Rising From Betrayal Reborn As The Family Outcast novel Chapter 71

Chapter 71

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Kevin didn’t dare bring up the fact that Alicia was upset and talking about cutting ties, which was why she skipped the family dinner.

He smiled and said, “She’s probably busy picking out your birthday gift.

“That’s why she couldn’t make it back in time.”

Kevin thought, ‘Ally said she was going to surprise Dad with a special present, so she’s definitely putting her heart into it’

Leo’s expression finally softened when he heard that,

But Leo just sighed, “She’s always coming up with these little ideas.

“I’m curious to see what kind of surprise she’ll come up with this time.”

After that, everyone else at the table ate quietly, each preoccupied with their own thoughts-except for Leo, who seemed to

be in a much better mood.

Three days later, the Hammond family estate was bustling with activity.

It was Leo’s birthday banquet, and guests started arriving in the afternoon.

Every year, his birthday banquet was held at the Hammond family’s old mansion.

The place was huge, with a massive open lawn out back.

Right now, tables were set up everywhere, and dinner was going to be a buffet.

After dinner, there’d be a cocktail party, giving everyone a chance to mingle and catch up.

It was almost time for dinner.

Austin spotted Kevin greeting guests.

“Hey, Kevin, Ally’s still not here,” Austin said.

Kevin frowned. “It’s getting late. Where is she?”

“See if you can reach her,” he added.

Austin said, “I tried already.

“I even called her from a different phone, but her number’s been disconnected.

“I tried messaging her on WhatsApp, but she didn’t respond.

“I even asked some of her old friends to reach out, but she didn’t reply to any of them.”

He looked worried. “Kevin, do you think Ally might not show up today?”

Kevin’s frown deepened. “No way. Didn’t she say she’d get something special for Dad?

“Let’s just wait a bit longer. She might be caught up in traffic or something.”

Austin nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. There’s no way she’d skip Dad’s birthday banquet.”

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There were a lot of guests today, and plenty of them had their families with them.

Leo and Mavis were personally greeting some old friends.

The three Hammond brothers and Nicole were busy welcoming the other guests.

Out on the lawn, people were mingling, champagne glasses in hand.

“Hey, where’s Alicia today?” someone asked.

“Something feels missing today. Turns out Alicia isn’t here to help greet everyone,” another person chimed in.

“Seriously, she’s not here? Wasn’t she always the one running the show for Leo Hammond’s birthday every year?” someone

else said.

“Maybe she’s caught up with something else,” someone suggested

“Wait, haven’t you heard? Alicia’s talking about cutting ties with the Hammond family.”

“Yeah, I heard, but she’s probably just making a fuss.”

“Come on, she’d never really walk away from the Hammonds.”

“Word is, she actually means it this time.”

“Seriously? What else do you know? Come on, give us the scoop

“My mom’s pretty close with Mrs. Conrad, and she heard a lot from her. Turns out Alicia’s only thinking about cutting ties because she’s been forced into it. All these years…” someone whispered.

Vivian Conrad was Diana’s sister.

After meeting with Alicia that day, she just couldn’t keep it to herself and ended up sharing what Alicia confided in her with her circle of friends.

And before long, word got around to pretty much everyone.

“Wait, Alicia’s really had such a tough time these past years?” someone gasped.

“My mom says Alicia’s stepmom acts all nice, but she’s actually really cruel,” another person whispered.

“Guess when you get a stepmom, your real dad changes too,” someone else chimed in.

“It’s not just the dad. Aren’t the Hammond brothers all about their new sister now? Even her brothers act like they’re just her stepsister’s family,” someone added.

“If things are really like that, is Alicia even gonna show up today someone wondered.

“I heard she really cares about Leo. No matter what, she’d definitely show up.”

“But if she’s actually serious about cutting ties, she might not come at all.”

Everyone in the younger crowd was wondering if Alicia would actually show up or not.

Today, both Diana and Vivian showed up.

Vivian was busy telling everyone that once you get a stepmom, your real dad starts acting like a stranger too.

She couldn’t help but complain about how Nicole was eyeing her sister’s childhood friend.

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She kept stirring the pot between Alicia and her nephew, making sure they ended up on bad terms.

She even pulled up Nicole’s secret X account and showed it off to everyone.

After seeing it, everyone was just like, wow, speechless.

Nicole’s got guts, growing up in the Hammond family and still ating like that.

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You could totally tell from her X posts that whenever she and Alia clashed and Nicolas backed her up, she was over the

moon.

She was often pretty smug about it.

She always claimed she could only have a secret crush on him since he was her sister’s childhood friend.

But in reality, she kept trying to drive a wedge between the two of them-it was clear she wanted to snatch him for herself.

She was just playing the victim and acting all innocent while scheming behind the scenes.

These high society women had seen plenty of girls like her before.

Some of the young guys and girls who tagged along with the ladies took a look at Nicole’s X account too.

Then they headed over to the younger crowd, opened up Nicole secret X account on their phones, and started roasting her in front of everyone.

It didn’t take long before the whole party was buzzing about it.

So when Nicolas and Maxwell walked in together, they were instantly greeted with playful teasing and amused glances, as if everyone was waiting for some juicy drama to unfold.

One of Nicolas’s buddies even strolled over and laughed, “Nicolas, you lucky dog!”

Nicolas looked genuinely confused. “What are you talking about

The guy shot him a wink. “Come on, you grew up as the older sister’s childhood friend, and now the younger one’s totally head over heels for you. Man, you’re about to have it all-two beauties fighting over you!”

