Chapter 245

Chapter 245

Over the years, Michael's father had long since stepped back from running the company, but scandals kept following him.

And the reason Michael's relationship with his family was so distant was exactly because of this.

If it weren't for those illegitimate children, how could the father-son relationship have gotten this bad?

"You need to understand that your relationship with your father is like this because of those people. Do you want your own children to go through the same thing? A family that doesn't feel like a family, a father and son who don't feel like father and son. You have your grandfather protecting you now, but who will protect your future children?"

By the end, Evelyn was crying uncontrollably.

"I know you've always had issues with me and your dad, thinking we shouldn't torture ourselves like this and should just separate. But what choice did we have? Our two families have been too intertwined to separate."

When Evelyn first discovered Michael's father had a mistress and all those illegitimate children, of course, she thought about leaving.

But it was easier said than done.

By then, they'd been married for years and had a child together.

Evelyn had thought about just leaving everything behind and taking Michael abroad.

But an accident involving Michael made her realize she had no way out.

Michael didn't remember much from back then, but Evelyn remembered everything clearly.

When they first started talking about divorce, Evelyn was determined. She even brought both families together to start dividing up the assets.

At that time, the two families had many joint projects. When they were in-laws, it didn't matter who made more money. But once they talked about separating, the two families started fighting fiercely.

Evelyn wasn't interested in any of that. She just wanted to leave with Michael. But she never expected that at kindergarten, Michael would be bullied by one of the illegitimate children.

And she herself was confronted by the mistress.

"So this is what you look like. I thought you'd be some old witch. But so what if you're a rich young lady? You still lost to me. Just take your son and get lost. In the future, I'll move in with my son, and he'll inherit everything. Your son should never come back to this country."

"Otherwise, I'll throw both you and your son somewhere even worse. I hear many places need children's organs. Guess how much your son's organs would sell for? Would they sell for more because of his status?"

At that moment, Evelyn truly understood the importance of status.

Once divorced, she'd have no support from her in-laws, and couldn't go back to her own family either.

Both she and her young child would become targets for many people.

After all, everyone knew Michael was favored.

So whoever ended up inheriting the family business would see Michael as a rival, even if he had no intention of fighting for the inheritance.

From the day she got married, from the day she gave birth to her child, Evelyn had no way out.

Even after all these years, Evelyn still looked deeply pained when talking about what happened back then.

"Now you understand, right? We have no way out. I know you're capable now and feel like you can control everything, but nothing in this world stays the same forever. Your grandfather likes you and cares about you now because of your status, because you're the only legitimate heir to the family, not because you're his grandson."

On the surface, Victor seemed to care about Michael and treat him well, but in reality, over the years, while he showed affection, he didn't actually give up much power.

Moreover, as far as Victor was concerned, he was probably still weighing his options, just hadn't made up his mind yet.

Under all this pressure, Evelyn just hoped Michael could have an easier path.

"I don't want anyone shaking your position as heir, not even yourself. Promise me, okay? You must be with Mia, because only by being together can you smoothly take over everything."

After all, Wesley and Victor had a life-and-death friendship. The two had already agreed that once Michael got married, they would finalize the inheritance rights.

In short, the matter with Mia involved too many things.

Michael listened quietly. Although he was young back then, he remembered many things.

Of course, the reason he said he didn't remember was just to keep Evelyn from worrying.

Michael's voice was hoarse. "Mom, since we're being honest with each other, I might as well tell you. I actually knew about everything back then, including being bullied by that illegitimate child. It wasn't that I didn't want to fight back; I was just stunned and didn't react in time."

At kindergarten, Michael was playing when suddenly this chubby kid showed up. The kid started trash-talking right away, even saying he'd crush Michael under his feet in the future.

Most importantly, the chubby kid was wearing a necklace with a photo, a happy family photo of three people.

And that kind of happiness was what Michael had always wanted.

Growing up, Michael's birthdays were always grand affairs, but he never had a family photo.

Seeing the photo on that chubby kid's necklace, he felt jealous and envious.

While he was in a daze, the chubby kid knocked him to the ground.

By the time Michael snapped out of it and wanted to fight back, he'd already lost the advantage, because their builds were too different. The chubby kid was a year older and fat. It was an overwhelming advantage.

Later, when Michael saw his mom come home crying, he didn't say anything else, just acted like a normal kid who didn't know anything.

But only he knew that over the years, countless times in the middle of the night, he'd still dream about that day.

Of course, once Michael had the means, the first thing he did was deal with that chubby kid.

Now that chubby kid was only a year older than him, and he'd been kept by some woman. The woman had money, sure, but her specialty was tormenting men.

The chubby kid had become a fat man, and he'd never get back on his feet in this lifetime.

Bringing it up now, Michael no longer felt the anger, envy, and jealousy from back then, only calm.

Evelyn couldn't believe it, tears streaming down her face. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's my fault. I didn't take care of you. I let you suffer."

She'd thought Michael was too young back then to know anything, but he remembered everything, crystal clear.

It was her fault for not protecting her child.

Michael stepped forward and hugged Evelyn. "Mom, no, it's not your fault. I told you I'd grow into a big tree to shelter you from the wind and rain. Whatever people in the family say or do doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that you and I are together."