Twisted Ties of Love

"You're such a handful!"

Suddenly, Casey stood up, shouting to Bunny Dempsey, who was bustling in the kitchen, "Mom, Dad just said something nasty about you."

Beck Dempsey softened his attitude immediately when he heard Bunny's name, gritting his teeth and muttering, "When did I ever insult your mom?" "You called me a handful; isn't that basically talking about my mom?"

Bunny walked out of the kitchen just in time to hear Casey's words. She went straight up to Beck and slapped him across the face.

"So you're saying that I gave birth to a troublesome child with you?"

Beck was left dazed by the slap, taking a while to comprehend what was going on and feeling like there was something off about the conversation. "Honey, I didn't insult you."

"You dare to talk back!" Bunny gave him another slap.

Beck, nursing a throbbing head and looking utterly miserable, felt his dignity crumbling away at this family gathering, with the children and the servants all present.

Beck always listened to Bunny. The only thing he could do in such situations was to suck it up. But he couldn't stand Casey's smug expression any longer. He was his father; why would his own son embarrass him like this?

"Casey, you're such a stirrer!"

Casey gave a nonchalant smile and said, "Mom, dad just called me a stirrer. If that's true, then what about everyone else at this table?"

Bunny gave Beck a hard kick in the leg, saying, "Shut up, it's dinner time!"

"I'm done talking." Beck winced, clutching his leg. As he reached for a fork and knife to eat, his hand was swatted away by Bunny.This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

"Casey and Brett haven't started eating yet!"

Beck muttered under his breath, "I'm the man of the house."

"Well, the man of the house can sleep on the couch tonight." "No, honey."

Brett was the only non-Dempsey at the table, and the last place he wanted to be was with the Dempsey family.

The atmosphere of the Dempsey family filled him with envy. He grew up in the cold Windham family, witnessing the brutal deaths of his parents at a young age, which became his childhood nightmare.

His grandfather's indifference and selfishness, along with the sudden appearance of an illegitimate child, made him despise everything about the Windham family.

On the other hand, Casey was

incredibly fortunate. Not only did he

receive his parents' love and care, but he also managed to win Izabella's affections. He didn't understand why all the good things

in the world seemed to favor Casey.

This was Brett's third time visiting the Dempsey family. If it wasn't for Izabella, he probably wouldn't have come at all.

Bunny placed a piece of roast meat in Brett's bowl and said, "Brett, eat up. Don't be shy; make yourself at home."

It had been a long time since Brett had heard the word "home". He stared blankly at the piece of roast meat in his bowl. "Thanks, Bunny."

"No problem." Bunny took care of Brett, feeling a bit guilty towards him. After Brett's parents died, she didn't really look after him. She was well aware of the situation in the Windham family but was too afraid of her father to go home. S

She owned a portion of the Windham family's inheritance shares, which should have belonged to Brett. However, she had signed a deal with Nathaniel Krueger earlier, trading her shares for Casey's five years ago.

Casey was stolen shortly after his birth. The news that the child they had raised for eight years wasn't their biological child nearly drove Bunny to a breakdown. She fell ill and almost didn't make it.

So when Casey finally came home, she lavished him with even more love. Unfortunately, they hadn't seen each other in over twenty years.

On top of that, Casey's cognitive development issues in the past fifteen years, although later resolved, had caused his emotional connections to become very faint.

To prevent him from feeling alienated from the family, they hired a hypnotist to make him believe he had been abroad for heart treatment.

"Casey, can you stay a few more days this time? Mom hasn't seen you in so long." She was on the verge of tears.

Casey looked at the roast meat in his bowl, unsure of how to respond.

In his memory, his family was real, but he couldn't feel any familial love. It was as if he was an orphan.

He could feel his family's affection for him, but he rejected it. Only Izabella stirred in him the urge for closeness and touch. Thinking of Izabella, Casey shook his head and said, "I've been swamped with work lately; I need to get back."

"Is that so?" Bunny lowered her head, looking a bit disappointed.

Seeing this, Beck chimed in, "What's so urgent that you have to rush back? Don't think I don't know that you've dropped your recent schedule to prepare for a movie. Also, you've been hanging out with a female star recently. Let me tell you, you can date freely, but you need your mom and me to approve your marriage. Don't bring some unreliable woman back home."

Casey frowned. "Are you investigating me?"

"If a father cares about his son's life, is that considered investigating? You really have no sense of propriety." Beck looked a bit embarrassed and turned his head away from Casey.

"Let's not talk about this for now. You guys called me yesterday, saying it was a family gathering. If it's a family gathering, why is Brett here?"