Rising From Betrayal Reborn As The Family Outcast novel Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Is She Serious?

Later, Kevin went back to Hammond Manor.

Seeing the shock and anger written all over Kevin’s face, Austin and Caleb asked, “Kevin, what did she say?”

With a stony expression, Kevin gave them a quick rundown of his conversation with Alicia.

Hearing this, Austin and Caleb turned gloomy too.

Nicole’s eyes flickered with uncertainty.

She put on an anxious look and said, “Kevin, do you think Alicia got so mad because you all came to see my show?

“Which hospital is she staying at? I’ll explain everything and apologize to her now.

“She must’ve been so upset with me to say she wants to cut us off.”

Feeling even more guilty, Nicole added, “I really hope she doesn’t get the wrong idea about you guys because of me and cut ties with you.”

Kevin gave her a reassuring look. “You don’t need to explain anything to her. This has nothing to do with you.”

Kevin thought Alicia always had it out for Nicole. If Nicole showed up at the hospital, he didn’t know what kind of scene Alicia would make.

Austin frowned, “She’s really gone overboard this time. Is cutting ties something she can just say so casually?

“Honestly, she’s almost certainly using this as a way to threaten us, trying to get us to back down.

“Just leave her alone for a few days, and she’ll come back on her own.”

Caleb didn’t believe for a second that Alicia would really cut ties with them over something so trivial.

He said, “Yeah, she was throwing a fit over the phone. Her injuries are probably nothing serious. There’s no need for us to see her at the hospital.

“If we keep giving in to her, she’ll just get more and more unreasonable.

“Let’s just leave her alone for now. Once she calms down, she’ll come back to us.”

Austin and Kevin nodded in agreement. “Yeah, let’s just give her some space and let her cool off for a while.”

After a few more words of comfort, they personally escorted Nicole upstairs to get some rest.

*****

Alicia’s injuries weren’t serious, so she checked herself out of the hospital the very next day.

Except when she was out working, she usually stayed at the Hammond family’s old mansion.

But she’d actually bought a place of her own before, and nobody knew about it.

Now that she was leaving the Hammond family, she could finally move in.

She called the moving company first, then headed back to Hammond Manor.

As she had expected, everyone else was out.

Felix looked a little taken aback when Alicia walked in, but quickly he smiled and greeted her, “Ms. Alicia Hammond, you’re back.”

Felix overheard the three Hammond brothers talking last night.

He’d always thought Alicia was just in a mood, but he never expected her to come back so soon.

Alicia gave Felix a quick look, said nothing, and went straight to her room.

Felix had been working for the Hammonds since her grandfather’s days, and he’d practically watched Alicia grow up.

When she was a kid, he was always gentle and caring. He’d play with her in the yard and used to call her “Madam”.

But after Nicole moved in, it only took a couple of years before he started calling Alicia “Ms. Alicia Hommond” instead of just “Madam”.

He and the other servants all started calling Nicole “Madam” now.

‘I’m the outsider here now, huh?’ Alicia thought to herself.

Back in her room, Alicia started boxing up all her things. She wasn’t planning to leave a single thing behind.

Anything she didn’t want, she’d just sell online or simply throw away.

Then she opened the safe and took out the jewelry her mother had left her, along with a share transfer document and a few property deeds.

Her mother had owned 15% of Hammond Group’s shares. Before she passed away, she gave 3% each to Alicia’s three brothers, but left Alicia with 6%.

She said the extra 3% was meant to be Alicia’s wedding gift.

At the time, neither her dad nor her brothers had any problem with it.

But in her previous life, they tried to make her split half her shares with Nicole, claiming Nicole was her sister too.

Of course, Alicia refused.

Feeling betrayed, she used her 6% stake to mess with them and throw Hammond Group into chaos, all for revenge.

On top of that, she also had a few properties that her maternal grandparents had left her.

Caleb picked up the photo album and flipped through it. Sure enough, there wasn’t a single solo shot of their mother or Alicia at all.

All that was left were pictures of just their father and the brothers, or group photos where their mother and Alicia had been snipped out.

The three brothers just stood there, totally baffled and at a loss.

They thought, ‘How did it end up like this? Is she actually serious about cutting us off? No way, she can’t mean it.

‘We only skipped her show. Does she really have to blow things up like this?’

Kevin’s face darkened as he pulled out his phone. “I’ll call her.”

But when he tried, he realized Alicia had blocked his number. He switched to a messaging app, only to find she’d removed him there too.

Seeing this, Caleb and Austin quickly pulled out their phones to try reaching Alicia, but she’d blocked them everywhere as well.

The three guys were left feeling both hurt and pissed off.

They got Felix to give Alicia a call, but he’d been blocked too.

They borrowed a phone from one of the new maids and tried again. This number wasn’t blocked, but Alicia just ignored every single call.

Caleb turned to Kevin, looking totally lost. “Bro, what now?”

Kevin just stared back, feeling completely helpless. He really didn’t have a clue what to do.

Austin thought for a moment and asked, “Should we tell Dad?”

Kevin shook his head. “Let’s not tell Dad for now. I’m worried he’ll get upset and hurt his health.”

Over the years, Alicia had given their father plenty of headaches, but this time, things were getting pretty serious.

Kevin wasn’t sure if he should reassure his brothers or just himself. He said, “I really don’t think Alicia would actually cut us off. She’s probably just being dramatic again.”

After a moment, he continued, “Dad’s birthday is next month. No matter how mad she is, she’ll definitely show up for that.

“Give it a month. She’ll get over it, and then we can sit down and talk things out.”

Austin and Caleb relaxed a little after hearing that. “Yeah, even if she’s still upset with us, she won’t miss Dad’s birthday.”

As far as they knew, Alicia had always been super attached to their father. Every year, she’d start shopping for his birthday gift weeks ahead of time. They were sure she wouldn’t skip it this year.

When the day came, they’d just sit her down and talk things out. Worst case, they’d put their pride aside and sweet-talk her a bit, and Alicia would forgive them.