Pampered by my three brothers: the return of the neglected heiress novel Chapter 823

Chapter 823: You’re a cop?

"Let him learn from his mistake and don’t punish yourself and the rest of your family just because of your son. Auntie and Sofia were innocent. Don’t punish them."

A tear slowly rolled down Stephen’s cheek without him realizing it, while his eyes remained fixed on Slater. A large lump formed in his throat, his lips quivering as he heard the words he already knew which he had been shunning because of the situation.

It wasn’t like Stephen didn’t know that. It was just that perhaps he needed to hear it from someone else.

Who would have thought that someone else would be Slater Bennet? The little fool of the Bennet family—the one Stephen would least expect to say such honest, yet kind words.

Stephen clasped his hair, resting his elbow on his leg, weeping quietly. "I can’t just abandon my son. I know what he did was wrong, and I don’t want to condone it, but... how can I just let him be, when he’s all alone in there? My son is foolish and easily manipulated; he’s not kind, but... he isn’t a bad person."

"No one’s born bad," Slater whispered, his sharpness and unforgiving look softening as he watched his uncle break down. "But in the end, we... have to keep living because of the people in the present and future."

For a while, Slater remained quiet, allowing his uncle to gather his thoughts. He knew Stephen was a prideful man, but for him to break down in front of anyone meant a lot of things. Slater wouldn’t lie if he said he didn’t pity the man.

Although Stephen was a troublemaker and one of Atlas’s headaches, he hadn’t done anything other than question Atlas about everything. He never tried to sabotage Atlas, nor had he ever done anything that would harm the company.

In other words, Stephen had always fought fair and square. It was a shame that his son turned out the way he did. Because at the end of the day, Stephen might not have been the most affectionate and had a traditional way of parenting, but he was still a father. A parent would always be a parent; he wasn’t that so heartless as to abandon or turn his back on his kid.

’If anything, he’s still a lot better than us,’ Slater thought, keeping his lips pressed tight. ’Because even if he knew Sven had done it, he wanted to do something for him as a father. Even when there was no hope, he still wanted to save his son. We, on the other hand, just abandoned Penny and made ourselves feel better by saying she deserved it for doing such a cruel thing.’

Slater looked away, swallowing the tension in his throat and calming his breathing so as not to shed a single tear after being reminded of the past. When he managed to hold his tears back, he slowly refocused on Stephen’s figure.

"Even if I change my mind now, there’s no stopping them," Stephen sniffed, wiping his face with his palm. "They’re watching me. Once I tell them I’m backing down, I don’t know what they’ll do to me. But I’m sure they’ll eventually silence me! They’re scary people, and I don’t know what to do anymore. I felt like I’ve been trapped in this corner and the only way I can breathe is if I listen to what they say — to what he says."

Stephen paused, exhaling a jagged breath. "Slater, I beg you... please don’t tell anyone about this."

"He’s already in state prison." _{freeweɓnovēl.coɱ}