Chapter 1344 Shameless Joseph
After like ten seconds of awkward silence, Isabella finally croaked out, "You're right. I can't just blame it all on the drugs. What I did was seriously messed up. But when I told Olivia to kidnap Sophia, I made it clear she wasn't to hurt her, just scare you a bit. I never thought she'd actually harm Sophia."
Isabella looked super regretful. Honestly, she was pretty dumb back then.
Thank God Declan saved Sophia; otherwise, she'd be living with that guilt forever.
Cassie’s brow furrowed for a sec before she went back to her poker face. "So what? Can you erase the trauma Sophia went through? You know, the first time I saw you at the restaurant, I had a hunch you were my mom. But you didn’t recognize me. The more I wanted a mom, the more crushed I felt."
"I'm sorry." Tears streamed down Isabella's face.
Isabella really didn’t want to think about what she did to Cassie at the restaurant.
Cassie took a deep breath. "You don’t need to apologize. If you hadn’t mistaken your daughter from the start, you probably would’ve treated me well. But I’ve been hurt too much, so stop saying it was the drugs. I used to tell myself that too."
Cassie sniffled hard. She thought she was over it, but talking about it still made her throat dry.
"You’ll never get how far Robert and Helen pushed me, locking me in a dark room, feeding me spoiled food, freezing at night without a blanket, no water, almost dying. I can’t forget how angry and desperate I was when they killed my grandma. I finally got them locked up, and what did you do?"
Her eyes, blazing with anger, swept over Isabella, Everett, and the others.
Some things, even if she let go, would always be scars on her heart.
Everett looked totally ashamed. "I... I'm sorry. I thought they were innocent back then."
"Innocent?"
Cassie laughed bitterly. "Is the judge in Madison an idiot? If the evidence wasn’t solid, would they be in prison? Yeah, you were used, but what did I do wrong? I just wanted a peaceful life. Since you showed up, I’ve been living on edge, walking on thin ice."
"Olivia’s family is like this shadow I can’t shake off, a huge weight on my shoulders. I can't even sleep well. I’m always scared you'll hurt my kids. I keep thinking if I should take my kids and dad and start over in another country."
"David and Olivia are the worst nightmares of my life. They killed my grandma and friends, but my mom went all out to help them. How do you expect me to forgive that?"
Her hoarse shout echoed in the room.
Everyone went silent.
Even Isabella closed her eyes, letting the tears fall.
She really couldn’t imagine how tough Cassie’s life had been all these years.
Isabella didn’t protect Cassie and kept making her suffer.
After a long pause, Isabella spoke in a raspy voice, "You're right. I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but can I make it up to you?"
Isabella looked at Cassie cautiously. "I wanted to give the Hernandez Group back to Joseph, but he didn’t want it. I want to give it to you, and since Joseph is your boyfriend, you can run it together."
Cassie was stunned.
If it were any other company, she might've blown it off, but the Hernandez Group was Joseph's baby.
She glanced at Joseph. "Why didn't you take it?"
"She dropped a ton of cash to buy it. What right do I have to just take it? We’re not even married yet." Joseph looked at her with those sad puppy eyes.
Cassie was speechless, thinking, 'Wait, does that mean he’d take it if we got hitched?'
But she was also kinda pissed. "Why didn’t you take it? It’s your blood, sweat, and tears, and the Hernandez family’s legacy."
She knew exactly how much effort Joseph had poured into the Hernandez Group. All his dreams were tied up in it.
"Cassie, my family sold their shares fair and square, and so did the other shareholders. If I take over the Hernandez Group, it’d be like Isabella handing me billions for free. Isabella’s not my mom. But if I were her son-in-law, that’d be a different story."
Joseph chuckled. "I can run the company for my wife."
Cassie was silent.
She really couldn’t stand Joseph’s shamelessness. He was always angling to make her his wife.
The serious vibe in the room got all weird because of Joseph.
Declan cleared his throat. "Then Cassie, you take it. We’re based abroad and don’t have time to manage the Hernandez Group. Plus, the Hernandez family still holds thirty percent of the shares. Joseph being the chairman makes sense."
"Nope." Joseph shook his head. "I’ve been booted from the Hernandez Group twice. I really don’t want to go back. And I’m not planning to dive into work right now. I wanna get married first."
Declan’s mouth twitched. "You sure? Don’t wait too long to start your career, or you might find it hard to get hired later."
Cassie almost laughed. She had to admit, Declan’s words were pretty sharp.
She looked up and agreed, "Yeah, you’re not getting any younger, unlike me, still in my prime."
"No worries. The girl I’m chasing is loaded. Worst case, I’ll just mooch off her in the future." Joseph grinned. "Even if she really doesn’t want me, I’ve got savings. I’ll just keep chasing her till we’re both old."
He stared straight at Cassie. Under everyone’s gaze, Cassie, who was feeling pretty down, now felt her face heat up.
The tension in the room eased, but Isabella was feeling all sorts of mixed emotions.
Declan gently held her shoulder and said, "Cassie, your mom really doesn’t have time to manage the company. The doc said she needs to focus on her treatment. How about letting Joseph’s mom run the Hernandez Group? Mabel was the VP before. As for the shares, they’ll go to Oliver and Sophia. Like it or not, that’s the deal."
Isabella instantly brightened up.
Oliver and Sophia were Joseph and Cassie’s kids, so it was a solid plan.
Cassie frowned. She really didn’t want to take anything from Isabella.
"You can refuse, but you can’t stop a grandma from giving her grandkids an inheritance," Declan added casually.
Cassie looked at Declan for a while and couldn’t help but think Isabella really lucked out with him—wise and generous.
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