"Alfred, what nonsense are you sprouting?"
Isabel came back to her senses and rebuked him.
"You're not going to take me as your mother anymore just because I want you to divorce Vanessa?"
To Isabel, her son went crazy for a woman to the point that he would abandon his mother.
She never expected Alfred to be serious with his words.
Isabel was kind to Alfred, and Alfred had once treated her as his mother too. In the past six years, Isabel had put in a lot of effort in supporting him, so Alfred didn't want to believe what he saw as well.
"I'm serious, Mrs. Chow. I want you to be my mother, and I want to address you as my mom too. I never knew who were my biological parents since I was young. When you brought me back to the Chow residence, you gave me love. I have always thought that you are the best mother in this world, but I am really not your son."
Alfred knelt on the ground and said painstakingly.
On the other hand, Isabel staggered a little too.
Her body was shaking all over, and her voice was unstable.
She opened the DNA report and flipped it through page by page.
On the paper, it showed that Isabel and Alfred were not blood-related.
Isabel sucked in a deep breath, but her heart still burned with pain. It suffocated her.
How could it be possible? They did a DNA test in the past as well and it showed positive results. How could Alfred not be her son now?
She was certain that Alfred was her child whom she finally found after twenty years. Back then, she was grateful to have finally found her son.
But why did God pull a prank on her? Tears slowly slipped down her cheeks as she confirmed the truth with Alfred once more.
"Is this really not because of Vanessa? Alfred, are you really not lying to me? Or are you trying to threaten me to accept Vanessa?"
Alfred shook his head in agony. He was unwilling to believe the truth that unfolded before him too, but at this point, he would rather lose everything than continue to live in a lie.
Rachel did not understand him at all. Sure, being in power exhilarated him but he was unwilling to lie to Mrs. Chow. This woman truly loved him as her own son. Now, she was a pitiful mother.
Although they had many quarrels because of Vanessa, but Mrs. Chow still loved her son.
He did not want this mother to be kept in the dark. It would only bring her more pain when she heard the truth from someone else in the future.
"Mrs. Chow, my relationship with Vanessa would not affect my relationship with you at all. It's just that I suddenly found problems with my identity, so I went for a DNA test. The results showed me that I'm indeed not your son. I'm sorry to have occupied the love that you should've kept for your son for the past six years. I'm telling you this today is to give you some mental preparation because after this, I will be telling grandpa about it. Don't worry, I won't take what doesn't belong to me. Everything belongs to your son."
"No, you cannot tell your grandpa."
In an instant, Isabel wiped her tears and said to Alfred sternly.
"You absolutely cannot reveal the truth. Do you understand how grim the situation is now? My amazing husband's illegitimate child out there is eyeing our fortune. The same goes for all our other relatives. With so many people going after the family's wealth, you cannot leave now. If the truth is out of the bag, you'll be kicked out of the family. Do you know what will happen to me by then? I'll be a gone case too!"
"Even if it's a lie, you need to continue living in one!"
Isabel said everything calmly. Her expression was stern, and her gaze showed that she was absolutely serious about what she just said.
Surely, Alfred knew what the Chow family was facing right now, but he was unwilling to live a fake life anymore.
"Mrs. Chow, I'm not your son and this is a fact. Even if I don't reveal it, someone else will. It's impossible to keep my identity in the dark forever."
"Where did you find out about your true identity? How many people know about it now?"
Isabel asked in a cold tone. However, Alfred did not want to answer her.
Other than Rachel, Georgia knew about it too. Then, Vanessa would surely have heard about it as well. At this time, Alfred didn't want to drag Vanessa into this mess with him.
Although Isabel was a lady, she was ruthless when it came to dealing with certain matters. If she was at a dead end, Alfred was sure that she would get to Vanessa, Georgia and Rachel. Maybe the ones who knew the truth would disappear from this world forever.
"Mrs. Chow, I've given serious consideration about this. Telling everyone the truth is the best choice for both of us. If we go on with this lie, we wouldn't know when it would be revealed one day, would we? You can keep searching for your son. Judging from the current situation, the Chow family wouldn't be in chaos yet since Old Mr. Chow is still around. At most, the rest would just be tempted by the truth but I believe that old Mr. Chow can handle the situation."
