Edward Larson collapsed backward, and if his relatives hadn't caught him, he would have smashed his skull against the marble floor. The family frantically pinched his philtrum and slapped his cheeks until his eyelids twitched and he woke.
The first thing he did was drop to his knees.
"Holly... Evelyn... Graham... please, forgive us!"
Evelyn's brows drew tight. "If you had known this would happen, why did you treat them that way in the first place? Things have gone too far. You should learn to accept consequences. Kneeling like this only makes you look pathetic."
Edward's voice was completely broken. "For the sake of family... Evelyn... help me persuade them..."
Evelyn finally said what she had held in her heart for years. "I am your family. But you have never treated Graham and Holly as family." She pointed at her daughter, who still had slight swelling around her eyes. "She cried alone countless nights after being bullied. Graham endured humiliation decade after decade. And you all? You only cared once your own children were hurt."
Jason Carter waved his hand. The security team stepped forward. No extra words were needed.
The Larsons were dragged outside, crying and struggling, completely powerless. The gate slammed shut behind them.
Outside the gated coastal community, they panicked. They paced in circles and fought among themselves.
"We're finished!"
"We lost every partnership, every supplier!"
"Our business is dead!"
"If you brats hadn't come picking a fight—"
"Don't blame us! You elders marginalized them first!"
Someone proposed calling the old patriarch. Everyone went silent. How could they explain this? "We tried to destroy the only person keeping us alive." Their legs gave out as the weight of fear sank in.
Then the community butler walked over with security. "You need to leave now."
Edward shouted with wild desperation. "Wait! We'll stay! We'll rent a villa here too! Villa #2! We'll pay anything!"
The butler stared at him like he was an idiot. "Bilan Cove is not a rental community."
Edward stammered, "Then... Villa #1? That has to be rented, right?"
The butler's lips curved into a cold smile. "Villa #1 was bought—by Mr. Carter. A gift for Miss Holly."
The Larson family froze. A seaside super-mansion with an ocean view, private shoreline, and helicopter pad. Such a property in California or Florida coastal luxury markets would easily cost over $100 million. Bought casually as a gift for Holly Larson—their unwanted niece, their "outsider."
The Larsons felt the world tilt. Their legs weakened, their hearts pounded, and cold dread swallowed them whole. They finally understood: they hadn't just wronged Holly. They had tried to destroy their own future.
Edward Larson shook his head violently, unable to accept reality. "Impossible. No way. Jason Carter could buy the villa, yes—but buy it for Holly? Absolutely impossible!"
Even now, he desperately clung to denial, because fully accepting the truth meant accepting that they had personally thrown away the greatest opportunity in the Larson family's history.
But then his son, Mike Larson, spoke up weakly. "Dad, it's real. We saw it ourselves—Jason gave Holly a gifts worth over two million dollars. If he gives gifts worth millions for a birthday, buying a villa is nothing."
The older Larsons gasped silently, their faces draining of color. Lavish business acquisitions were one thing, but romance that cost tens of millions? That was a different level of devotion.
And suddenly, every accusation they'd ever thrown at Holly shattered. She hadn't wasted Larson family money. She had brought wealth to them. They had slapped away the very hand that had lifted them up.
The security team had long since forced them out the gates. Now the Larsons stood outside Estates, refusing to leave, desperate and trembling.
Edward finally called the family patriarch.
The call connected. "How is it? Did Holly go too far? We'll hold a family meeting and punish her—"
Edward almost dropped the phone in terror. What if Jason heard that? He cut his father off immediately. "Dad! Holly did nothing wrong! Mike and the others deserved punishment! Kneeling for a few hours was merciful!"
The patriarch was stunned. "How does Holly have the authority to punish—"
Edward cut him off again. Then, speaking faster than he could think, he spilled the entire truth. "All our recent contracts? The recycling plants? The decomposition facility? The partnerships with every U.S. rare earth separation plant? All were given because of Holly. And now every single one is terminated."
Silence fell on the other end of the line—a long, terrifying silence.
Then came a single question: "Who is Jason Carter? Find out. Immediately."
Edward already had. He forwarded the file straight to the patriarch, and then silence returned. Not a scolding, not anger—just the weight of irreversible regret.
The whole Larson family stood frozen, the cold wind biting at their faces. They had destroyed themselves with their own arrogance.
Meanwhile, inside the villa, the lights were soft and the music fading.
Holly Larson's gaze locked on Jason's profile, her heartbeat fluttering. Every injustice of her life—he had erased it. Every wound—he had healed it.
Affection +1
Affection: 99/100
Just one final step. Just one more heartbeat. And Holly's devotion would be complete.
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