My Son Wanted His Fathers Last Name and They Cried When I Agreed Chapter 08
Every member of the Carter family froze in shock.
Nathan and Ethan rushed forward, each grabbing one of my arms.
“Mom, you’re joking, right? How could you give everything to her? You have to be lying to us!”
At the funeral, they’d each held one of Walter’s arms to support him.
Now they were gripping my arms as they interrogated me.
I wrenched myself free. “You can’t have it both ways. When you chose to leave the Bennett family behind and take your father’s last name, you also chose to give up your place in the Bennett family
trust. You don’t get to keep going after what belongs to the Bennetts.”
“You’ve lost your mind!”
Nathan finally dropped his polished facade. He swept an arm across the memorial table, sending
everything crashing to the floor.
Ethan glared at me. “Nathan and I are the Bennett family’s male heirs. If you leave the estate to a woman, she’ll just marry some guy and hand it all over to him. What’s wrong with you?”
By then, I’d already seen the worst of the Carters in both brothers. Nothing they said could shock or
disappoint me anymore.
“I don’t care if my heir is a man or a woman. All that matters to me is the Bennett name.”
Nathan and Ethan fell silent.
They’d insisted on changing their last name. They’d even gone behind my back and done it before
telling me.
They simply hadn’t expected me to take it this seriously.
When Linda realized she couldn’t sway me, she dropped to the floor and began wailing.
“This is outrageous! You rich people are bullying a poor family! You shameless woman ruined my
son’s life for more than twenty years, and now you’ve schemed to leave him penniless! You’re
evil!”
I ignored her and looked at the two sons my parents and I had once cherished.
“There are still some things I need to clear up. You’ve always claimed your father suffered because
of the Bennett family. Today, I’m going to tell you the truth.”
Walter knew exactly what he’d done all those years. Afraid I’d expose him, he quickly cut me off.
“How much longer are you going to humiliate me, Evelyn? Haven’t I spent enough years being
eated like a cuckold?”
I shot him a cold glare. “Claire was already a year old when you married me. I hid my past from you, but after we met, I never got involved with another man. Watch what you say.”
“I admitted what I’d hidden and apologized. I also told you I wouldn’t stand in your way if you
wanted a divorce. That was my answer then.”
“And after all the money the Bennett family spent supporting the Carters over the years,
you’ve been more than compensated.”
Walter’s face flushed, his features twisting with rage.
“What money? My family never spent a cent of the Bennetts‘ money!”
He still wanted to deny it?
I let out a humorless laugh and began listing every incident.
I’d say
“When Nathan turned one, you took all twenty thousand dollars he’d received at his first birthday party. You claimed your mother was sick, then went home and never returned a cent.”
“I knew even then that she wasn’t sick. You used the money to pay for your oldest brother’s
wedding.”
The people around us were stunned.
“Twenty thousand dollars twenty–one years ago? That was a fortune.”
Walter’s oldest brother flushed and quietly slipped behind the crowd.
Linda stopped crying and stammered, “You’re lying! I was sick! You were responsible for paying
your mother–in–law’s medical bills!”
I didn’t argue. I moved on to the next incident.
“The year Ethan was born, you claimed your family’s old house had collapsed. Bennett
Manufacturing was struggling at the time, but Walter begged my father for money to rebuild it. My father felt sorry for him and gave him twenty–five thousand dollars.”
“The house never collapsed. That money went toward your second son’s wedding and a new home.”
Walter’s second brother lowered his head without saying a word.
Linda continued to deny it. “That’s bullshit! The old house did collapse. My second son paid for his own wedding and bought his own home!”
alter said weakly, “That’s right. Stop making things up.”
I took a deep breath. “All of this can be verified. There’s no point in denying it.”
“My parents gave us money every month, and Walter secretly sent at least half of it home to support the Carter family. Did you really think I didn’t know?”
“I kept records of every dollar you took.”
Now that everything was out in the open–and Walter knew I had the records–he finally lost his
composure.
“I accepted your family’s marriage terms! How was that any different from joining a spouse’s family under their conditions? My family was struggling. What was wrong with your family helping
them?”
“You knew we were poor when we got married. At least I didn’t deceive you the way you deceived
me!”
Even now, he couldn’t resist attacking me.
I scoffed. “If you’re admitting that you married into my family, just as a woman traditionally marries into her husband’s family, then you should also understand that the children were supposed to take my last name.”
“Then how do you explain encouraging them to change their last names?”
Walter faltered, unable to produce an answer.
Nathan and Ethan were still angry with me, so they defended him.
“We decided to change our last names ourselves. It had nothing to do with Dad. If you want to blame
someone, blame us.”
I clapped my hands. “What a touching display of devotion between father and sons. Fine. Then let’s
talk about you two.”
“You said your father suffered all these years because he was always the last to eat, the last to receive his holiday money–and supposedly got the smallest amount—and had to stand outside during the annual family memorial service.”
“Let me tell you why.”
“He ate last because he didn’t want to help cook. He always disappeared before meals and came
back right when the food was ready.”
“He did get his holiday gift last, but everyone got exactly the same amount. Believe it or not, that’s the truth.”
“And no one forced him to stay outside during the memorial service. He thought the ceremony was boring and exhausting. He kept saying he wasn’t a Bennett and didn’t belong inside, so he insisted on waiting by the door.”
Everything I said went against what Nathan and Ethan had always believed.
In their eyes, their father had been an honest, hardworking man who had endured years of
mistreatment.
Now I was telling them he was a lazy, greedy parasite.
They couldn’t accept it. They looked from Walter to me, no longer knowing whom to believe.
Walter refused to admit anything.
“What proof do you have? You think you can turn my sons against me with this? They know what
kind of man I am!”
I snorted. “Of course they do. They’re exactly like you. None of you ever thinks you’re the one at
fault.”
“Other than keeping it from you that I had a child before we married, my conscience is clear. And I
repaid that debt long ago.”
“Throwing a tantrum won’t change anything. Walter, I’ll wait for you to agree to the divorce.
Otherwise, we can stay trapped like this until one of us dies.”
With that, I took Claire’s hand and led her back to the front of the room.
“Go ahead. Once the attorney completes the trust announcement, the ceremony will be over.”
Claire obeyed and lowered herself to her knees.
Ethan suddenly rushed forward and yanked her back to her feet.
“No! I won’t accept you as my sister. You’re not a Bennett!”
I shoved him away. “You’re the one who isn’t a Bennett anymore. Don’t forget–you were the one who demanded to change your last name.”
Ethan’s chest heaved with fury, but he couldn’t come up with a single word to argue back.
I signaled to Great–Uncle Henry Bennett.
The Bennett relatives pulled the Carters away and held them back, giving Claire the chance to complete the final part of the ceremony.
As she finished her third bow, the Carters‘ furious shouts nearly shook the rafters.
Nathan shouted himself hoarse.
“Evelyn Bennett! Are you really going to take this so far? I’m giving you one last chance. Choose Claire or choose Ethan and me!”
“Think carefully before you answer. Once you make your choice, there’s no turning back!”
He still believed that two sons would always outweigh one daughter.
That was why he dared to force me to choose.
Everyone held their breath and watched me, waiting for my answer.
I remained silent for so long that Claire took an anxious step back.
“Mom, I don’t want to make this difficult for you. They’re your children too. I can go back to living the way I did before.”
Someone who truly loved you would never force you to choose.
At that moment, there was nothing left for me to consider.
“I choose Claire.”
