Chapter 428 - Trusting
For the sake of her life, Hilary Stone agreed to Finn Taylor's request. She would do as the latter said.
The man chuckled and pretended to believe her on the surface, but he was clear that someone like Hilary Stone would never pledge loyalty to anyone.
She was a traitor through and through.
Everyone knew how her own husband had died.
Speaking of which, Finn Taylor couldn't hold in his curiosity. "Hilary Stone, since you've said that you'll do as I say, you better answer me truthfully. Otherwise, I won't trust you. Remember that I'm only giving you one chance."
"Alright, ask me whatever you want to know. I'll tell you as much as I know."
"It's simple. Why do you hold a grudge against the Larson family?"
"The Larson family?"
"You can pretend to be stupid if you really want to die. I already know what you've done. I just want to see if you'll tell me the truth. If you dare to lie to me, you can wait to die."
"Fine, fine. I'll tell you everything. It's nothing much, really. We were all starving at that time and had to beg on the streets for food. Our family still had some rations that would tide us over for some time. Even though it wouldn't have saved us all, it was better than nothing. The Larson family that everyone thinks so highly of is nothing more than scum! They took advantage of the fact that they had more people than us and stole from us!"
"Eventually, my family was killed, and I was one of only two or three survivors. Of course, even those two others eventually starved to death. I was the only one from my family who survived. Do you know how much I hate the Larson family? It was from then that I swore to myself that I would definitely take revenge against the Larson family and kill all of them."
"So? What was your plan? Why don't you tell me what you've done thus far?"
"Don't you already know what I've done? Do you really need me to explicitly say it?"
"I don't know. I want you to tell me about it; I chose to trust you. I'll feel like you're hiding something from me if you refuse to tell me about it."
"Nonsense! I've nothing to hide. Actually, I didn't do much. You know that I married the youngest son of the Larson family too. Then, I deliberately seduced my husband's second and third brothers and let my husband realize that I was having affairs with them. That turned the brothers against each other, and my husband's two brothers eventually killed him."
"Are you saying that your husband was killed by his brothers and that you have nothing to do with it?"
"I know I have no evidence, but you can choose to believe me if you want. It's true that I wasn't involved in his death. Of course, you don't have any evidence even if you don't believe me."
"Fine, I believe you. Go on."
"I initially wanted to kill Francis Larson's family too, but I realized that he was an intelligent man. I don't know if you've realized, but he's way scarier than one would imagine. He's really the most impressive amongst the four sons of the family."
Finn Taylor's curiosity was piqued. 'I used to look down on Hilary Stone, but there's much more than what meets the eye. To be honest, I only recently realized that Francis Larson is so impressive. He's kept it hidden from me for the past three years, but Hilary Stone knew this from the start?'
"How did you know that from the very beginning? Go on—I want to know more."
"Alright, I'll continue. Ever since I realized that Francis Larson was actually talented, I came up with a plan to form an alliance with his two younger brothers to fight against him. I thought that we would definitely be able to win since it was three families against one, but reality proved me wrong."
"Francis Larson was much more impressive than I had ever imagined, and we weren't his match at all. Even after so many years, we've only been able to level the playing field; we haven't been able to win. It seemed like my plan for revenge wasn't going to succeed with the second generation, so I turned my target to the third generation—you, Yvette Larson, and Quince Larson."
"What do you mean? What did you do to make the Old Master give up on the second generation and choose his successor from the third?"
The Larson family weren't fools. They couldn't have just done as Hilary Stone said.
Even if Hilary Stone wanted the Larson family's heir to be chosen from the third generation, the Old Master wouldn't have agreed to her suggestion. He was a resolute and stubborn man who would never listen to others.
"Well, that was simple. I just had to make the Old Master find out about my affairs with his sons. That way, the entire second generation was ruined."
"I don't understand. It should've only been his second, third, and youngest sons who were excluded, so why was my dad excluded as well?"
"That's because the Old Master wasn't the only one who caught us in the act—your father did too. That meant that he couldn't become the family head."
"I don't understand. Hurry up and explain it to us."
"Finn Taylor, I never thought you'd be so stupid. Alright then, I'll explain it to you. The answer is simple: Since the two brothers knew that their elder brother knew of their secret, they would definitely be afraid of him. If he were to become the family head, his brothers would surely find a way to kill him to carry their secret to their graves.. As such, the Old Master could only make a decision to choose his successor from the next generation so as to protect his sons."