Pampered By My Three Brothers: The Return Of The Neglected Heiress - Chapter 735

Chapter 735: It’s not you who they wanted to begin with
The next day…

Stephen sat across from his son, studying the haggard look on Sven’s face. They only had a few minutes together, but half of it passed in silence. Sven wouldn’t meet his father’s eyes, keeping his gaze down. His expression was blank, the life in his eyes dim.

It was the same for Stephen.

‘Did they… did those people also ask you to do this for them?’ wondered Stephen, suspecting that someone had pushed Sven into doing what he had done. ‘And now that you’re here… or was this their plan all along? To rope you in all of this?’

Stephen might not be as clever or innovative as Atlas, but he was sharp enough to piece things together. The people who’d approached him last night had dropped him off at home without laying a hand on him. Yet Stephen couldn’t sleep, their offer weighing heavily on his mind.

He had spent the night thinking, questioning, assuming.

And now, he’d reached a conclusion.

‘Those people… whoever they are…’ Stephen let out a sharp breath. ‘It wasn’t you who they wanted, Sven. It was me… who they needed to do whatever plan they have.’

If their goal was to remove Atlas from the scene and force him to step down, Stephen was the natural choice to approach. After all, he was Atlas’s biggest competitor. Not Sven. People only compared Sven and Atlas because they were around the same age and the chairman was biased. But in reality, Stephen was the one who’d likely take Atlas’s place if he ever faltered.

‘They approached my foolish son… because they knew it was the one thing that could make me reconsider their offer.’ Stephen mentally laughed bitterly, grasping the entirety of the scheme that had played out behind the scenes. ‘What a wicked thing to do.’

Stephen huffed once again, leaning back and fixing his eyes on his son. “You bastard…” he hissed. “Did you really attempt to kill someone?”

Before this, Sven would have quickly defended himself or begged his father’s forgiveness. But now, he remained silent, showing no reaction.

“Sven, you are a disgrace to this family.” Stephen placed a hand on the table between them, pushing himself up. “I don’t have a son who is a murderer.”

Still, Sven didn’t react, making Stephen clench his fists.

“Sven Bennet, I now disown you,” Stephen declared through gritted teeth. “The lawyer I hired is the last thing I’ll do for you. But don’t expect me — or even your mother — to visit. You’re not my son anymore, so don’t think of me as your father.”

Sven gave no response, even to those harsh words.

“Tch.” Stephen scoffed and strode off without looking back. “What a fool and a disappointment. I’m ashamed to even call you my son.”

As for Sven, he kept his head low, but tears fell from his eyes as his father walked away. If only he knew what his father was planning or that the same people who put him here had reached out to his father, he would have tried to stop him.

After all, Sven had already experienced firsthand what it was like to be involved with those people. He’d only been locked up overnight, but he regretted letting his anger cloud his judgment.

Those people hadn’t forced Sven to join them, nor had they told him to push Allen down the stairs. But they’d cornered him until he felt he had no choice but to commit more crimes to escape.

“Hah…” he whispered, resting his head on his handcuffs on the table.

—

Outside, Stephen pinched the bridge of his nose as he left the station. When his car pulled up, he gulped nervously. Unlike last time, he checked the backseat carefully before getting in, relieved to find it empty. Once he was inside, the driver sped away from the station.

“Ahem!” Stephen glanced at the driver, who had been with him the previous night. “Last night… where did you go?”

The driver looked puzzled as he glanced in the rearview mirror. “I went home, sir.”

“You went home?”

“Yes, sir. You asked the officer to tell me you’d be staying at the station longer and said I should go home first,” the driver explained, glancing back at Stephen in confusion. “Didn’t you say that, sir? I thought you told the officer to pass the message along.”

Stephen pressed his lips together, studying the driver’s expression. “No, no. I’m just… asking. I did ask someone to do me a favor.”

The driver sighed in relief and smiled, clearly anxious about possibly mishearing the message the previous night. After all, it was unusual for Stephen to tell him to go home early. He had worked for Stephen for years and knew Stephen wasn’t usually so considerate.

But maybe Stephen was changing a little.

What the driver didn’t know was that he was mistaken.

Stephen turned to look out the window, exhaling heavily. ‘An officer approached him?’ he wondered, remembering the words the man from last night had spoken.

“We’ll ensure a not-guilty verdict for Sven Bennet.”

“Hah…” he exhaled quietly, his tense shoulders relaxing slightly as he recalled the look on Sven’s face earlier. Even though Stephen had been harsh, he had done it to keep Sven from getting involved in something darker. Moreover, no one would suspect or anyone would think that Sven had something to do with Stephen’s plans if he had disowned him.

‘Once he’s free, I’ll take him away — him and the rest of my family — far from here,’ he resolved, knowing it was the only real option left.

With that thought, Stephen cleared his throat to get the driver’s attention. The driver glanced in the mirror, seeing Stephen point toward his own ear.

“Ah, right.” The driver nodded, putting in an earplug to give his boss the privacy he needed.

Once he was certain the driver couldn’t hear him, Stephen took out his phone and dialed the last number in his contacts. After a few rings, someone picked up.

“I’ll do it,” he announced quietly, but decisively. “Just keep your end of the bargain, and I’ll do whatever you want.”