A Man with Nerves of Steel (Joseph Hart) novel Chapter 451

Chapter 451

“I didn’t cheat,” repeated Cora in her mind. She refused to accept losing Joseph. He was the man she had chosen. He carried all of her love. Without him, she had nowhere left to put that love.

Joseph didn’t answer her previous question. Instead, he made a cup of tea, took a sip, and lit a cigarette.

Then, he said, as though he were just reflecting on life, “Cora, I should thank you. Recently, I’ve realized that without children, family, relatives, and friends, one would experience a kind of freedom. It’s comforting.”

“What do you mean?” Cora asked.

“It’s a life apart from the world, freedom, being completely alone, loneliness, and bitterness. I feel like I’m unnecessary to this world. In return, the world feels unnecessary to me. Cora, what do people spend their whole lives struggling for?” Joseph questioned.

“If you really want an answer, I could talk about social responsibility, responsibility to family, and fulfilling your potential. Would you understand? You would just pretend not to understand,” answered Cora with a frown.

Cora sensed that Joseph’s mental state wasn’t normal. It was like he was on the verge of becoming a monk.

Joseph replied, “Social responsibility? You’ve created countless job opportunities in Jenton. You’ve helped drive the local economy and contributed to social stability. Those are good things, and you deserve recognition.

“However, your family’s businesses grew by taking resources from somewhere else. They inevitably hurt people in other industries. Take Nonagon Chemical, for example, or the slum redevelopment project five years ago, or the urban village demolitions and redevelopment. They also created conflict.”

Cora objected. “You can’t look at it that way…”

Joseph interrupted, “So, claiming it’s all for social responsibility sounds rather hollow. As for family responsibility, you married me, but even then you continued to devote yourself entirely to your family. You fulfilled your duty as a daughter, but what about your responsibility to my family?”

Cora didn’t know what to say. So, Joseph added, “You’ll probably say that without your family, you wouldn’t exist. Nevertheless, you’re married to me. Your family existed long before you were born. Does it truly depend on you to survive? Without you, would the family have disappeared?”

Cora argued, “Joseph, you’re overthinking this!”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify