All Chapters of Jackson Hart: The Student Billionaire : Chapter 421
- Chapter 430
443 chapters
Chapter 422: The Break!
“You know what, Mother,” Celestine said, her voice a flat, quiet lake over a churning depth. She had pondered over everything and had decided on what she had wanted.“I need a break.”Elara’s hand fell. Her eyes narrowed, but not in hurt. In rapid, icy recalculation. This was a minor revolt. A temporary lapse. A crack in the weapon to be welded over, not a break in the blade itself. She’d seen this before, in smaller doses. Celestine always came back, chastened and more focused. The world outside their gilded cage had nothing real to offer her.“A break,” Elara repeated, the words laced with dismissive venom. “From your destiny? From the war we are fighting for your future? Don’t be petulant. You can rest when you’re sitting in that chair.”But Celestine was already moving toward the foyer, her steps disconnected, as if she were a ghost in her own life. “It’s not a request,” she stated, without turning. She picked up her simple, worn leather satchel—a relic from her Sullivan days, h
Chapter 423: The Prodigal Daughter!
The moment the question dropped, Celestine found herself looking into her tea, seeing not the leaves, but the twisted strands of her own life, double-helixed with ambition and expectation."I…" she began, her voice a fragile thread. "I love systems. The way things fit together. The… the logic of it." She glanced at the photo of him at the microscope. "In the lab, it was the genome. A code. A broken code meant disease, suffering. A mended one meant… life." She took a shuddering breath. "Then came the tragedy that took my friend Isabella. It was arson, and in that moment my life changed.""What else?" Old man Miles asked, as he could see through Celestine that there was still more layers of the story she was telling."I later found out that the Sullivans were not my real parents and that I was an O' Connor. At first I never wanted that identity, I never wanted to be dragged into the mess of the empire which I had witnessed during my days as a benefaciray if the Hart's Scholarship Found
Chapter 424: Ambition wrapped in Selfishness!
"She is hurting, Hailey," she said quietly, her eyes still on the screen where Samantha was now laughing charmingly with a student. "She's taking all that pain, all that humiliation, and she's forging it into a new weapon. A public one." Lorraine added."By endorsing the man who is trying to undermine everything Jonesboro and Stones are doing to keep the Sect in check?" Hailey shook her head in disgust. On screen, the segment ended, cutting back to news anchors who murmured about "a surprising and influential new voice entering the political fray." The image of Samantha, confident and reborn, lingered in the room.Lorraine finally looked away from the TV, meeting Hailey's furious gaze. "She's choosing a side. The most powerful side she knows. She couldn't beat Evans, she couldn't handle the quiet, messy truth of what we're doing here. So she's gone back to where the power is, and she's making herself indispensable to it." Lorraine's voice held a deep, sad resignation. "The old Saman
Chapter 425: The Seed Takes Root!
That same night, Celestine couldn't sleep. The roses outside Old man Miles cottage seemed to be too noisy that she had to wake up.Needing air, she slipped from the narrow bed and padded out to the cottage’s small living area. A sliver of light shone from under the study door. Surprised, she pushed it open gently.Old Man Miles was there, bathed in the soft glow of a green-shaded desk lamp. He wasn’t reading. He was sketching, a piece of charcoal moving with a surprising, delicate certainty over thick paper. He looked up, his glasses catching the light.“Couldn’t sleep either?” he asked, his voice a soft rumble in the quiet room.“I… the roses are loud,” Celestine said, the whimsical truth feeling right in this space. She stepped closer. “I didn’t know you were an artist.”Within the few years that she had known Miles, she never knew he could draw a straight line without a ruler but here he was sketching like a skilled artist.“A dabbler. The hands aren’t as steady as they used to be,
Chapter 426: The Nexus Medical Facility!
The sterile, hushed atmosphere of the Nexus medical facility was broken by the soft, shuffling sound of hesitant footsteps. Andrew led the way, while the others—James, Hailey and Nancy followed behind.It had been nearly a week since they'd last visited Jackson—a week consumed by the fallout of Samantha’s betrayal, and the grim business of survival. The guilt of neglecting their friend in his most vulnerable state had become a leaden weight in each of their chests.They filed into the observation anteroom, a space of soft light and quiet hums. Ruth was there, standing beside Gilbert, both of them listening intently to Dr. Aris, who was pointing to a series of neural scans on a wall monitor.The group’s entrance was tentative, but Ruth turned at the sound. The weariness that seemed permanently etched around her eyes lifted momentarily, replaced by a warm, genuine relief. She wasn't the imposing figure from the boardroom here; she was just a mother, glad to see her son's chosen family.
