My Son’s Potential Brides and My Revenge

I had my only son, Jensen Selway, late in life. So, I treasured him from the moment he was born. Jensen was sickly and could not afford to overexert himself. To protect him, I found eight potential brides for him and raised them as my own. I sent all eight to elite schools, paid for their education overseas, and once they came of age, brought them into Selway Group for training and development. But when they grew up, all eight women fell in love with the housekeeper’s son, Joshua Crowe, and gradually began neglecting Jensen. Even Quinn Jolliffe, the one I had pinned the most hopes on, secretly slept with Joshua and became pregnant with his child. To force me to accept Joshua, they went to the hospital together and had themselves sterilized. Quinn slapped eight sterilization certificates down in front of me. “Dad, they have had sterilization surgery. And I have also made an appointment. If you refuse to accept Joshua and the baby I’m carrying, you’ll never have grandchildren to inherit the family fortune.” I was completely dumbfounded. “My fortune naturally goes to my biological son. What do these eight outsiders have to do with it?” I thought. I did not want Jensen to be hurt, so I quickly arranged a marriage for him. Three months later, Jensen blushed as he took his wife’s hand. “Dad, I really like the woman you arranged for me. She’s already carrying my child.” Chapter 1 When I got home, my son’s eight potential brides and the housekeeper’s son, Joshua Crowe, were all gathered in the middle of the living room. Quinn Jolliffe stood at the front, leaning against Joshua’s shoulder. Her loose dress could no longer hide her four-month baby bump. The other seven women stood on either side of Joshua. When they saw me walk through the door, they all straightened up. My son, Jensen Selway, sat alone in the corner of the couch, his eyes bloodshot and his expression grim. I hurried toward Jensen, but Quinn stepped forward and blocked my way. “Dad, please don’t blame Jensen. I was the one who rejected him. I’m pregnant with Joshua’s child, and he’s the one I love, so I won’t marry Jensen.” Mandy Hewitt supported Quinn by the arm. “That’s right. The seven of us have thought this through. Joshua is the man we all love. “Quinn just happened to be the first to get pregnant with his child. We won’t fight her over her place. From now on, we’ll all take care of Joshua and the baby together.” After Mandy finished speaking, the others nodded along. I scoffed. “Eight women are fighting over a housekeeper’s son, and somehow, they’ve even managed to turn it into a display of sisterly affection,” I thought. Joshua looked at me with teary eyes. “Mr. Selway, the girls have already argued many times because of me. I don’t want to see them keep fighting. “Jensen has had everything since he was little, while the girls are the only ones who care about me. Please, Mr. Selway, let us be together.” Upon hearing that, Jensen could no longer hold himself back. He stood up, pointed at Joshua, and lashed out. “You live in my house and spend my dad’s money. Now, I’m supposed to even give you the girls?” Quinn pulled Joshua into her arms and glared coldly at Jensen. “Shut up, Jensen! Joshua is more sensible and kinder than you. Shouldn’t you ask yourself why all eight of us love him?” As Jensen stared at Quinn in disbelief, she pulled eight surgical records from a document folder and slammed them onto the coffee table. “Dad, you don’t need to keep pressuring us. I've already booked a sterilization procedure for after my pregnancy. All seven of them have already been sterilized. From now on, none of us will have another child besides the one I’m carrying.” Mandy, Naomi Townsend, and the others all showed me their surgical records. Quinn stroked her belly with a confident look. “The child I’m carrying is your only grandchild now. She can take the Selway name, and you can give her ten percent of the company’s shares. I’m still your eldest daughter, and I’ll continue running Selway Group.” I looked up and fixed my eyes on Quinn. “My eldest daughter?” Quinn nodded as if she were stating an obvious fact. I sneered. “I have a biological son. Why should I hand over the company to you?” Quinn scoffed. “Jensen can’t even read a financial report. Do you really dare hand it over to him?” Jensen grabbed my sleeve, his knuckles already white. Quinn glanced at him and, as though she were doing him a great favor, began planning his future. “I know you can’t bear to give up on Jensen, and I won’t really abandon him, either. “Joshua will be my husband, while Jensen can stay by my side as my lover. I’ll buy him a house of his own and support him for the rest of his life.” Jensen snapped his head up, but Quinn wore an entirely matter-of-fact expression. “Haven’t you always wanted to be with me? You may not be my husband, but you’ll have everything else.” I grabbed my cup and smashed it on the floor beside Quinn’s feet. “Are you expecting my son to be your side piece?” Quinn stepped back to avoid the shattered porcelain and frowned. “Dad, why do you have to put it so harshly? Though the child I’m carrying is Joshua’s, she’ll also be the heir to the Selway family. Jensen can still stay by my side. Isn’t that the best of both worlds?” I raised my hand and slapped Quinn across the face. “Who does she think she is, trying to make my son her lover?” I thought. Quinn’s