It seemed that Alfred had made up his mind to leave the Chow family. Upon realizing that, Isabel suddenly knelt down on the ground before him and started to cry.
Isabel was such a proud woman, so Alfred had never seen her crying pathetically in front of him.
He regarded Isabel as his own mother, so his first thought was to help her up. However, Isabel pushed his hands away and looked up at him. When she spoke, her tone was full of pain and despair.
"Alfred, please don't tell anyone the truth. Take it as a request from me in exchange for the love I've given to you for the past six years. Just continue living as my son as don't let the other Chow relatives and that illegitimate child have any chance to take over the family. When the day I find my own son comes, I'll share half of the wealth that belongs to him with you. At that time, you can go anywhere you want, and I will respect your decision. But if you reveal the truth now, the other members of the family will think that this is a good chance to take over. old Mr. Chow won't be able to handle this situation and those people would only become more aggressive."
"You've used many methods to suppress the other members of the Chow family in the past few years. If you leave now and lead a bad life next time, they will definitely get back at you. Would you really rather face that kind of humiliation than continue this pretense as my son?"
Isabel was already crying from sadness. Although she was partly dramatic, but she was truly desperate too.
She knew that Alfred had a soft heart. Therefore, she tried to appear as pitiful as possible. At the thought of Alfred's identity, she came to realize that it meant she and her own child had been separated for over twenty years. Just the thought of it was enough to make her upset.
Maybe her child had died long ago. This possibility made Isabel feel hopeless.
The surprise and expectation she had when she first found Alfred had turned into ashes of nothingness.
Alfred was in a dilemma. Surely, he understood the pros and cons of whatever Isabel told him. However, how could he deal with Rachel if he continued to stay here as the heir to the Chow family? Also, Vanessa and Georgia knew about it so Alfred didn't know how to make the best choice.
He then decided to ask Isabel about it.
"Mrs. Chow, what if…what if we can't find your son forever? Would I still need to stay in this position?"
"If we can't find my child, perhaps he or she had already died long ago. If that was the case, then Alfred, I would rather have you pretend to be my son forever than having that illegitimate child of my husband take whatever should've belonged to my child. That was supposed to be for my child!"
Isabel was particularly stern when she said that.
Alfred understood her hatred.
Isabel's husband, Grady Chow was a Casanova, so who would know how many illegitimate children he had out there? This man had never cared about Isabel's feelings nor protected her pride, resulting in his lovers out there being rude and arrogant towards Isabel.
With that pride of Isabel, she definitely would rather have Alfred keep pretending to be her son and be the heir than seeing Grady's illegitimate child be in that position. It would kill her to see that.
"Give me some time to think it over."
Alfred couldn't make a choice right away, but he couldn't bear to reject her request too.
Isabel was not in a good place in the first place. Her child had been gone for more than twenty years, and no one in the Chow family cared about her other than old Mr. Chow.
Even a mistress wouldn't take a second look at Isabel who had no children.
After Alfred returned to the family, then only did Mrs. Chow's status elevated.
Therefore, Alfred understood the real reason Isabel refused his departure.
Isabel couldn't wait anymore. She had to know the names of those people who knew about Alfred's birth secret right now so she wouldn't overthink things. She must deal with those people as soon as possible.
"If you don't agree to it, I will be forced to death by them! Alfred, is the past six years of love and care not enough for you to help me for this moment? I've already agreed to share half of the wealth with you, but we can talk about it again if you think it's not enough. All I want is for you to secure my child's position and help me to find my child. If you reveal the truth now, I might die in their hands before I can even find my child. Can't you just help me with this?"
As she spoke, she started to cry and looked pitiful. It made Alfred doubt himself.
Should he really continue to hide the truth like what Mrs. Chow said?
"If you leave and reveal the truth now, I will hang myself dead here! Alfred, mark my words. Your act of revealing the truth is indirectly forcing me to die!"
While Alfred was still hesitating, his grandfather gave him a call.
"It's grandpa."
Alfred said to Isabel.
"Quickly answer it and find out what he wants."
Isabel was slightly worried that old Mr. Chow might've found out about Alfred's identity.
Her life would be over if that was the case!
Alfred picked up the call and put it on loudspeaker.