Rising From Betrayal Reborn As The Family Outcast novel Chapter 56

Chapter 56

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Kevin took the device and scanned the content. His expression visibly darkened as he read.

“Is this from her live stream?” he asked.

The assistant gave a firm nod. “Yes, sir.”

Kevin felt a sharp pang of frustration. “Not only did she say it publicly, but now it’s trending. Is she trying to make sure everyone in our circle sees it? What is she playing at?”

The assistant stayed quiet. He didn’t understand Alicia’s motives either, but he knew it couldn’t be good.

“Get it taken down,” Kevin said coldly. “Now.”

Thankfully, Leo was still out of the country.

If he happened to see the hashtag, or worse, if those two troublesome shareholders deliberately showed it to him, the fallout would be messy.

The assistant nodded. “Right away, sir.”

But removing the hashtag turned out to be impossible.

They tried to outbid the promotion, but the other side kept countering.

They called in favors, yet the trend held firm.

After some digging, the assistant returned with an update. “Mr. Hammond, it’s Lucent Media. They’re blocking the removal.”

Kevin drew a slow breath. “What is Jason playing at?”

He thought, ‘Didn’t he cause enough chaos between the Farrells and the Moores? Now he’s meddling in our family business?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Get in touch with Jason’s people. See what they want to make this go away.”

The assistant promptly set to work but returned much sooner than expected.

“Mr. Hammond, Lucent Media is refusing to remove the hashtag and has declined any further discussion,” he reported.

Kevin’s fist came down hard on the desk, his irritation evident.

“Fine. If we can’t remove it, bury it,” he said after a moment’s thought. “Push other topics to the top and keep this one off the main feed.”

However it was done, that particular hashtag could not be allowed to remain visible and risk spreading further.

The assistant resumed his efforts, but to no avail.

No sooner had the topic been suppressed than it resurfaced, stubbornly holding a prominent position midway down the trending list.

When Kevin received the update, a cold fury settled over him, and the urge to confront Jason directly was nearly overwhelming.

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With no other options, he placed a call to Victor, requesting that Adam intervene and persuade Jason to back down.

Given the ongoing collaboration between their families on the ecological project, the Farrell family’s interference in Hammond affairs was a clear overstep.

Victor had not anticipated Jason’s reach extending this far.

While he outwardly expressed sympathy for Kevin’s frustration, inwardly he saw an opportunity.

Jason had become increasingly unpredictable, lashing out at anyone within reach.

Involving the Hammonds could work to Victor’s advantage, provided it did not jeopardize his own partnership with them.

Accordingly, Victor relayed the situation to Adam.

Adam listened, a faint headache forming, but knowing the matter required attention, he arranged a dinner with his wife, Rosalie Farrell.

Over the meal, he allowed his irritation to show, mentioning the issue with measured frustration.

Concerned, Rosalie comforted him, and before the evening ended, she placed a call to Jason in Adam’s presence.

At his hotel, Jason glanced at the caller ID.

In the past, he might have ignored a call from his mother, anticipating her intent.

But this time, he answered. “Yes?”

An unmistakably displeased voice came through. “Jason, must you involve yourself in everything? Stay out of the Hammonds’ affairs and take that hashtag down. Immediately.”

A dry laugh escaped him. “You give an order, and I’m just supposed to obey? Who do you think you are?”

Rosalie paused, taken aback. “I’m your mother. That’s who.”

‘Has he not recognized my voice? I’m calling from my own number,’ she couldn’t help but wonder.

With deliberate flatness, Jason replied, “Really. I have a mother?”

In his view, he and his brother might have been better off without one. At least then they wouldn’t keep finding themselves undermined.

Rosalie froze, clearly caught off guard by Jason’s sharp tone.

Her expression tightened. “Is that how you speak to your mother?”

“Since I don’t see you as one, yes, it is,” Jason replied, his voice detached. “If you don’t like it, stop calling.”

