The Disowned Heir's Revenge

Chapter 1

Reflecting on the countless humiliations he had endured in the past four years, Manuel Rodriguez had little affection for his wife, Penelope Sullivan. Manuel knew about Penelope’s infidelity but he never let it bother him, though it did at first.

It was laughable that, as a live-in son-in-law for four years, his wife had never even allowed him to hold her hand. They had always slept in separate rooms, or rather, Manuel had always slept in the boys quarters but he never complained.

Manuel was no different from a maid.

Manuel had finished working for the day and picked up extra bunch of flowers to give to an old lady out of courtesy.

He went over to the maintenance shop to offset his bills and claim his rickety motorbike.

Manuel had given the flowers to the old lady who just happened to live in the next neighborhood after where his wife’s company was situated. He rode all the way, opposite his wife’s company and stopped for a moment as something or rather someone caught his rapt attention.

Manuel Rodriguez saw his wife walking out of the Sullivan Group building, arm in arm with a man.

“Harry, why are you back so suddenly?”

“I finished my business abroad and missed you so much. As soon as I returned, I came straight to find you…” As he spoke, Harry Armstrong had already impolitely groped Penelope’s buttocks.

“Harry… People might see us,” she chuckled. “You were abroad for so long and still remember me. I suppose you have a bit of conscience…”

The two walked arm in arm, intimately entering the Crystal Sky Hotel next to the Sullivan building.

Knowing about his wife’s infidelity was one thing but seeing it for himself was on another whole level.

It made him question his worth.

Manuel decide not to go home yet, parked his motorbike conveniently and began taking a stroll to clear his head.

Recalling the past four years, Penelope had never smiled at him, she always maintained an icy demeanor. Manuel had long understood that Penelope didn’t love him, but she was still his wife in legal sense. He never expected such a repulsive debauchery to lie beneath her aloof façade.

He couldn’t help but show a trace of self-mockery.

Endless anger, regret and pent-up emotions kept assaulting Manuel as he tried to maintain his cool and let it all out. At this point, he had strolled for several hours as nightfall had come.

Manuel screamed all loud into the night, trying to release the scary emotions that was threatening to engulf him. Soon, he felt better and decided to return home before the Sullivans make a fuss about him not arriving on time to make them dinner.

Manuel Rodriguez calmly returned home and was met with his belongings at the door.

A bit confused as to what was going on, he tried opening the door but it was futile. He kept knocking and knocking but no one responded. Not long after, he heard a mocking laughter coming from the front balcony. He stepped away from the door so he could tell whoever was there to let him in as the cold outside was threatening to kill him.

He caught sight of his mother-in-law and brother-in-law sneering at him from the balcony.

“What’s going on? The door is locked and my things are outside.”

His mother-in-law, Mary, quietly examining her nails said, “Yes the door is locked. We don’t welcome thieves into our home.”

Thieves?

Manuel had a puzzled look on his face as he couldn’t understand what Mary said.

“Oh, don’t act all surprised. My sister came home to a missing document. An important one to be precise and only you have access to her study when you clean,” his brother-in-law, Henry said with a smug smile.

Manuel was still confused, “I don’t have any idea of the document you’re talking about. Let me see my wife.”

Mary grinned, looking gleeful, “Now that’s where you’ve got it all wrong, boy. She has sent you the divorce papers, they should be on one of your bags and besides she’s too busy trying to create another contract.”

That was when Manuel noticed a file on one of his bags.

He picked it up to examine it and brought out the divorce papers with Penelope’s signature on it and an empty space waiting for his.

Manuel knew from the look on the face of his in-laws that they framed him. But what could he do? His wife didn’t even love him so what makes him think she’d believe him over her own parents?

Manuel Rodriguez was brought into the Sullivan family by Penelope’s father after saving his life and then handed his daughter’s hand in marriage to Manuel. But sickness took Mr. Sullivan a tad too early, shortly after their wedding and with no one to stop them, the Sullivan’s tried to inflict every possible pain in their own way on Manuel but he never once complained.

Knowing there was nothing to gain in such a loveless marriage, Manuel picked the pen in the file and signed it without any struggle and placed the file and the papers on the porch.

Seeing that Manuel signed without thinking twice, the mother and brother were a bit surprised as they expected him to grovel and beg.

Manuel picked up his bags and wandered off into the streets without any idea of where he was going.

At least he was a free man now…

He thought to himself.

Manuel settled on the sidewalk with his own thoughts and finally picked up his phone that had been ringing with the same unknown number for days now.

“Sir, the Rodriguez Enterprises is in great trouble especially with the passing of your father last week. His last wish was that you come take his place in the company. Please come home to deal with it,” the person on the other line said.

The Rodriguez was the most influential family in Colburn. At first Manuel had been the rightful heir.

But four years ago, somebody in the family wrongly accused him and claimed that he had embezzled the company’s funds. Therefore, his identity as their heir was eliminated.

Having the same surname with the Rodriguez, everyone else thought it was just a coincidence. Otherwise, how could a pauper like him belong to such a family even influential people could only dream of?

“Bullsh*t! The truth is that I have nothing but twenty dollars in my pocket. The family needs financial support. What’s the point of looking for me?” Manuel frowned.

“Sir, I’m begging you now. Please come back and help us! Didn’t you purchase some stocks of gold mine four years ago? Recently, information spread that there’s a great amount of gold in that mine. Now the stock of that gold has increased tremendously!”

“Now the company’s funding has been cut off and we need your help immediately. Otherwise, the whole family is ruined!”

Manuel furrowed his brows.

He seemed stunned. During that year, he did invest tens of millions of dollars on that gold mine. It was also the reason why they claimed he had embezzled the company’s funds and was disowned.

The next moment, Manuel swiftly fished out a black blank card. That card had been abandoned for four years.

He soon contacted the 24-hour customer service hotline requesting that they check the balance in his account.

The person on the line sounded shocked, voice faltered for a moment, “Sir… the balance in your account is so tremendous that it’s been locked away for safety purposes. I couldn’t check for you given my position. I’ll go and apply for it now. May I call you back in a short while?”

“No problem,” Manuel hung up at once.

He immediately burst into laughter in the eerie and quiet night.

He invested in that just for fun. He never expected such a huge surprise.

Manuel didn’t even know how much he owned now.