Chapter 624
Chapter 624:
Matthew blinked, caught off guard. “You don’t support me in telling her the truth p>
“Alanna’s been gone for years; you can’t bring her back,” Beverley said. “Rebecca’s grown. How’s she supposed to accept a half-sister out of nowhere? And Lauren—her temper will cause a storm. That kind of drama is best avoided p>
“Mom, you don’t know the half of it!” Matthew’s voice rose. “When the Howard Group was faltering and one of our major projects collapsed, Lauren forced me into marriage p>
He’d never wanted Lauren and rejected her outright. But her family, the McCoys, retaliated, rallying other firms against the Howard Group.
Refusing her would’ve meant bankruptcy for the company.
“Mom, I’ve never loved Lauren!” he said. “Did you know the McCoys sabotaged the Hopolis project behind the scenes p>
Beverley’s hand trembled, stunned by his outburst.
Thirty years ago, the Howards were a shadow of their current power, dwarfed by the McCoys.
Lauren, smitten with Matthew at a banquet, insisted on marrying him. He refused.
Spoiled and determined, Lauren wept until her father gave in to her demands, then covertly undermined the Howard Group.
𝘜p𝖽𝘢𝘁𝘦s e𝘷𝖾𝗿у 𝘄е𝖾𝗸 o𝗻
Eventually, she got her way, marrying Matthew.
Later, as Matthew took the reins of the company, he uncovered the truth: the Hopolis project’s failure, blamed on shoddy materials and splashed across headlines, was the McCoys’ doing.
Learning this, Matthew’s disillusionment with Lauren deepened, erasing any lingering guilt.
As he prepared to confront the McCoys, a car accident derailed him, and he met Alanna.
“For the family’s sake, for the greater good, I sacrificed my happiness,” Matthew said, tears brimming.
His dilemma had been brutal: marry Lauren or watch the McCoys crush his family.
He chose to save his family, but the cost was his own peace.
“Later, I was in a car accident—and it was Gabriela’s mother who saved me,” Matthew went on.
He recounted vanishing for over a year after the accident, his memory shattered by a brain injury.
Alanna nursed him, and he fell deeply in love.
They were soon together, and she became pregnant.
When his memory returned, Matthew went home to push for a divorce, ready to walk away with nothing to end it quickly.
But Lauren refused, sparking chaos, while the McCoys again threatened the Howard Group’s business.
Matthew stood firm, fasting for two days and nights to prove his resolve.
Beverley, hearing this for the first time, was shaken. “You fasted to protect Alanna, keeping her name out of it p>
“Yes,” he said. “But I failed her. Days after I filed for divorce, she came to me, saying she wouldn’t be with a married man. She told me she’d ended the pregnancy and vanished p>
His throat tightened with each word. “Soon after, word of Alanna’s death spread. I even attended her funeral p>
Beverley leaned forward. “She died, yet Gabriela exists p>
“Alanna lied to me,” Matthew said. “She didn’t die. Her relatives staged a fake funeral. She gave birth to Gabriela in secret and raised her alone p>