head snapped to the side from the slap, and the other seven women stepped forward in unison. I pointed at the front door and bellowed, “Get out!” As the bodyguards dragged all nine of them outside, Quinn covered her rapidly swelling cheek and shouted at me. “Go ahead and keep up that tough act! Once the Selway family runs out of daughters or grandchildren, you’ll come begging me!” The front door slammed shut. Jensen bit his lip and kept silent. I patted his shoulder and asked, “Do you still want Quinn?” He closed his eyes and replied hoarsely, “No, I don’t want any of them anymore.” I called the youngest daughter of the Fitzpatrick family. “I accept the marriage arrangement you mentioned before.” After hanging up, I messaged my secretary, Blake Elmore. [Freeze all the cards belonging to Quinn and the other seven, and take back all the houses and cars the Selway family has provided them. Notify them that they’re to attend a meeting at the company at 9 a.m. tomorrow.] Chapter 2 Early the next morning, I had barely pushed open the conference room door when I saw all eight women sitting in their seats. Quinn sat with her legs crossed, twirling my signature pen between her fingers. When Mandy and Naomi saw me walk in, they even exchanged smug glances. Apparently, not one of them believed I would actually fire them. Quinn stood up and pulled out the chair at the head of the table for me. “Dad, you’ve had all night to cool off, so you should be over your anger by now. As long as you accept Joshua, we can pretend yesterday never happened.” I did not take the seat. Instead, I pushed eight termination notices across the table. “Effective immediately, all eight of you are terminated from your positions at Selway Group.” Quinn’s hand froze on the chair back. Meanwhile, Mandy picked up the paperwork and flipped through two pages. When she looked up at me, her smile was gone. “Dad, this joke has gone too far.” Naomi pushed the paperwork back toward me. “You’re throwing away the entire company just because we refused to marry Jensen?” I chuckled and replied, “I just don’t want any of you anymore.” When Blake came in with several employees to collect their computers and access cards, Quinn pressed a hand over her laptop, her expression turning cold. “It may be easy for you to throw us out, but getting us back won’t be so simple.” I gestured for Blake to continue. As an employee pulled the laptop out from under Quinn’s hand, she slammed her palm against the table. “Dad, don’t push this too far!” Mandy, Naomi, and the others gathered around her. “The eight of us are responsible for half of Selway Group’s core projects. Are you really going to throw all eight of your daughters out just for one son? “You only favor Jensen because he’s your biological son, but could he really keep a company this large running by himself?” I swept my gaze coldly over their arrogant faces. “Are you finished? If you are, then get out.” Quinn stared at me for several seconds, then suddenly smiled. “Fine.” She grabbed the termination notice and tore it in half right in front of me. “The renewable energy project in the eastern district is worth 2.7 billion dollars, and the person in charge at Fitzpatrick Group will only work with me. If we lose this project, Selway Group will take at least a one-billion-dollar hit.” Quinn tossed the torn pieces of paper into the trash. “Dad, we’re grateful that you took all eight of us out of the orphanage. But we’re people, too, not property you bought for Jensen. You raised us for more than twenty years, but that doesn’t mean you can control us for the rest of our lives.” She patted her lower belly. “Besides, I’m already carrying his child. The other seven have been sterilized, too. The harder you make things for us now, the harder it’ll be for you to back down later. When you want grandchildren someday, you’ll still have to rely on the child I’m carrying.” Quinn led Mandy, Naomi, and the others to the door, then turned and pointed at my chair at the head of the table. “You’re getting old. If you won’t rely on a daughter like me, are you really going to depend on Jensen, that good-for-nothing?” The pen in my hand snapped in two with a loud crack. I had first met the eight of them at an orphanage twenty years ago. All eight children had been crammed into a single room, each one thinner than the next. Quinn was the oldest, but even at eight years old, her arms were as skinny as sticks. She clutched half a bread roll, but she could not bear to eat it herself, so she broke it into pieces and shared it among the younger girls. I brought all eight girls home to the Selway residence. I had doctors nurse them back to health, prepared new clothes and bedrooms for them, and hired the best teachers to educate them. On their first night at dinner, Mandy was afraid she would never get to eat stuffed biscuits again, so she secretly stuffed two into her pocket. Six-year-old Jensen saw what she did, but instead of laughing at her, he had pushed his own cake toward her. That night, Quinn had been too afraid to turn off the lights, so she sat alone in the corner of her bed, clutching a pillow. Jensen came running in with his teddy bear and placed his favorite night-light on her bedside table. The next morning, Quinn held Jensen’s hand and made me a promise. “Daddy, from now on, I’m Jensen’s big sister. I’ll protect him for the rest of his life. If anyone dares