My husband, Roy Morrison, made me his and Karen Marshall’s son’s surrogate mother, and I pretended to have no clue about that. Instead, their son, Frank Morrison, was carefully raised by me for twenty-five years. When Frank finally got the shares of my company and took over the Hawkins Group, Roy showed up with Karen, who was in a wheelchair. “Gloria Hawkins, Frank is our son. You have dominated him for twenty-five years; now it’s time to release him and let him be with his own mother, Karen,” said Roy to me. Grinning meaningfully, I replied, “Sure, but I’m afraid Frank will say no.” “Gloria, how can you treat Frank like that? He’s still a little boy, and you plan to drown him with these piles of homework?” Karen used to be Roy’s younger brother’s wife. She pulled the weeping Frank into her arms with a coax. “Frank, don’t cry. Mom is so bad, right? What are these math quizzes for? You’re still a child!” Then, she dropped the pen and took Frank’s hand while saying to him tenderly, “How about we go to the yard and do some research about insects?” Playing with insects was one of Frank’s favorites, and his cloudy little face immediately turned sunny as he threw himself into Karen’s arms. Suddenly, he timidly turned his head to me as if asking for my permission. Karen’s husband passed away in a car accident, and she also lost her legs just to save my husband. Fate deprived her of her chance to be a mother from that nightmare. Therefore, Karen poured all her maternal love into Frank. People praised this young woman for being so benevolent since she cared for her deceased husband’s parents even after his death while looking after her nephew like he was her son. Despite her reliance on the wheelchair, she still persisted in walking Frank to and back from school every day, not even daunted by snow. Once there was a blizzard, and Karen fell down from the wheelchair with her forehead bumped, bleeding. However, she still showed up at the gate of Frank’s school in the afternoon with her wound roughly bandaged. She was in charge of everything that Frank put into his mouth, chose all the outfits for this little boy, and always stood by him when he went to drink water or to play. All of this selfless and meticulous care for Frank was, as claimed by Karen because she wanted someone to be there for her, a wretched and infertile woman, when she aged. The very fact was, that Frank was Karen’s biological son with my husband. Reluctant to expose the truth, I just indulged her excessive maternal love for Frank. To be honest, the company wore me out, and piles of contracts and documents needed my signature. Besides, Frank needed company during his childhood. But letting Karen be with Frank didn’t mean giving in to my way of education. I still brought Frank to various activities to teach him what the big picture was and the correct outlook on life. After all, Frank’s having a life view like a homewrecker was the last thing I wanted in my whole life. Back to what was happening now, Karen was about to take Frank to the yard when I strode over to pull my son back. “Karen, don’t spoil him. You don’t want him to become a lazy, cocky man, right?” I said. She replied impatiently, “It’s just a break. Why so fussy?” As she said that, she stroked Frank’s face and continued, “Frank’s gonna be the CEO of both the Hawkins and the Morrison Group. He’s not like those sad sacks. Even if he can do nothing, people will swarm to work for him.” Then, she turned her wheelchair and took Frank’s hand. I couldn’t help but sneer at this shortsighted woman. Sparing myself the trouble of debating with her, I pulled Frank back. He was my nominal son, and I would definitely not give in even an inch in terms of his education. Unexpectedly, the pull was so hard that Karen fell onto the floor with a painful moan. Then, she covered her head and curled up on the floor. A trace of jealousy and hatred flashed in her gaze at me. All of a sudden, someone rushed to us while inquiring anxiously, “What happened? Why did you fall, Karen?” Then, a robust man strode to Karen and carried her in his arms. The terrifying expression on her face immediately switched to a delicate frown, tears rolling down her cheek. She muttered, “Roy, I just wanted to play with Frank and let him feel relaxed a little bit. He has been working on those math problems for more than an hour. But Gloria blamed me for spoiling Frank, and she just…” Meanwhile, Karen hugged Roy’s arm and sobbed. Roy’s face obviously dropped after learning the whole story and reprimanded me, “I know you’re a workaholic, but can you please spare my son? He’s only eight years old! Don’t brainwash my son with your creed of life and make him a robot!”
