By the time Abel arrived, the rest of his family members were already gathered at the Ryker Mansion. He first bumped into his aunt, Julianna Campbell in the living hall.

Julianna had a sly, sideways smile as she greeted her nephew. "I knew you'd get into trouble sooner or later…" she muttered under her breath.

Abel caught every word despite her whispering and turned around to give her a sharp look. However, Julianna was still an elder of the family and a woman too, so anything he said back to her would be considered disrespectful. Abel swallowed his words and gave her an unpleasant frown instead.

Rosaline, who had also heard what Julianna said, walked up to her in a huff. "Julianna, don't think I didn't hear you. Was that really necessary?"

"Well, I was only speaking the truth," Julianna countered. "Always remember, what goes up must come back down eventually. Just look at the state of your family! Emmeline is dead, and now Abel's gay! Levan Mansion is in disarray, and you won't even let me talk about it? What a joke!"

"There's nothing wrong with Levan Mansion," Rosaline fumed. "We're doing great! You're just jealous of us, Julianna."

"Tsk tsk tsk," Julianna pursed her lips. "You're getting ahead of yourself now. You were doing great when Emmeline was still around, but now? I'm sure you know where you stand."

Rosaline was so furious she could barely speak. To a certain extent, Julianna was not wrong. Nothing had gone well for the family ever since Emmeline's incident, and now they had to deal with the repercussions of Abel's gay scandal. How could she not be worried?

"That's enough!" Oscar Ryker bellowed as he made his entrance into the room. "The lot of you better listen up!"

Rosaline and Julianna eyed each other fiercely before taking their respective seats. Abel sat next to his parents with an unreadable expression on his face. Still angry from their previous argument, Lewis ignored Abel's presence, while Rosaline tried to minimize interaction with her son too. Why would a proper adult man take a liking to another man and embarrass his parents like that? What was wrong with a nice girl like Evelyn Murphy?


"Mom," Abel whispered to Rosaline. "It's not what you think…"

"Hmph!" Rosaline made her disapproval clear as day. "It's too late for you to say anything now. The whole of Struyria have already made their judgment. Tell me, how are you going to live out your future days? I've already warned you about Emmett, but you refused to listen to me when I told you to stop hanging out with him. Are you happy now?"

"Firstly, that's my prerogative…" Abel insisted. "…and it's not as complicated as it sounds."

"Just get rid of Emmett and publicly announce that you're dating Evelyn! That's the only way to salvage whatever's left of your reputation!" Rosaline hissed.

"I told you I'm not doing that," Abel asserted. "I'll handle this myself. The both of you don't need to worry."

Beside him, Lewis only grew more furious with his son. Rosaline quickly calmed him down by soothing his chest, helping his breathing.

















"Abel Ryker!" Oscar boomed. "You know why we're gathered here today, don't you?"

"Mhmm," Abel nodded. "Crystal clear."
The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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