Rosalie’s voice rose, sharp and shrill. “What did you just say?”

“Keep your voice down,” Jason said, his tone cold and even. “It’s painful to listen to.”

A flicker of rage crossed Rosalie’s face. “So you think you’re all grown up now, is that it?”

She quickly slipped back into her familiar pattern of venomous blame. “What gives you the right to say I’m not your mother? You got your brother killed! How do you have the nerve to go on living after what you did?”

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Jason interrupted her, his voice low and deliberate. “If you can keep on living, then I certainly can. And if you miss him that much, maybe you should go be with him.”

Since his brother’s death, Rosalie had refused to hold Adam or Victor responsible, directing all her bitterness and grief toward Jason instead.

She clung to the belief that if Jason’s brother hadn’t thrown himself in front of Jason, he would still be alive.

She often muttered that it should have been Jason who died, not her more compliant, more obedient son.

In the past, Jason had absorbed every cruel word in stony silence.

But as Alicia had once pointed out, his own sorrow didn’t obligate him to tolerate her abuse.

If Rosalie intended to wound him, he was determined to wound her in return.

Rosalie stared at him, her expression one of utter shock. “What’s gotten into you? How could you say such a horrible thing?”

No matter how vicious her outbursts had been in the past, Jason had always absorbed them with cold, silent endurance.

Once her anger was spent, she would usually leave him alone.

This was the first time he had ever confronted her with such open, calculated scorn.

“Isn’t this what you’ve been asking for?” Jason replied, his voice devoid of warmth. “You go on and on about my brother as if you actually loved him.

“The truth is, you just can’t stand losing another useful tool, someone you could manipulate to please that old bastard.

“I’ll never understand it. He treats you like a dog, and you’re perfectly happy to bite whoever he points you at.

“Why can’t you just try being a decent person for once?”

Jason could never understand how Rosalie had developed such a single-minded obsession with Adam, an obsession that blinded her to everything and everyone else.

She had insisted on marrying a man years her senior, one who already had a wife and a son, and had repeatedly funneled resources from her own family to prop up her husband’s household.

Had her father not firmly barred her from meddling in the family business, the Holt enterprise would likely have been driven into the ground by her misguided devotion.

Once Jason’s brother took over the Holt family’s holdings and consolidated them into Lucent Media, Rosalie saw him as little more than a source of leverage, consistently extracting benefits from him only to turn and offer them to Adam as tokens of loyalty.

As her parents’ only daughter, Rosalie had not even returned home for her own mother’s funeral, choosing instead to remain abroad chasing after Adam.

Later, she provoked her father into a serious illness through her actions, and he still remained in the hospital recovering, yet she visited only after a prolonged and indifferent delay.

By then, her father had completely lost faith in her.

He refused to see her and transferred all the shares originally intended for her, along with his own stake, directly to Jason.

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Combined with the inheritance from his late brother, this allowed Jason to assume full control of Lucent Media.

Both brothers had prepared wills before the accident.

Each stipulated that if one should die unexpectedly, everything would pass to the other. If both were gone, all assets would

be donated.

They were resolved not to let a single cent fall into the hands of Adam, Victor, or Rosalie, knowing that anything she received would inevitably be handed over to Adam.

Rosalie stood frozen, clearly stunned by the venom in Jason’s words.

Disbelief washed over her features. “Jason, I’m your mother. How can you speak to me this way?

“And Adam is your father. How can you call him such a name?

“We’re your parents, not your enemies. Why must you fight us at every turn?”

“Why can’t you see how hard I’ve tried?”

She had always worked to mend the rift between Adam and Jason, refusing to believe that Adam could have allowed Victor to harm her eldest son.

To her, the crash was simply a tragic accident, and she was convinced that Jason’s anger had distorted his judgment.

In her mind, family was meant to forgive and move forward. It would be better for everyone if they could just make peace.

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