Chapter 123 Broken and Hysterical
The slap landed hard and fast on Nicholas’ face, and he staggered backward a few steps, nearly toppling over.
He could feel his cheek tingling, and after a few seconds, a painful and stinging sensation started creeping under his skin. “Just because you deny it doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened! All of us know what you were planning, and you know it too. You can argue all you want, but it won’t change Dad’s mind about the divorce!” He licked his lips and scoffed as he gave Erin a baleful look. Then, he turned to leave.
“Nicholas, where are you going?” Jack hurried after him. Nicholas was not in the right headspace at the moment, and he couldn’t risk having him go out alone.
“Leave me alone!” Nicholas shrugged him off. “I need to go out and clear my head, so don’t follow me!”
He walked out the door without so much as a backward glance.
Jack took two steps after him, but he stopped and turned to look at his crying mother. He was torn, and he quickly beckoned his bodyguards. “Follow Nicholas and keep an eye on him. Make sure he’s safe!”
The bodyguards nodded and immediately went after Nicholas.
On the other hand, Jack went back to his mother and said, “Mom, stop kicking up a fuss. Dad’s already made up his mind to divorce you, and there’s no point in you protesting against it. You have nothing to worry about even if the divorce goes through; you’ll still have me and Nicholas. I promise I’ll take care of you.”
“No, I won’t divorce. I refuse to! I won’t sign those papers even if it means I have to die!” Erin cried, shaking her head vehemently.
If she hadn’t signed that dreadful agreement with Robert all those years ago that compelled her to give up any settlement in the event of a divorce, she might’ve just gone along with Morgan and gotten the paperwork over with. However, with that agreement prevailing over this, she would rather die than divorce!
She would have nothing if she left Morgan, and her life of luxury would come to an abrupt end. She could not divorce. It wasn’t even a possibility!
Meanwhile, Morgan gave her an icy look and threw the divorce papers at her like he was adding trash to the recycling pile. “I’ll give you three days to consider this, and if you don’t sign those papers by the end of three days, I’ll take this to court. I’ll make sure you won’t get a single dime after the divorce, and your family will never gain anything from the Wendels anymore!”
With that, he spun on his heels and broke into long strides as he walked away from her.
Erin sat on the ground, looking defeated. For a while, she couldn’t summon the strength to get on her feet.
She clung to Jack’s shirt as she begged wildly, “Jack, I know I was wrong, but please go and talk to your father and make him see sense! I don’t want a divorce, I really don’t…”
Jack gave her a sad look. “Mom, you know how Dad is. When he makes up his mind, there’s no changing it. He won’t listen to me.”
“How would you know that if you haven’t tried to make him see reason?” She pounded his chest angrily. “Just tell him that you and Nicholas would die with me if he insists on going through with the divorce! I’m sure he’ll change his mind then. He only has the both of you, and if you were gone, he would have no successors! You and Nicholas are the only ones he’ll listen to, so please talk to him for me!”
He gaped at her, clearly in disbelief that she would even suggest something like this. Using suicide as an excuse to get one’s parents to abandon divorce efforts was immature. Moreover, he and Nicholas had long outgrown their teenage angst to ever consider doing that. They were already in their twenties, and if they resorted to such childish attempts, it would only serve to humiliate them.
More importantly, he couldn’t side one parent over the other, not while the situation had made itself clear—his mom was in the wrong, and his dad was innocent. Morgan had spent the better part of his marriage suffering from and putting up with Erin’s nonsense. As things were, he had every right to institute divorce proceedings, and Jack couldn’t bring himself to get in the way of it, much less stake his own life to keep his parents’ broken marriage.
Presently, he gave his mother a long, hard look, and it took him a while before he found his voice again. “Mom, you’re not thinking straight right now. I’ll bring you up to your room and let you calm down before we talk about this again.”
He reached around her shoulders to help her up so he could escort her to her bedroom, but she shoved him aside. She waved her arms around maniacally as she howled, “Do you call yourself my son, Jack? Why won’t you help me with this? If your father goes through with this divorce, it will affect you too! Once he’s a bachelor again, he’ll marry someone new and have some mongrel child with her, and eventually, everything that’s supposed to be yours and Nicholas’ will be given to his new wife and kid! You stand to lose your birthright! I can’t divorce him. I won’t!”
“Mom, I have a job, and I never wanted any share in Dad’s fortune,” Jack bit out coldly. “It is only honorable that I make it on my own as a man, and if I want something, I’ll work for it. I won’t demand Dad to give me his fortune even if it is my birthright, and he can give it away to whoever he likes since I don’t care.”
“Are you an idiot?” Erin was going out of her mind. “How could I have given birth to such a fool? Jack, you’re being stupid and naive!”
He frowned when he felt the onset of a migraine assaulting him. He sighed wearily and said, “Forget it. Say what you will about me, Mom, but I won’t stay to hear any of it. I have to go now, so take this time to calm down and think things through. If you agree to the divorce now, Dad will still give you a roof over your head and a commercial lot. By the end of three days, however, that offer will lapse and you’d be left with nothing.” Then, he didn’t spare his mother a second glance before walking out of the living room.
She took a deep breath and yelled, “Jack, get back here! Get back here right now!”
He ignored her and left the house. He had initially been worried that she would be devastated enough to act impulsively, but after talking to her, he realized that she would rather pawn anyone else’s life than her own.
She was obsessed with money and fortune, and as greedy as she was, she couldn’t possibly take her own life and give up all the luxuries this world had to offer.
In the living room, Erin sat on the ground and wailed when she saw that her husband and sons had left her alone.
Regret was sinking into her. She was filled with a strong hatred for Angie and for herself. She could have had a life of leisure, but the wickedness and jealousy in her compelled her to do senseless things against others.
She had schemed against those around her, and it was bad enough that none of her plans worked out, but to drag herself under the bus as well really struck her hard. She wanted to strangle herself for having gone to such lengths.
However, her belated regret did nothing for her. She had already made a huge mistake, and she didn’t even get the chance to prove that she could change for the better.
All she could do now was to refuse to go through with the divorce, but it only took a day before her parents and brother showed up at her place.
As it turned out, Morgan had gone to her family and pressured them into talking sense to Erin.
Right now, her family ran a very small company and relied on collaborations with Wendel Corporation to get by. However, following the incident from the day before, Wendel Corporation had decided to terminate all collaborations with them.
They lost a majority of their business that day, and all manufacturing work came to a standstill, leaving a huge bulk of materials in the factory that could neither be used nor sold off. The company could not cope with the sudden expenses, and it would only be a matter of time before the factory went bankrupt. They wouldn’t be able to pay their workers, which would lead the union to make trouble for them, and it wouldn’t be long before the court and the bank got involved. As things were, the Peters were facing the familiar threat of bankruptcy again.
Her brother, Callum, had gone and asked Morgan why he was pulling out from all the collaborations, and he told him everything.
When Erin’s parents showed up at her place, they first berated her and demanded that she sign the divorce papers immediately.
She had cried and sobbed, stubbornly refusing to go through with the divorce.
In the end, her mother snapped impatiently, “How could you be so stupid? Your father and I are Nicholas and Jack’s biological grandparents; for Morgan to actually come and pressure us so heartlessly could only mean he’s made up his mind to divorce you. If you sign the papers now, he’d still give you a roof over your head and a shop to run, and he’d reinstate all the collaborations with our family.
At the very least, that could provide us with the means to survive. However, if you were to drag this out and refuse his kind favor, you’d be left with nothing. Your dad, Callum, and I will all become your sacrificial lambs, and it will only take another half a year before our whole family is thrown out on the streets to beg for a living! Is that what you want?”
