapter 186



Kevin’s sentence shook Joseph’s mind.

“Just Hayden, she broke all your schemes, changed your principles and even made you fall into doubt. She is the first gray area you encountered in your life.”

Kevin slowly calmed down and sat back in his chair. He stared at Joseph with cold eyes, “Just admit that you can’t live without her anymore. Don’t put up a futile fight.”

Joseph frowned as he didn’t feel so comfortable while Kevin was analyzing his character traits. So he glared at Kevin and said coldly, “When you’ve spent enough time in my company, get out.”

He then left the conference room without looking back.

Kevin stroked his chin and laughed sarcastically. He thought Joseph, who didn’t want to show his face, would suffer more.

Joseph had not encountered many hardships in his thirty years of life. Even his broken family didn’t affect him much, although he was less unfortunate compared to his peers, especially the passing of his father caused him to lose his childhood innocence.

At the funeral, it seemed that his mother, who had been running away with her drawing board in tow for many years, had finally changed course and decided not to pursue her so-called dreams and freedom, saying she wanted to take care of Joseph.

He, however, was calmer than anyone else, telling her in front of all the Beckham Family members, “Go straight to the Finance Department to take all the money you want, and don’t show up in front of me again after you take the money.”

Such a person, who didn’t even recognize his mother, had changed Hayden’s impression of him.

As an observer, Kevin could understand the situation more clearly than he could.

“Hello? Alayna.” A soft voice echoed in the conference room, “When are you free for the camping trip I told you about last time? I’ve already got everything set up and the weather has been nice lately.”

A female voice came from the other end of the line. It was quiet but a little uneasy.

“Wait a little longer, I’m afraid Hayden doesn’t feel like doing that.”

“What’s wrong?” Kevin sat up straight and asked her after he knew something was wrong.

“Something has happened to the Downey Family.”

Hayden’s father, Bentley Downey, had suddenly fallen seriously ill this morning and was in the operating room to be resuscitated. He had not yet come out.

Hayden and Alayna were shopping at the mall and were about to find a place to eat when they received a call from the nursing home. Luckily, Hayden had gone there earlier and left her contact number with the doctor treating her father, telling him to call her if anything was wrong.

On the way to the hospital, Hayden’s hands were shaking.

All she knew was that her father had been the only one she had trusted for so many years, but because she had known for some time that her mother’s death had been caused by him, she had distanced herself from him.

Bentley loved and pampered her more than Chelsea.

Her room was the most privileged in the entire Downey Family home, apart from the master bedroom. Her annual birthday presents were things you couldn’t buy in N-Town when she was a child, and even when Chelsea tricked her into going to an underground boxing arena, Bentley never scolded her. When she asked him to adopt Freddie, he agreed without hesitation and was glad she was the one who took the initiative to ask him for something.

All this was why Chelsea and her mother envied her. However, she understood it all, if she were Chelsea, she would also be jealous of having such a sister, whom her father spoiled unconditionally. “Hayden, don’t worry, didn’t the doctor tell you it’s just a temporary shock, they’re still reviving him? Your father will be fine.”

Alayna sat with Hayden at the entrance of the operating room, in fact, she didn’t know how to comfort her.

From the moment she arrived at the hospital, Hayden didn’t say a word.

His eyes were still fixed on the operating room door. Her face was pale.

The operating room lights were still on, and a dizzying halo of light could be seen after looking at the red glow for a long time.

A loud sound of footsteps came from the hallway, accompanied by a very appropriate, but also distracting sound of crying and wailing. Alayna looked away, showing an impatient look.

Chelsea and Sofia came stumbling in. Sofia almost fainted from crying. One of her hands was shaking in the air as if she had Parkinson’s, “Bentley, Bentley, how could you suddenly get like this…”.

Chelsea who was teary-eyed comforted her beside her. “Mom, don’t be like that, Dad will be fine. Don’t feel so sad, don’t cry.”

“I advised your father to get him hospitalized soon and he didn’t listen to me. Luckily this time he was here and there was someone to take care of him, otherwise he would have fainted at home. Bentley… you can’t die. I can’t live without you.”

“Mom…”.

Oh my God!” holding her forehead, Alayna almost threw up, stifling her voice in Hayden’s ear and saying, “Your stepmom and stepsister are really good. Are they acting in a TV show? Who are they talking to?

Hayden looked away from the operating room lights and coldly looked to the side, “This is a hospital, be quiet.”

Chelsea and Sofia abruptly stopped crying as if they had just realized Hayden was there too. They both turned somber.

“Why are you here?” Chelsea looked at her. Her expression was not as soft as the one she had just shown.

“I’m the oldest daughter of the Downey Family. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with me being here.”

The phrase ‘oldest daughter’ made both Chelsea and Sofia blanch.

Sofia said unhappily, “Hayden, you can’t be like this, your father just collapsed and you want to disown Chelsea and me. You say you are the eldest daughter, what status do you put Chelsea in?”.

“That’s something you need to ask yourself.” Hayden sat stiffly in his chair, showing a pair of cold eyes, “When I was born, what status did you put yourself in.”

Even though she had hated Sophia and Chelsea for over ten years, she had still been polite and courteous to them, she had never shown any mercy like she did today.

Chelsea argued with her on the spot. Her voice was sharp and rough.

“What do you mean? Hayden, you think you’re going to be the head of the Downey Family now that Dad’s going to die, don’t you? You’re so shameless. When you slept with a man and got pregnant by a bastard, you ran away without a word, And now you come back when Dad’s not well?”

Her voice echoed down the hallway and many patients and nurses came forward.

“Even a fool can see what you’re trying to do? Don’t get sentimental in front of me – you think you’re a good woman?” Hayden stood up. Her pale face flushed with irritation. She said word for word.

“Repeat what you just said.”

“You’re crazy…”

“You…” Before Chelsea could finish the sentence, she was slapped hard.

Sofia screamed and held her daughter, who had been knocked to the side. She yelled, “Are you crazy, who do you think you are to slap my daughter?”

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