The Sweet Rival (Mango Shen and Nathaniel Ye)
Chapter 1008

"That's it?"

Mango had thought that Kolton would entrust something else to her, but little did she expect that it to be merely a funeral arrangement.

Kolton smiled rather indifferently.

"That's all I want to say. I have experienced a lot of ups and downs in my life. I don't think that I've lived my life in vain because I found someone I loved, and I've also survived through so much hatred. I married Marissa, and both of us will still be together in the next life. So, I won't be lonely after death as she'll be with me."

There was a trace of happiness in Koiton's eyes when he said these words.

On the other hand, Mango didn't know how to feel.

Kolton had obviously made enemies out of everything.! However, Marrisa was an exception as he was a good husband to her.

He had constructed a retreat island for Marrisa to let her live a happy and healthy life up till the moment. Although she was unable to become a mother, she was blessed because she was loved by such a man who would do anything for her.

"Alright, I promise you that. However, how can you be sure that Marrisa will commit suicide for you? Won't you send someone to kill her instead if she wants to stay alive?"

"If she wants to continue to live, please send her away to somewhere where she can start all over. She can't live on her own without my help and will not live any longer, so it won't take much of your time. I only hope that you won't hate her because of me. She's innocent."

Suddenly, a trace of grief flashed through Koiton's gaze.

He had always wanted to provide shelter for Marrisa throughout his life. However, he never expected that he couldn't keep his promise in the end.

Mango fell silent. This meant that she would accept Koiton's dying wish.

The reception room was quiet for a moment. However, the atmosphere in the room was somewhat tense because of the silence.

Kolton sighed and said, "Don't you want to know what's the secret that I'll be telling you in exchange?"

"Just say it if you want to. It's up to you."

Mango suddenly felt that everything else was meaningless.

Kolton was dying soon due to the laws governing him. Regardless of what he had done before, they would be even once he had been executed.

After all, he was also Nathaniel's uncle. As the daughter-in-law of the Ye family and also Sisi's sister-in-law, Mango felt that she could reclaim his body for the sake of his affection towards Marrisa. Hence, she had stopped inquiring about the secret.

Once again, Kolton signed and at her, "Mango, you're indeed kind. Also, you're a good woman, but you're not suitable to become the daughter-in-law of the Ye family. If Nathaniel hadn't been protecting you all this while, you would have died long ago."

Mango sneered in reply, "Heh. Are you trying to tell me that Marrisa is suitable to become the daughter-in-law of the Ye family?"

"No, so I decided to shield her away from all the drama that happened in the family. Hence, I decide to commit all these cruel actions with my own hands."

After hearing Koiton's reply, Mango didn't know how to retort him.

"It's a bit too late to question whether I'm suitable or not. After all, I've already married into the Ye

family."

"You're right. Although you're not suitable to be the daughter-in-law of the Ye family, I kind of adore you."

"Please don't. It's better for you to adore Marrisa."

After all, Mango didn't want Koiton's affection at all.

Kolton laughed happily in relief at her response.

"When Sisi gives birth to her baby later, never tell her that she had such a grandfather. Just assume that I had never existed. When I was rich, I never showed her any warmth even though she was my daughter, so her children literally don't need to know much about my death."

Mango suddenly felt slightly upset for Sisi.

"I'll pass on the message to her, but I can't guarantee that Sisi will listen to it."

"Sisi really has a different personality than her mother. I used to regret sending her away right when she was born. However, it seems like I've made the right decision. If Laney brought her up, nobody knows how she would turn out to be now."

Mango frowned slightly after hearing what Kolton said.

"What's wrong with Laney?" "Haven't you found out about Laney's real

intentions yet?"

Kolton looked at Mango and smiled, "The secret I want to tell you is that Laney is not a decent person."

"I don't need you to remind me about this since it's not a secret. If that's all you want to say, then let me excuse myself first."

Just as Mango was about to stand up, Kolton said, "Don't you know that I have an adopted son called Bernard?"

"I do."

Mango stopped and turned around to glance at Kolton while answering him.

"Well, they completely shut down my company and killed all my men So, are you not curious about how he managed to survive, even though this happened to me?

Mango and Nathaniel were once curious about this question, but they couldn't find anything suspicious about Bernard. Thus, they could only take some precautions. However, now that Mango heard what Kolton was trying to say, she realised that this was the secret that Kolton wanted to tell her.

Hence, she returned to her seat and sat down again.

When Kolton saw this, he knew that she was interested in his secret.

He sighed and said, "I was too conceited. I always thought that Laney wouldn't make any trouble under my control. However, I never expected that she would use her body to bribe the guard that was in charge of bringing her food. As you know, besides a few servants and Marrisa on the island, the rest of the servants are basically all men. As they stayed away from the crowd, they were desperate for women. Despite being disfigured, Laney was still a woman. I had neglected this matter, which created a loophole for her."

