Rising From Betrayal Reborn As The Family Outcast novel Chapter 135

Chapter 135

Hammond Group.

After the major shareholder left, Leo’s phone rang.

Seeing it was a friend calling, he had no choice but to pick up.

But instead of his friend, it was his friend’s wife, and she was furious, grilling him with questions.

His friend’s wife was a close friend of his first wife, so she was absolutely livid.

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No matter how much Leo tried to explain that he hadn’t cheated or betrayed anyone, she just wouldn’t believe him.

She even threatened to make sure her husband kept his distance from him from now on.

Less than two minutes after hanging up, his phone rang again.

This time, it was an old friend calling, saying he must’ve lost his mind.

He told Leo to fix this mess ASAP, or Hammond Group’s stock was definitely going to tank.

Leo tried to explain himself, but even this close friend he’d trusted for years just wouldn’t buy it.

Leo felt like he was suffocating from all the injustice-no matter how hard he tried, nobody was willing to listen.

His phone kept ringing all afternoon, but after that, Leo flat-out refused to answer any more calls.

He didn’t even need to pick up-he knew every single call was about the same mess.

As soon as Leo saw the trending topic, he immediately told his secretary to get it taken down.

He also told her to figure out a way to shut down that guy’s video account and wipe all his videos.

But no matter what they tried, it just wouldn’t work-the trending topic stayed up, and the account couldn’t be blocked.

The whole thing blew up even more, and there was no way to keep it under wraps anymore.

Leo didn’t even call his wife to confront her-his mind was spinning.

He wasn’t stupid. After everything with the diary, he couldn’t help but wonder if that so-called accident, when Mavis got hit by his car, was really just a coincidence.

And then he remembered how Nicole had been secretly crushing on Nicolas on X, and when she couldn’t have him, she tried to pull some tricks to make it happen.

‘Like mother, like daughter,’ Mavis thought. ‘Did she marry me because she’d been scheming from the very beginning?

‘If that’s the case, then what does that make me?’

Thinking about all those years she’d spent by his side, he felt sick to his stomach-hurt and disgusted all at once.

He couldn’t hold back anymore and told his secretary to look into whether that car accident with Mavis was really just an accident, or if there was something more to it.

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7:39 pm

Chapter 135

PWM

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He also told her to investigate if there was anything shady about those debt collectors who showed up back then.

He wondered if her ex-husband really just lost control and gambled himself into debt, or if, as the video suggested, she was the one who orchestrated the whole thing.

If it was the latter, then his wife was downright terrifying.

Not only did she cheat on her ex-husband and trick him into raising someone else’s child, but she actually went out of her way to deliberately destroy him.

Meanwhile, over at the Hammond family.

Nicole cared a lot about what people thought of her, so she kept a close eye on everything happening online.

So when the trending topic blew up, she saw it right away.

She never imagined her mom had a thing with her stepdad that far back, or that she’d written so many lovesick diary entries about him.

No wonder her mom was so hyped when she married her stepdad, and why she’d never left his side all these years-turns out, she was just crazy in love.

When Nicole saw the results of the paternity test, her pulse quickened.

‘So I’m not his real daughter after all, Nicole thought, ‘No wonder he treated me that way.

She scrolled through the comments-everyone online was convinced she was Leo’s actual daughter.

Her eyes lit up with delight.

‘If only I really was the Hammond family’s true daughter, Nicole thought, ‘then who’d dare call me a fake ever again?”

Her mom met Leo first; it was Alicia’s mom who was the real homewrecker.

Unable to hold back, Nicole grabbed her phone and headed downstairs to find her real mom in the kitchen, busy brewing a nourishing broth.

Leo had recently recovered and been discharged from the hospital, but her mom still made him nourishing broths almost every day.

Her husband, who’d been really upset over Nicole’s situation, had finally been coaxed into calming down.

Nicole told the servants to leave, her eyes blazing with hope as she looked at her mom. “Mom, am I really Dad’s biological daughter?”

Her mom blinked in confusion. “What do you mean, your dad’s biological daughter?”

Nicole handed her the phone, eyes shining with excitement. “Look, people online are all saying I’m Dad’s real daughter, and that you and Dad were a thing way back when.”

Her mom suddenly felt a chill run down her spine at those words.

She took the phone and scrolled through the posts, her face draining of all color in shock.

“How did this even happen? How did he end up with those two diaries?” she muttered, her voice shaking with disbelief.

7:39 pm

Chapter 135

PWM

“When did he go and get a paternity test?” she thought, her mind reeling.

She’d always kept a diary, but it was her little secret-no one but her ever knew about it.

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She’d hidden those two thick diaries so well, she was sure nobody would ever stumble across them.

But after her ex-husband’s family went bankrupt, she had someone lure him into gambling until he lost everything, and in the end, their last house was taken to pay off the debts.

Thugs came to take over the place, ransacked anything valuable, and even turned their packed luggage upside down.

After they moved into a rented apartment, she searched everywhere for those two diaries, but she couldn’t find them no matter how hard she looked.

She always figured the thugs must’ve tossed them out during the move, and she was scared to death someone would find

them.

Thankfully, she’d only ever written Leo’s name in those pages-never her own.

But after marrying Leo, she spent the first few years constantly anxious, worried those diaries might resurface.

When they never turned up, she figured they were gone for good and would never come back to haunt her.

Who would’ve thought her ex-husband had been hiding them all this time, never breathed a word about it?

If she’d known, she would’ve paid someone to make him hand them over, or made sure he kept his mouth shut for good.

Instead, every time he moved, she’d make his life hell until he had no choice but to move again.

Two years ago, he was forced to move once more, and then he just vanished-no one could find him anywhere.

Her life kept getting better, and she’d gotten over her old grudges, so she never bothered to send anyone after him.

Now she regretted it-she should’ve kept someone on his trail, just to make sure he never caused trouble again.

If she had, that bastard wouldn’t be out there stirring up trouble for her now.

Seeing her mom’s face turn ashen and stricken, Nicole felt a jolt of panic in her chest. “Mom, am I really his daughter or not?”

Her mom took a deep breath, her voice low and heavy with regret. “No, Nicole. He’s not your real dad.”

Honestly, she almost wished the gossip online was true-that her daughter really was Leo’s love child.

But she knew all too well that wasn’t the reality.

Nicole’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Then whose daughter am I?”

Her mom covered her face, her voice heavy with regret. “I honestly don’t know who your real father is.”

She went on to explain that, back when she was at her lowest, she’d ended up spending the night with a stranger in a hotel- and that’s how Nicole came into the world.

Afterward, she’d tried to find the man, but it was like he’d disappeared off the face of the earth-she couldn’t dig up a single clue.

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