Her Rebirth.-Chapter 100

Days had passed since the chaos within the Song estate. Song Yue had been discovered locked inside his study, both legs bloodied from gunshot wounds inflicted by his own son. Fortunately, he was found in time and rushed to the Song family’s private hospital. Though he survived, he would never walk again.

It had been Kai’s intention to torture Song Ren to death, to make him suffer slowly and cruelly before finally ending his life. But Song Yue, despite his pain, despite the betrayal, had pleaded for his son’s life. He said he couldn’t bear to lose another child.

Kai listened.

He spared Song Ren’s life, but not without ensuring Song Ren’s legs were shattered, his arms severed. What remained of him was a breathing husk. He was crippled, humiliated, and locked away, far from sight. As for Yoo Hwa, she was kept with her husband to take care of him.

Since then, Kai had barely left Amelia’s side. His obsession with her safety had only grown fiercer. He was paranoid, and she could see it in the way his eyes never stopped scanning their surroundings, in the way he gripped her hand just a little too tightly when they walked.

Amelia didn’t blame him.

She, too, was scared. Though she’d faced death once, she was not eager to face it again especially since now, more than ever, she had things she wanted to live for. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

And now, it was time to return to Country A after Kai had managed to stabilize the affairs of the Song family.

In the garden, where the spring breeze gently stirred the petals of blooming camellias, Song Yue sat in a wheelchair, a thick wool blanket draped over his frail legs. He looked older now, smaller somehow, but his gaze was still fierce.

Song Yue sat in the courtyard. He was pale and thin, bound to a wheelchair with blankets over his knees. He was no longer the formidable patriarch she’d once feared, just an old man, weary and broken, staring up at the two people who were about to leave him behind.

Kai and Amelia stood before him, luggage already packed and the car waiting by the gate.

"Kai," Song Yue rasped, "Call me. Often. Let me hear your voice at least, if not see your face. And take care of her."

Kai gave a small nod.

Song Yue turned to Amelia. "You... thank you," he gently said. "For this period you stayed here, you felt like a true daughter. I apologize for what Song Ren did. I wish I had seen him more clearly before it was too late."

She stepped forward, gently taking his hand. "It’s not your fault," she said. "But thank you for saying it."

He paused, his voice trembling. "Would it be too much if I asked for a hug?"

Amelia hesitated only for a second before wrapping her arms around his frail body. He held her tightly and then, he whispered into her ear,

"Hold on to the necklace."

She stiffened.

"It’s the heirloom," he added.

Amelia’s eyes widened as she slowly pulled away, hand instinctively rising to the jade pendant resting against her collarbone.

All this time, what Song Ren had so desperately hunted for had been around her neck.

She looked down at Song Yue, who grinned widely.

"Protect it," he said softly. "For him."

---

At first, it hadn’t been obvious, so no one had paid attention to it. It had been brushed away. Unknown to them, little by little it grew, and now the Cosgrove and Blackwood empires were on the verge of crumbling.

Mason had barely come back to the Cosgrove mansion for the past week. He had been holed up trying to cement the crumbling empire. Overnight, it seemed to crumble until they traced it to a little incident that happened months ago.

A small tech subsidiary of the Cosgrove Company, Svex Dynamics, absorbed during a quiet merger last year, had released a security software update. Nothing major, just a routine improvement. But hidden within the code was a malware that allowed a third party to access sensitive financial records, legal contracts, boardroom meeting logs, everything. They had managed to find the person who installed the malware, retrieved the information from him, ensured he hadn’t sold it to anyone yet, got rid of him, and that was it. It had been forgotten and taken care of, besides, which company hadn’t had a few hack-ins?

Then, just last week, there was an anonymous whistleblower tip posted on an obscure online forum that Cosgrove had made use of child labourers in areas where they owned mines, abandoned machines were thrown in the rivers, causing severe lead pollution for the communities around that area. Furthermore, the Cosgrove was owing hundreds of millions of dollars in tax. The post quickly gained traction. Social media got hold of it. Then the journalists. Then the regulators.

What should’ve been easy to shut down wasn’t. Because someone had fed the media proof. Leaked emails. Audio recordings. Even internal reports.

And then came the dominoes: lawsuits, government investigations, suspended licenses, fleeing investors, plummeting stock value. Once the stock plummeted, it was being bought rapidly by investors who began selling their shares, causing its value to fall further.

And from there, everything fell, even the Blackwoods, who ought to have come to the aid of the Cosgroves in a time of trouble, were having a crisis of their own as it was leaked that one of their pharmaceutical subsidiaries had falsified clinical data for a new drug and made use of human beings, gotten from human trafficking, as lab rats.

Mason slammed the table angrily.

"What the hell is going on?!"

There was a knock on the door. His secretary, a tall young woman in a fiery red suit and block heels, walked in and said, "Sir, the—"

Before she could complete her sentence, Grandfather Cosgrove walked in sternly. He was dressed in a tailored black coat with his golden cane in hand. He had a look of disappointment on his face.

"Father..."