Mango said nothing and continued to listen quietly.

Kolton paused for a moment and said, "The guard used my system to do a lot of things, and he even helped Laney to look for her relatives. I never knew about this matter as I adopted Bernard by accident. Normally, I would adopt a child at a young age directly from the orphanage. In this way, they would feel grateful for my upbringing and spare no effort to help me. However, Bernard was a different case. He was the kid who appeared all of a sudden when my enemy suddenly ambushed me when I left the island on a mission. He then took a bullet for me on that day. Well, I can't exactly call him a kid since he was already 17 years old at that time."

"At that time, Bernard almost died. It took me three days and nights to save his life. I sent someone to investigate his identity, but my investigation results showed that he was merely an orphan, and his parents were both dead. He had been mingling around the casino or bar for years as a sidekick and collected some extortions. To be honest, I didn't want to keep him close to me, but I had to treat him better as he had saved me. Hence, I sent him to the base for training and gave him a company to operate by himself."

"I initially thought a 18-year-old child wouldn't know the way to deal with these things. However, Bernard was talented in this field. He actually had the real knack to manage the company. Thus, I started putting high expectations on him at that time. Then, he had become my adopted son naturally and worked for me. However, I never thought that all this was too much of a coincidence. After all, how could a nobody like him know when my opponent wanted to assassinate me? It was even more impossible for him to arrange where to stand before me in advance to take the bullet, and I thought that he would value his own life at all. Hence, I still lost to Laney as she was more vicious than me."

Mango's brows instantly furrowed after hearing his words.

"Are you saying that Laney was the one who arranged anything?"

"Yes, I found out that Bernard was Laney's nephew before I was arrested!"

Mango was extremely shocked when she heard Koiton's words.

Although she assumed that there Laney and Bernard had a connection, she never expected that they would be related this way!

Kolton knew how shocked Mango was to learn about that secret merely from her expression.

"Are you surprised? They were actually nephew and aunt! Laney used the guard to find her relatives, but unfortunately, her brother, sister- inlaw and both parents all passed away, and they only left a nephew behind. Consequently, she asked the guard to take some money to assist Bernard and even told him to risk his life to get great wealth. That's the reason why Bernard saved me. He naturally became my adopted son and took over my business, but Laney was secretly manipulating him so that he could launder the money. I was arrogant all my life, but I didn't expect Laney to ruin me. Otherwise, you, Queena, and also Nathaniel couldn't possibly destroy my base!"

Right now, Kolton was still very conceited.

Mango did not manage to listen to his last few words, but she was only thinking about what he had said.

"Did you say that Laney secretly controlled Bernard so that he could launder money through your business? How could this be possible? You are such a shrewd person. Even if he's capable enough, it shouldn't be easy for him to do something under your nose, right? Well, unless there is someone more powerful than you supporting him. Did Laney find this powerful person to help them out as well?" "Not really. Bernard was the one who managed to do this. I was trying to find out when he made a connection with the third Prince of Angolla. How could he even use the prince's power as his own too? Otherwise, do you think that Bernard can manage to launder my property only with his own ability?"

Mango was stunned once again after hearing Koiton's words.

Angolla?

Wasn't that Lebanon's country?

Things seemed to be getting even more complicated!

"You said that you knew that Laney had schemed against you before you got caught. When did that happen? Was it the time when I was on the island?"

"Yeah. To be exact, Laney was the one who had set the fire that had caused your parents' death. Although Queena really didn't want to stay alive anymore, and she wanted to die with your father, Laney had started the fire before she could do anything."

Koiton's words shocked Mango.

"What? How could this be possible?"

"Do you remember that Laney ran away before? My people were looking for her everywhere, but she was nowhere to be seen because she was lighting the fire at that time! She wanted you to hate me, and she wanted to divert everyone's attention from her so that she could escape herself. Unfortunately, her plan had gone astray because she still failed to escape."

Upon hearing Koiton's words, Mango's brows furrowed even deeper.

"She didn't manage to escape, but she met a fool like me. Not only did I not do anything to her, I even brought her back to the Ye family and arranged her to meet Sisi!"

"Well, I guess you finally realized your mistake, huh?"

Kolton looked at Mango and said in a low voice, "I'm about to die. As the saying goes, when a man is near death, he speaks from his heart. Mango, you must be on your guard around Laney. Otherwise, you'll regret it."

After he said this, it appeared that the visiting hours were over. Though Kolton had not finished his words, there was no time left for him.

Mango's heart suddenly sank when she saw the prison guards taking him away.

Laney was Bernard's aunt, and the latter had managed to amass such great wealth because of her! Would he definitely try his best to satisfy Laney's demand then?

Did that mean that Bernard had sent someone to harm Nathaniel secretly under Laney's instructions?

Mango was suddenly shocked by this thought.

Right at that moment, her phone abruptly rang, and Mango started trembling all over due to fright.