Chapter 723

In the room.

Richard Evans supported Eleanor Vance, helping her shuffle step by step towards the bathroom.

Halfway there, Eleanor suddenly stopped.

She turned her head to look at Richard.

"My dear grandson," she said softly, "do you know why Grandma likes Alexander, but not you?"

Richard was taken aback.

"Grandma," he frowned, "what are you talking about? Have you remembered Alexander?"

Eleanor smiled.

The smile held a trace of clarity, a trace of understanding.

"How could I forget Alexander," she said.

Richard froze completely.

He stared at Eleanor, his expression shifting from confusion to shock, and finally to anger.

"You..." his voice trembled, "you've been pretending all this time?"

"Heh."

Eleanor gave a low chuckle and released his arm.

She shakily reached out and grasped the nearby walking cane.

"I used to ask myself," she sighed, "for Alexander's sake, not giving your branch of the family a chance, was I being too biased."

She paused.

"So during this time, I gave you a chance."

Richard immediately responded, "Grandma, our branch truly cares for you! Since you gave us the chance, you must have felt it, right?"

Eleanor looked at him, her gaze calm.

"I could feel it," she said, "you really, really want my shares."

Richard choked.

His expression changed, and he spoke again, "Our branch is also sincere towards you! As an elder, you can't be too biased, can you?"

Eleanor shook her head.

"My dear grandson," her voice was soft, "do you know? Every time Alexander looks at me, his eyes are sincere. What's in his eyes and heart is me, the person, not my shares."

She paused, her gaze resting on Richard's face.

"But you, and that mistress, and your love child," she said word by word, "the look in all three of your eyes is greed. What you see are my shares."

She smiled.

"I'm not so senile that I can't tell what kind of people you are."

Richard's face instantly turned ashen.

"What do you mean?" his voice rose.

"It means," Eleanor looked at him, "from the moment you entered this house at fourteen, the first time I saw you, I knew we would never have a bond in this lifetime."

She paused.

"Because your eyes were too calculating."

Richard clenched his fists.

"All you want in your heart is the Vance family," Eleanor continued, "You have no feelings for this family, no feelings for your father either... even though all these years, your father has protected you, with only you in his heart..."

"Shut up!"

Richard suddenly roared.

His eyes were red, glaring fiercely at Eleanor.

"What does he have of me in his heart?" his voice was hoarse, "If he had me in his heart, back when the Vance family needed to form an alliance through marriage with New York, he wouldn't have abandoned my mother!"

Eleanor sighed.

"He divorced your mother, not because of that," she said, "it was because they were incompatible."

"To hell with incompatible!"

Richard completely lost control.

Especially hearing Eleanor describe his fourteen-year-old self as "calculating," his composure shattered completely.

He glared angrily at Eleanor, his voice almost squeezed through gritted teeth.

"How many wealthy parents are incompatible? Why did they have to get a divorce? It was because of the alliance marriage! To make way for that woman from the Watson family!"

His eyes reddened.

"My mother left with great resentment. She took me abroad. Those fourteen years we spent overseas were very hard!"

Eleanor watched him quietly.

"When your mother and father divorced," she said, "the Vance family gave ample money."

"But all that money was swindled away!"

Richard shouted.

"In her first year abroad, it was all gone! She gave birth to me, and we begged for a living in the U.S.! Do you know how miserable those fourteen years were for me?!"

His voice trembled.

Thinking of how he was bullied as a child, he still felt a lingering fear.

He stared at Eleanor, his eyes full of resentment.

"At school, I was bullied, harassed. They stripped me naked, made me drink..."

He couldn't say the rest.

That part of his life was too dark, a lifelong nightmare.

Even now, he sometimes woke up in the middle of the night from dreams of those days.

It wasn't until he returned to the Vance family and saw the clean room that he understood that kind of life was over.

Thinking of this, Richard looked at Eleanor with anger again.

"So, it's all your and my father's fault!" he roared, "If it weren't for you, how could I have lived so miserably!"

As he spoke, he began to cry.

"No matter how down and out my mother was, she never came back to find him. It wasn't until she passed away that I had no choice but to return home. Because outside, I couldn't survive!"

He looked at Eleanor, his eyes full of hatred.

"The moment I returned home, I knew I had to fight for everything in the Vance family! Because this was originally mine, it's what the Vance family owes me!!"

He seemed somewhat deranged.

Eleanor watched him quietly.

"But this cannot be your excuse for hurting Alexander," her voice was soft, "In this entire family, Alexander is the most innocent one."

She paused.

"Back then, with your arrival, the little tricks you used forced his mother to leave, and he was born prematurely."

She looked at Richard, her gaze sharp.

"And later? What do you think you did to Alexander? Do you think I didn't know?"