to bully him, I’ll fight back for him.” The other seven girls also gathered around Jensen and eagerly made their own promises. “We’ll all protect Jensen!” Since they had broken their promise, they naturally had to be punished. I released my grip on the broken pen and ordered the HR department to review the eight women’s financial transactions and hiring records over the years. Two hours later, the HR director rushed into my office with a stack of documents and told me they had not only transferred a substantial amount of company assets, but had also arranged jobs at Selway Group for some of Joshua’s relatives. I picked up a red pen and drew a line through every name, from the first to the last. “Terminate all seventeen employees and recover all wages and expense reimbursements they received in violation of company policy.” As soon as the termination notices went out, messages from Quinn began popping up one after another. [Dad, you’re even going after Joshua’s family?] [Reinstate everyone now, then I’ll go back and sign the project contract for you.] [If you really offend Fitzpatrick Group, don’t come crying to me for help.] I turned off my phone and picked up the contract. “Isn’t she convinced that Selway Group can’t even land a 2.7-billion-dollar project without her? I’ll show her exactly who Selway Group belongs to,” I thought. Chapter 3 I went to Fitzpatrick Group by myself. Lionel Fitzpatrick, the chairman, shook my hand and assured me, “Fitzpatrick Group is partnering with Selway Group, not Quinn Jolliffe.” The contract for the project Quinn had held onto for three months, intending to use it as leverage against me, was successfully signed that very evening. After the person in charge was replaced, the finance department went back through the old accounts. As soon as they looked into the three suppliers managed by Joshua’s uncle, the numbers stopped adding up. The audit department worked through the night, tracing the money trail. More than six million dollars in kickbacks over the past two years all led back to Quinn. I had the legal department seal the evidence and told Blake to continue recovering the Selway family assets registered in the names of all eight women. When I returned to the mansion that evening, a set of car keys landed at my feet. “Dad, you’ve gone too far!” Quinn stood in the middle of the living room, and the other seven were all there. Joshua sat on the couch, with several suitcases that had just been removed from the mansion piled at his feet. He immediately teared up when he saw me walk through the door. “Mr. Selway, my relatives have watched me grow up. How are they supposed to make a living now that you’ve driven them out of the company?” I ignored him and looked at the security guard stationed by the door. “Who let them in?” The guard instinctively replied, “Miss Jolliffe and the others have always—” “Starting today, you’re fired.” Quinn kicked the chair beside her aside. “Why are you taking your anger out on a security guard? I’ve lived here for twenty years. Do I really need your permission to come back?” Mandy tugged at her jacket. “Why are you taking back our mansions? Quinn is pregnant. Can’t you be a little more generous?” I pointed at the keys on the floor. “The deeds are in Selway Group’s name, and the cars are registered to the company. Do you really think you own the place just because you’ve lived there for a few years?” Mandy was left speechless, but Quinn scoffed. “Fine, go ahead and take it all back! You have the money to reclaim the house and the company, but let's see if you have the guts to kick all eight of us out!” Mandy and the others smiled smugly when they heard that. “Dad, none of these tactics will work on us. “Aside from the child I’m carrying, you’ll never have another grandchild for the rest of your life. “With Jensen so sickly, there’s no guarantee he’ll ever have children.” Joshua glanced at Quinn’s belly, then looked at me with an aggrieved expression. “Mr. Selway, we just want to give the baby a legitimate place in the family. I can leave with Quinn and the baby if you really dislike me. When you miss the child someday, Quinn can bring her back to see you.” Quinn pulled Joshua into her arms and said gently, “Why should you leave? You’re not the one who should be backing down.” She looked toward Jensen’s bedroom. “Jensen has been making a fuss for days. He should’ve come to his senses by now. Have him come downstairs to apologize to Joshua, and I can keep taking care of him.” I sneered. “Jensen is busy getting to know his fiancee and doesn’t have time for you.” Quinn’s smile froze for a moment before she scoffed. “Dad, everyone knows Jensen has wanted to marry me since he was little. How could he possibly be interested in anyone else?” Quinn turned to leave, but I immediately ordered the guards to shut the door. “You can leave, but everything the Selway family bought for you stays here. You’re not taking a single thing with you—not your clothes, shoes, watches, jewelry, any of it.” A vein throbbed at Quinn’s temple as she stared at me in disbelief. “You’d even claim our clothes?” “Of course. I paid for all of them. If you refuse to return them, I can call the police.” Quinn, Mandy, Naomi, and the others all fell silent. In less than ten minutes, the couch was covered with clothes, shoes, luxury watches, and jewelry. The eight women, once pampered as members of the Selway