Family on Their Knees Heart Turned to Ice novel Chapter 1432

Lucas found it remarkably easy to help Debbie sort out her fake ID. Whenever he needed her signature on a document, he would simply sneak into her room in the dead of night.

Every secret meeting with Debbie went off without a hitch, fueling his desperate hope for the $400 million Lucas-Debbie bribe.

Bella Ward proved surprisingly easy to fool. For the past two days, he couldn't tell if she was genuinely swamped with other matters or if she actually believed he had no access to Debbie.

Regardless, two entire days had passed without a single word from Bella.

The VIP hospital suite was costing a small fortune every single day, leaving Lucas to wonder how Bella wasn't sweating over the mounting bills.

In truth, Bella was out of her mind with anxiety. She wanted nothing more than to get her hands on her share of the cash immediately.

However, she had been buried in a relentless mountain of problems over the past forty-eight hours.

Sabrina Ward had managed to work her magic, borrowing enough cash from her wealthy socialite friends to temporarily cover the crushing interest demanded by The Blood-Debt Vultures.

Dealing with the repayment transfers had eaten up the better part of her day.

Once the interest was finally cleared, Bella could barely draw a ragged breath of relief.

But the respite was short-lived, as news of Noah's Birthday Gala quickly reached her ears.

For the past two years, she had been the one by Noah's side to celebrate his special day.

Yet, in reality, she had always relied on her assistants to remind her when the date approached.

She was always too preoccupied with her own glamorous life to bother memorizing a child's birthday.

Ever since Lillian Mercer was released from prison, Bella had found it nearly impossible to get anywhere near the boy. The elder Blakes guarded him fiercely, effectively cutting off her access.

As a result, she had completely forgotten about the upcoming celebration.

That was until Noah secretly messaged her.

Fresh off the heels of dealing with The Blood-Debt Vultures, Bella now had to pivot her attention to the extravagant birthday bash.

It boggled her mind that Sebastian Blake would throw such a massive, high-profile event for a little kid.

But it didn't take long for her to connect the dots. Sebastian was clearly using the gala as an excuse to get closer to Lillian.

He wanted to win his ex-wife back. Since his divorce from Bella wasn't finalized yet, his hands were tied in many ways, which was exactly why he had brought Noah back into the picture.

Sabrina had already warned her that Sebastian would never allow her to set foot in the birthday gala, but that hardly mattered.

She had no intention of using Noah to antagonize Lillian at this stage anyway.

There was plenty of time for petty rivalries later. Right now, her absolute priority was surviving her current financial crisis.

Everything else had to take a backseat.

The day before the gala, Bella reached out to Noah and arranged to meet him at the back gates of the estate, bringing along a small ice cream cake.

Noah was already waiting for her in the shadows.

"Noah, I won't be able to make it to your party tomorrow, so I wanted to celebrate with you early. You aren't mad at Auntie Bella, are you?"

Noah looked up at her. "Auntie Bella, I already know everything. You're my real mom now.

I know Dad has some misunderstandings about you. Even though he always says bad things about you, you will always be my mom.

I really wanted you at my party. I wanted to show all the other kids that you're my mom, not that awful woman... the murderer who went to prison."