I calmly looked at Roy, the man I entrusted myself to. Although he was not a very ambitious or competitive man, he was born into a family as wealthy as mine with good looks. For people from powerful families like us, marriage was less about one’s true feelings but was more about the pursuit of maximum benefits. I had to confess that I didn’t love Roy very much, let alone treat him with tenderness and admiration. As the second son of the Morrison family, Roy had no advantage in the competition for the inheritance, considering his elder brother, Hank Morrison, occupied a rather important position in the Morrison Group, while his illegitimate younger brother, Alan Morrison, won the favor of the elders. So, pursuing me was his best choice. The Morrison family and the Hawkins family were respectively recognized as the most affluent families in the northern and southern regions of the country. As the only heiress to the Hawkins family, I had the undoubted right to dispose of my family business. At that time, our families were negotiating about a five-year cooperation in new energy resources, and Roy treated me so tenderly and never defied me during that period of time. Meanwhile, due to a disagreement with somebody, I married Roy in a fit of pique. Then, I stared at Roy coldly. “Frank will take over the Morrison and the Hawkins Group someday. You really think it’s good for him to grow up without any guidance or restraints?” “A spoiled heir will be very likely to ruin your family business that you take over from your forefathers,” I added. Roy wavered after hearing that. Just as he looked at Frank, who was still weeping, Karen cut in timidly, “Gloria, don’t be an alarmist. Taking a short break doesn’t mean Frank will be ruined. He is only eight years old. You can’t rob him of his childhood for money.” Then, she looked at Roy with pitiful eyes. “Roy, what do you think?” Roy lowered his head to show her a smile and put her back into the wheelchair. Then, he carried Frank with one hand and railed at me, “You really should learn how to be a tame woman like Karen. Be a good mother, and stop just talking about money all the time. You look impersonal.” Sneering, I glared at the loving family in front of me and retorted, “May I remind you that Frank is my son. An outsider like her shouldn’t have any right to intervene in his education, right?” After saying that, I provoked Karen with my eyes. Roy was terrified as he looked at Karen and shouted at me, “Watch your mouth, Gloria! Karen saved my life, and my son will be hers. It’s a warning—never call Karen an outsider ever again as long as I’m still in this family. You dare to say that again, and I will definitely make you regret it.” After that, he wheeled Karen out in her wheelchair with Frank. The joyful laughter leaped into the house just after a while. Standing on the balcony on the second floor, I saw Frank riding on Roy’s shoulders and Karen smiling with satisfaction, and sighed at the younger vision of me. If I hadn’t been so strong-headed, maybe Roy could have lived a happy life with Karen without me as their barricade. As Roy backed her, Karen became even more cocky. She stopped asking about my opinion and directly managed the family affair on her own. Watching Karen and Roy flirting, I even felt pity for them since they couldn’t just fuck in this very house. Karen ruined her life just for a hypocritical man like Roy. I wondered whether she was gonna regret this decision someday. As for Frank’s education, I could tolerate them looking after and playing with him, but I would always be at the helm of Frank’s cultivation. I told the vice president of the Hawkins Group to take care of all the unnecessary cocktail parties while spending my nights reading with Frank and telling him stories. Every summer and winter vacation, I would take Frank to top universities around the world and lead him to the world of academics. Meanwhile, I sent him to learn business administration regardless of the sky-high tuition fees. I could tell that Frank didn’t like my seriousness, but as he grew up and had a wider horizon, he started enjoying talking about life with me and sharing his unusual but wonderful thoughts. Every time I brought Frank out for more than half a month, Karen would bombard me with numerous calls, asking me to put more clothes on him or not to put strange foods in his mouth. Seeing Frank frowning at those calls, I asked him with a smile, “Frank, do you think that I have been too strict with you since your childhood and am not as gentle and caring as Karen?”
After pondering for a while, Frank said, “Mom, trees need help to grow upright, right? I am a man. I should work hard to learn so that I can contribute to the country and society like some of my predecessors. That is a meaningful life.” I patted him on the shoulder. He was surely the son of a great expert. Genetics was amazing. With the cultivation of me, Karen, and Roy, Frank grew up a hard-working and outgoing young man who outshone his peers among other wealthy families. At the age of eighteen, he successfully matriculated in the best engineering college in this country. Roy’s father, Teddy Morrison, held high expectations for Frank and gifted him twenty percent of the Morrison Group’s shares as encouragement. The funny thing was that neither Hank’s daughter nor son gained even one percent, not to mention he himself only held twenty percent of the shares. During the last eighteen years, Roy had established his status due to the investment from the cooperation of the Hawkins Group, enabling him to surpass his elder brother. Teddy nodded at every decision Roy made without blinking his eyes because he knew Roy got me behind his back. Even if there were something wrong, I would clean his ass with my own money. Those shrewd senior managers in the Morrison Group had already stood on Roy’s side and made Hank a figurehead of this company. Three years later, Frank graduated and returned home. On that very day, I showed him a four-hour video of the shit between his real father and real mother. Frank, staying mute for like a century, finally managed to utter, “Mom, what do you want to do?” I asked him