A Life Debt Repaid novel (John and Cordy)
Chapter 496

Cordy had trouble asking to take Dicky away, even if John already arranged for it.

Deciding to come to a compromise, she asked, "Can I visit him often, like I did before?"

Alan didn't have anyone else around him now.

His son and daughter-in-law died years ago, Jay's fate was still unknown after his accident, while John was now arrested pending trial. Only his daughter Nancy and Nancy's daughter Cora were still at his side after Nancy secretly divorced Ivan York, who had long since left Levine Manor.

To think a big family like the Levines, who once embodied splendor and nobility, would suddenly be in pieces...

Alan had heard Cordy, but he didn't answer for a long while, leaving Cordy a little bitter and crestfallen.

She certainly didn't have the ability to take Dicky away, just as her conscience and morals stopped her from doing so. That being said, Dicky was her son, and she couldn't pretend that he didn't exist or stay away from him for too long.

Suddenly, Alan said, "Take him with you."

Cordy did a double take, thinking she had misheard.

She looked up at Alan, and saw a glimmer in his eyes-the glimmer of compromising with what life brought.

Even if he was already seventy and confined to a wheelchair, he remained healthy and spirited, just as he was elegant and imposing. She didn't think that the day would come when life had him beat, since she was convinced that even if age wore him down, his spirit would always remain staunch.

"Dicky will live with you from now on," Alan repeated.

"What about you?" Cordy did not say no-because she could not.

Moreover, if Alan made that choice, he must have given it due consideration.

"I've lived long enough, and it's time I let go," he said somberly. "I once desired and demanded too much, and my family had flourished as I foresaw it would...but nothing good came out of years of autocratic leadership. Maybe I was mistaken from the start."

There was no doubt about it.

For a great man to say something like that, he had well and truly succumbed to fate.

Even as Alan continued, his eyes seemed to well with tears. "I was the one who sent John's parents abroad for a business discussion, and they'd neve have died in that accident if not for me. I was the one who stubbornly denied Jay a relationship with Zoe, which was why he had that accident. If only I could set aside pride and prejudice to let Zoe stay with us, Jay would've been content with staying in the manor. So much tragedy could have been avoided."

"Jay's situation had nothing to do with you..." Cordy tried to assure him.

Alan simply shook his head, claiming responsibility for all sins.

"And now, there's John. If I didn't stubbornly force him to marry Jessica Stuart and supported him instead, he wouldn't have to resort to such radical efforts to have his engagement annulled." Cordy didn't know what to say, because Alan was well and truly being crushed under the pressure of life. He aged decades in a split second.

"I'll travel abroad and stay with Jay while he's being treated. That leaves Nancy and Cora, so I'd be leaving most of Levine Ventures' affairs in Nancy's hands. She might not be able to manage, however, since her focus had never been in business..."

Alan sounded indifferent, as if he suddenly did not care about an enterprise as grand as Levine Ventures, while appearing more open-minded now. "And if Nancy could not keep things going, I'll liquidate Levine Ventures. No more fame or glory-we'll be mortals once again, and there just might be less tragedy."

When one lacked ambition, wealth, fame and influence were a lot less important.