Chapter 427: A Hidden Layer!
Gilbert drove for forty-five minutes, leaving the city’s glittering sprawl for the quiet, tree-lined streets of a suburban town that time seemed to have forgotten. The house he parked two blocks from was modest, with a well-kept garden and lace curtains in the windows.He approached not from the front, but through a series of back alleys and neighboring yards, moving with a silence that belied his size. He entered through the unlocked back door of a garden shed, crossed a small, neat lawn, and tapped a specific rhythm on the kitchen door.It opened immediately. An elderly couple stood there, their faces etched with a worry so deep it had worn grooves into their skin. Martin, a retired history teacher with gentle eyes now clouded with fear, and Irene, his wife, whose hands twisted anxiously in her apron.“Gilbert,” Martin breathed, ushering him inside quickly. The kitchen smelled of chamomile tea and anxiety.Gilbert didn’t sit. He stood with his back to the counter, his presence maki
Chapter 428: More Than A Pledge!
After the others had left, the quiet in the medical suite deepened, settling like a blanket over the hum of machines. Ruth, having seen Andrew’s car pull away from the monitor, felt the day’s fragile hope begin to fray at the edges, worn thin by Gilbert’s cryptic departure and the sheer, exhausting weight of waiting.She needed to see her son. Not as a leader or a strategist, but as his mother.Pushing the door to his room open softly, she expected the sterile silence of a lone patient. Instead, she found a different kind of quiet—a watchful, tender one.Bella was still there. She’d pulled a chair so close to Jackson’s bedside that her knees almost touched the frame. One of her hands rested lightly on top of his, her fingers not gripping, but simply present, a point of gentle contact. In her other hand, she held a paperback, but it lay open and forgotten on her lap. Her eyes were fixed on Jackson’s face, tracing the slow, steady rise and fall of his chest, studying the faint flicker
Chapter 429: Echoes in a Quiet Town!
The need for air, for a semblance of normalcy, had become a physical ache for James and Nancy. The constant, low-grade dread of the clinic, the tension around Ruth, the ghost of Jackson in the bed—it was a atmosphere that seeped into the bones. So that Saturday, on an impulse fueled by desperation for sunlight and silence, they packed a small bag and drove out of the city.They chose a small, picturesque town known for its antique shops and walking trails, a place where history was about love stories, not corporate warfare. The latest report from Dr. Aris had been a tiny lantern in the dark: Jackson’s neural pathways were lighting up. He was on the journey back. They could allow themselves this brief escape, holding that hope like a warm stone in their pockets.They had requested if Hailey and Andrew would love to join, but they had declined, stating that they had other plans for the weekend.That didn't come as a surprise to James at all. It was typical for lovers to always plan th
Chapter 430: Our Miracle Arrived!
“James,” James said, shaking her hand, feeling the same long, elegant fingers Jackson had. “And this is Nancy.”“So, you’re not from here originally?” Nancy asked, trying to sound casually curious."No," Ella replied. "I grew up a couple of hours away. My parents—Martin and Irene—they’re here now, retired. I came back after college. This place… it feels like roots, you know?”She smiled, but a faint, almost imperceptible shadow flickered in her eyes, the same thoughtful, slightly distant look Jackson got when contemplating a complex problem.They kept the conversation light, skimming the surface. After about twenty minutes, Ella glanced at her watch. “I should probably get going. I promised my mom I’d help with dinner. She’s attempting her ‘famous’ meatloaf, which is famous for all the wrong reasons,” she said with a wry grin that was pure Jackson.“Of course,” James said, standing quickly. “We’ve taken up enough of your time. Thank you, really. It was a pleasure.”“The pleasure was m
Chapter 431: The Artist's Compass!
Back at the guest house, the weight of the afternoon settled around James and Nancy like a fog. The cheerful floral wallpaper and lace doilies felt like a stage set for a simpler life they’d just punctured.Nancy dropped her bag by the door with a sigh that was more shudder than breath. “Well. That was… a thing. We came for a break, and we found a living Hart family portrait.” She turned to James, her expression pleading. “We should go home tomorrow, James. We got what we came for—air, quiet. That… tour… it’s not our business."James was standing by the window, looking out at the quiet street, his artist’s mind churning. “Are you sure about that?"He turned, his eyes alight with that specific intensity he got when a composition was revealing itself. “Nancy, that girl… Ella. I don't know why I just can't help but feel like there's something about her that you know..."Nancy folded her arms, a playful glint in her eyes that didn't quite mask a flicker of genuine, silly worry. "You kno