PopularNovelChapter 1056: A paternity test risked exposing his shame, stripping away what little pride he had left. So Ferris simply ignored Eric entirely, treating him like a ghost. Pitying servants slipped him scraps to eat, and somehow, he survived. As he grew, Eric learned that his mother was the madwoman confined in the estate's shadowed corner. Whenever Ferris visited her, he would return in a rage and take it out on Eric, lashing him with a whip. At first, Eric would cry out, "Dad, it hurts! Please stop! I'll behave!" But Ferris was unmoved.
"Don't callthat!" he would sneer. “You're nothing but a bastard, unfit to claimas your father." So Eric stopped speaking.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtEven as the whip tore his skin and left him bloodied, he never called Ferris "dad" again, nor begged for mercy.
"Bastard!" "You're just like your mother—a worthless stain!" "Why don't you die? How dare you still breathe?" Eric was trapped in the nightmare, his face contorted, shaking his head. "No... no..." With a sharp gasp, he jolted awake, bolting upright on the couch, chest heaving. His heart pounded rapidly, sweat soaking his brow and clinging to his shirt.
The scars on his back, etched by Ferris's cruelty, seemed to pulse with a faint, lingering pain. His head pounded. Eric pressed a hand to his temple, and then staggered to his feet, crossing to the liquor cabinet. He grabbed a bottle, twisted it open, and took a long gulp, the burn snapping him back to clarity.
Looking back, he realized that without meeting Ernest and being welcomed into the Flynn family, he'd never have known what it meant to live like a human being.
He had found family, friends, education, and purpose-things to cherish and responsibilities to uphold. But now, the Flynn family had cast him out.
A cold glint flickered in Eric's eyes as he set the bottle down. He gave a wry smile. "Borrowed joy always comes with a price..." He had never truly belonged to the Flynns. Nyla was right; he was nothing more than an imposter! But he had a family of his own! Eric's thoughts turned to Hadley and Joy-their warmth, Hadley's grace, Joy's infectious laughter. His beloved and his daughter! G☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐hosts the latest Yet doubt gnawed at him. Would Hadley still want him? He wasn't Ernest, born to privilege and prestige. He was a stand-in, a nobody. Even the n"Eric" didn't really belong to him...
"Hadley... Hadley..." He murmured her nlike a mantra, raising the bottle again and drinking deeply.
Meanwhile, Hadley had been preoccupied for days. Whenever she had a moment to herself, Brady's words kept replaying in her mind.
"Hadley, I can help you." "Hadley, letmake this right." That night, after tucking Joy into bed, Hadley stared at her daughter's peaceful face and made up her mind. She retrieved the business card Brady had slipped her, opened her phone, and added him on WhatsApp.
"Is this you, Hadley?" Brady messaged almost instantly. EfR m
"Yeah, it's me. When can we meet?" she replied. The content is on ΟΠ novelenglish.net! "Whenever works for you. You nthe time."
"Very well. Tomorrow, 2 PM, at the hospital." The context is off at the Ο novelenglish.net!
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