Chapter 5

"Vincent, aren't you going to call her 'Mom' already? You know how much she cares about you—she'd put you above her own life," Grover said, pressing Vincent.

"Your mom's cried herself to sleep for you more times than you know. Now that you're grown, it's her turn to catch a break. This is when you should really be showing her some respect.

"If you dare to call someone else your mother and forget everything she's done for you, don't blame me if I break your legs myself," he threatened.

Vincent glared at Kate, then at Grover, his tone hard and unwavering.

"Dad, I'm willing to call Aunt Kate 'Mom,' but what about my mother? She was the one who raised me for more than twenty years. Without her, I wouldn't be standing here today," he said.

Grover's face darkened, his patience clearly running out.

"You called her 'Mom' for more than twenty years, played the part of her son all this time. If it wasn't for you, she'd never have experienced what it's like to be a mother," Grover said.

"She did it all for her own pride. Just look—now that you've made something of yourself, people everywhere are buttering her up, calling her a brilliant entrepreneur and an even better mom.

"All that pressure she put on you to study? It was nothing but her own vanity," Grover sneered.

"With the Taylor Group at your back, even a half-hearted effort would put you ahead of the pack. It's thanks to her that you suffered so much. From here on, you owe each other nothing."

Vincent's face twisted with conflict, lips drawn tight. He just couldn't give up, and in the end, he blurted out, "Dad, you mean you want me to cut Mom out of my life completely? To just stop caring whether she's dead or alive?"

Grover glared at me with open contempt. "For tearing our family apart, the fact I'm not having her locked up is already more mercy than she deserves.

"I'm throwing her out of the Taylor family—wherever she ends up, even if she has to beg on the streets, it's her problem now."

At that point, relatives from the Maxwell family couldn't take it anymore and started cursing out loud, "Cut the crap, Grover! This whole thing was your twisted plan from day one. Why didn't you just spill the truth?

"You waited until Laurel handed over all the Maxwell Group shares to your son, and only then did you decide to confess," one of them snapped.

"Yeah, you guys had this whole setup cooked up ages ago. Now that Mr. Maxwell's gone, you're picking on Laurel and trying to snatch the whole Maxwell Group for yourselves!" another shouted, backing me up.

Plenty from the Taylor side, loyal to Grover, started hollering too.

"Isn't it Ms. Maxwell who's been acting high and mighty, snatching someone else's kid, then turning around and painting us as gold-diggers after your family's money?" one shouted.

"Right! With the Taylor Group's clout, you think we'd care about your pocket change? The Maxwell Group's been tanking for years—if Grover hadn't stepped in, you guys would've crashed and burned ages ago!" another chimed in.

As Vincent grew older, I was constantly afraid that Kate, with her manipulative act, would twist his values. So I gave up a bunch of business opportunities just to be by his side, taking him everywhere and watching over his growth.

Honestly, they had a point—the Maxwell Group really was going downhill. On the flip side, thanks to the Maxwell Group's support and Vincent's bold ideas, the Taylor Group leveled up a whole lot.

Some people just couldn't watch anymore and jumped in to back me up.

"Ms. Maxwell has always had Vincent's back, helped shape him into who he is. There's really no need to kick her when she's down," someone said.

"Yeah, the shares are all in Vincent's name now. Can't just leave Ms. Maxwell out in the cold like this," another added.

Grover cut in, loud and dismissive as soon as he heard the whispers.

"Raised by her? Please. My son's got talent in his veins. It's all because of his genes, not thanks to her—don't get it twisted," Grover scoffed.

The chat in the livestream went absolutely nuts—everyone was glued to their screens, getting a free taste of rich family drama.

Not even the wildest screenwriter would dream up something this insane.

So it turned out, Grover and his brother's widow had a secret kid, and the wife was the one who unwittingly raised him for over twenty years.

The livestream was blowing up with comments.

[Whoa! This is some high-society scandal—like watching a real-life soap opera femme fatale play out.]

[Damn, how traumatized is Ms. Maxwell right now? Those emotional scars must be off the charts.]

[Totally used and discarded… Who knew the rich have their own rags-to-riches opportunists too?]