Nicolas was speechless.

‘Enjoy it? Yeah, right. This whole mess is driving me crazy.

‘Wait, how does he even know about this?’ Nicolas wondered.

He couldn’t help but ask, “Who told you that?”

The guy replied, “Everyone’s talking about it. We even checked out Nicole’s secret X account.

“By the way, isn’t she using your photo as her profile pic?

“And that cringey heart with your name in the middle? Man, you guys are wild!” the guy teased.

‘Fun? Give me a break. What’s this got to do with me? I didn’t even know about any of this until now.’

Nicolas glanced around and, sure enough, spotted his aunt in the middle of a lively group, animatedly showing off something on her phone and chatting away with a huge smile.

No question about it-she was the one who spread all the drama

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He’d never seen an aunt so eager to roast her own nephew in public. He felt like crying right then.

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Nicolas was speechless. “Seriously, there’s nothing going on between me and Nicole. We’re not like that, so quit spreading rumors, alright?”

The guy raised an eyebrow. “Come on, you always treat Nicole like she’s special. Doesn’t really look all that innocent between you two.

“But since we’ve been bros for years, let me give you a word of advice.

“Mess around with Nicole if you want, but don’t ever get serious bout her.

“Honestly, all of us think she’s nowhere near as good as Alicia.”

When it comes to looks and presence, Alicia just blows Nicole out of the water.

Plus, Alicia’s got a hefty inheritance from her late mom, and she owns six percent of the Hammond family’s company shares.

“Honestly, there are a ton of people eyeing Alicia right now,” the guy added.

He shot Nicolas a warning. “If you cross the line, there’ll be guys lining up to snatch her away from you.”

If Alicia wasn’t his bro’s fiancée, he’d be shooting his shot for sure

Marrying Alicia is basically marrying a golden ticket.

Plus, she’s an absolute knockout-and everyone loves her vibe.

Nicolas’s expression turned cold. “Tell them to keep dreaming. Is never gonna happen.”

He stressed again, “Me and Nicole? Seriously, there’s really nothing going on.”

But his friend just gave him a look that screamed, “Yeah, sure, I get it, bro,-clearly not buying his explanation at all.

Nicolas felt so helpless-he could talk till he was blue in the face but nobody would believe him. Everyone had it all wrong, and there was just no way to clear things up.

Before long, it was time for dinner.

Leo led the rest of the Hammond family to the front of the room.

Every year at his birthday banquet, Leo would step up and give a speech, thanking everyone for coming to celebrate with him.

This year was no different.

But in the past, Alicia was always the one running the show.

This year, though, Nicole was in charge instead.

The thing was, Alicia still hadn’t made an appearance.

Leo glanced around and asked, “Where’s Alicia?”

The Hammond brothers quickly covered for her, saying she was busy preparing a special gift to surprise him, so she hadn’t made it yet.

Because of that, Nicole stepped in to host the birthday banquet stead.

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Nicole was absolutely thrilled inside.

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Everyone could tell that her hosting the birthday banquet this year was basically the Hammond family’s way of saying she was officially part of the family now.

If it weren’t for all the drama Vivian had been spreading, people probably would’ve bought it.

But now, everyone was just thinking, ‘Wow, this stepdaughter’s got some serious skills-she even stole the real heiress’s spotlight.’

Honestly, the Hammond men had no idea what was really going on.

Leo grabbed the mic and gave a heartfelt thank you to everyone for coming.

After that, it was time for each of his children to present their birthday gifts.

Starting with Kevin, they each took their turn, ending with Nicole.

Kevin and his brothers all went with store-bought gifts.

But Nicole really went the extra mile-she hand-embroidered ten thousand “longevity” characters, making it clear she’d put a ton of heart into her present.

Leo said a few kind, loving words to her, clearly proud of her thoughtfulness.

Then Leo turned to Kevin. “What about Ally’s gift?”

He still hadn’t seen Alicia anywhere, and honestly, he was getting more and more curious-just what kind of stunt was that girl pulling this time?

Kevin stiffened. ‘What am I supposed to say now?

‘Should I just admit Ally didn’t even show up, and I haven’t seen any gift at all?’ he wondered.

Just as he was racking his brain for a way to smooth things over, the big screen behind them suddenly flickered.

Then, Nicole popped up on the screen, her eyes gentle and full of pride as she showed off her collection of instruments, explaining who had given her each one.

She even said Leo was the best dad ever.

Leo and most of the guests who hadn’t seen the live variety show just figured Nicole had made this video as a special birthday present for him.

But Kevin, Austin, Maxwell, and Nicolas all looked uncomfortable, their faces falling as the video started up.

It suddenly hit Kevin, and he urgently told Felix to shut down the big screen.

But even after Felix hit the off button, the video just kept playing

Suddenly, Alicia showed up on the screen.

It was that clip from the variety show where she flat-out declared to the trainees that she’d officially cut ties with the Hammond family.

Leo and the rest of the guests were absolutely floored-their jaw dropped, and nobody could believe what they were seeing.

As the video ended, a line of text suddenly popped up on the big screen.

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[Leo, ex-dad-this is the birthday gift I’m giving you after we’ve parted ways. It’s the very last one I’ll ever give you, so I hope you like it! -Alicia Delaney]

Everyone was stunned, yet again.

Honestly, Alicia’s birthday present absolutely blew everyone’s mind!

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