really calmly, “Are you sure you can put aside their love and devotion to you for twenty years and turn to my side?” Thinking for a while, Frank said, “Mom, I know what I am doing. If he still has the slightest bit of conscience, I will do it softer.” I patted my son on the shoulder and smiled with relief. My little boy had grown up and become more sophisticated than me in some aspects. I knew he wouldn’t let me down. According to my suggestion, Frank soon interned at the Morrison Group. With the support and guidance of his father and grandfather, Frank tripled the corporate stock price. Facing such a big achievement, Teddy began to think about handing the Morrison Group directly to Frank. A couple of days before Frank’s twenty-fifth birthday, we had a family meeting. I proposed that I wanted to transfer all my shares to Frank and let him take over the Hawkins Group to enjoy my retirement. “I’m just a woman, after all, and I’m tired after working so strenuously for twenty years,” I said. Roy’s face was brimming with joy after hearing my decision. Then, I glanced at Karen, who sat in a corner. Her eyebrows raised as she was probably trying her best to suppress the grin on the corner of her mouth. Nevertheless, the excitement in her eyes betrayed her. Meanwhile, Teddy tapped his cane in deep thought. If Frank controlled the Hawkins Group, he would absolutely not be able to serve the Morrison Group anymore. After all, the Hawkins Group and the Morrison Group hadn’t been merged together. Teddy was very reluctant to see his grandson make another corporation thrive. Suddenly, he took my hint that I meant to merge the Hawkins and the Morrison Group into one and form a company mainly led by the old Morrison Group named the ZenithPlex Group. With Frank as its CEO, the ZenithPlex Group would rank first among all the companies in Zephyria. Teddy was thrilled at this conception. The Morrison Group would still be itself as Frank, his grandfather, took it over, while the Hawkins Group was totally wiped off in the business field. The Morrison Group would still thrive in Zephyria after merging with the Hawkins Group. Hank, however, opposed this idea, and I just acquired all his shares at a higher price to erase this trouble of my plan. Facing Teddy’s pressure, Hank finally surrendered and left in a rage with the money. Karen represented her deceased husband and approved my plan without hesitation. She said generously, “Alan passed away, and I don’t have any children. I always treat Frank as my own flesh and blood. I will count on him when I am old, so let this young chap have everything.” After discussion, we planned to hold a press conference on Frank’s twenty-fifth birthday to announce the merger of the Morrison and the Hawkins Group with Frank taking over this new company. People flooded into the press conference, and all the upper circle of Zephyria attended it, too. The whole place was brimmed with jealous exclaims and congratulations. From now on, the ZenithPlex Group would earn their admiration and be the most optional choice of their business partner. In the presence of lawyers, Frank walked onto the stage with all the shareholders’ trust and signed the contract of share transfer. Then, he gave an inaugural address. The moment he finished his speech, applause broke out in the crowd. Right after his speech, Roy wheeled Karen, who was rugged out at her best, to the stage. With Roy’s help, she managed to stand up with her feeble legs trembling and hugged Frank. She said excitedly, “My son, you finally grow up. May days of being forced to separate my child finally come to an end!” Then, she pulled out a DNA test she conducted twenty years ago and handed it to me in front of the cameras. “Gloria, you hated me because Roy cared about me, so you cooked up a car accident to kill Alan and disable me. You even took my son away!” Glaring at Karen, who was engrossed in a revenge drama, I was kind of surprised to know that she could still reduce her moral bottom line when it was already so low. Maybe that was why she was not religious because she wasn’t afraid to be punished by God when making those things up. Everyone was attracted to Karen’s story with sobs and couldn’t help looking back and forth at Roy, Frank, and me. Then, whispers quietly broke out. “What’s this all about?” said a person. Another murmured, “Frank is not Ms. Hawkins’ son?” “She robbed motherhood of the widow of Mr. Morrison’s younger brother?” someone chimed in. “But that young man is an adult now. If Karen reclaims her motherhood right now, Ms. Hawkins’ years of raising Frank will be in vain!” “Hold on. If Ms. Hawkins transfers her company to Frank now, she will have nothing left if Karen’s claim is true.” Meanwhile, Roy just said to me in disappointment, “Gloria, I know it was the shock of giving birth to a dead infant that drove you mad, making you regard Frank as your own flesh and blood. For two decades, Karen didn’t reclaim her son for you. Now, Frank has grown up, and he deserves to know who his mother really is.” I just stared at Roy, who seemed to be moved by his own lie. He and Karen must be the best work of Cupid as they were all gifted liars. Then, I glanced at Teddy, who awkwardly cleaned his throat and averted my gaze with his face turning to another side. Now, everything was crystal clear. The whole family tacitly approved Roy’s plan to borrow my uterus and even helped with it. No wonder none of them doubted why the widow of an illegitimate son of Teddy could still stay in the family. They used me to cultivate a qualified heir and boost their family business. What a nice plan. Unfortunately, it would have been even nicer if I hadn’t keenly discerned it years ago. I could have had every drop of blood drained by those vampires and been kicked out of the Morrison family, suffering bullying and insults every day. Showering in people’s astonished eyes, I smiled at Frank and asked, “Frank, what about your opinion? Recognize Karen as your real mother and kick me out of this family, or treat me as your mother, considering my effort for your achievement. Which one will you choose?”
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