family, could only change into old clothes that the butler, Anton Whitford, had found for them. Mandy, wearing an ill-fitting dress, shouted at me with red-rimmed eyes. “Dad, do you really have to humiliate us like this?” My voice did not waver as I replied, “No one is humiliating you. I’m simply taking back my belongings.” Quinn gritted her teeth and pulled Joshua along. “Let’s go. When Jensen comes crying and begging me to come back, I’ll make him return all these things himself!” I spotted the blue diamond watch on Joshua’s wrist, walked over, and snatched it off. Joshua let out a startled cry and looked at Quinn with a wounded expression. She stepped in front of him. “I gave that to Joshua! You have no right to take it!” I toyed with the watch and sneered. “I spent thirty-eight million dollars at an auction to buy this blue diamond watch for Jensen’s eighteenth birthday. When did it become your gift to him?” A flicker of guilt crossed Quinn’s eyes, but she quickly put on a cold expression and challenged me. “Jensen has plenty of watches. Having one less won’t kill him. Joshua never had anything growing up. What’s wrong with me giving it to him to cheer him up?” I raised my hand and slapped her across the face. “You stole my son’s things to support another man, and you still have the nerve to ask me what’s wrong with that?” Quinn’s head snapped to the side from the slap. She gritted her teeth and glared at me viciously. “Dad, my patience has limits, too. I’ll be waiting for Jensen to come crying and begging me to take him back!” With that, she grabbed Joshua and left. I sneered as I watched them walk away in disgrace. Jensen had already accepted Serena Fitzpatrick’s proposal. Chapter 4 Jensen got along with the Fitzpatrick family’s youngest daughter, Serena, even better than I expected. “Dad, Serena is teaching me how to read financial reports!” Jensen had tried bringing company documents to Quinn before, but she would only respond impatiently. “You’re not in good health and not very bright. You don’t need to concern yourself with such things. The eight of us will take care of Selway Group from now on. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy your life.” Serena, however, set aside two hours every day to go over financial reports with Jensen, and his project analyses became more and more impressive. When Jensen called me to say he was planning to get married, he spent a long while blushing and hesitating before finally telling me that Serena was nearly three months pregnant. I held the phone and laughed for quite a while, then had my staff begin preparing for the wedding. Meanwhile, Quinn and the others were still waiting for me to back down. When the eight of them were first thrown out, they used their remaining savings to rent a luxury riverfront apartment for more than 100,000 dollars a month. Joshua booked Quinn a stay at a postpartum care center for 188,000 dollars and spent another 60,000 dollars on a professional pregnancy photo shoot. The photos showed all eight women gathered around Joshua, with Quinn nestled in his arms, her pregnant belly on full display. The caption read: Money can buy you plenty of things, but it can’t buy the genuine love of eight women. A month later, they could no longer afford the rent. Two months later, the postpartum care center sent all of Quinn’s belongings back. The eight women, once pampered young ladies of the Selway family with someone to arrange everything for them, even their meals, began delivering food, hauling goods, and picking up temporary shifts at hotels. They could not bear to let Joshua suffer, so even Quinn, despite her advanced pregnancy, went out to work. But Quinn had grown accustomed to imported supplements, and once they ran out of money, she began putting off even her routine prenatal checkups. By the seventh month of pregnancy, her belly had grown large, while her face grew increasingly gaunt. Little did I expect that the next time I would see them would be at Jensen’s wedding. Quinn was heavily pregnant, dressed in a server’s uniform and carrying a tray. When she saw me, she handed the tray to a coworker and lowered her head to straighten her tie. “Dad, have you come to take me home?” Mandy and the others, who were also dressed in server uniforms, gathered around her. “Quinn, I told you ages ago that Dad wouldn’t hold out for long.” A smug look crept into Quinn’s eyes when she heard that. “Since you’ve come all the way here to bring me home yourself, I won’t make things difficult for you. “Give me back my house, car, and position, publicly acknowledge me as the Selway family’s eldest daughter, and give the baby I’m carrying ten percent of the company’s shares. Then, I’ll come home.” Joshua walked over, carrying a boxed meal that cost a little more than ten dollars. When he saw me, his voice came out hoarse. “Mr. Selway, Quinn has suffered so much these past few months. She’s even scraped up her hands. Doesn’t it break your heart to see your daughter reduced to this?” Quinn gave him a gentle smile. “That’s enough, Joshua. The fact that Dad came all the way to the hotel himself means he’s already swallowing his pride.” As the staff around them began looking over, Quinn only raised her voice. “Dad, you’re getting older. You should stop pushing yourself. Joshua was never going to live a long life. I’m the only one who can take care of you in your old age and give the Selway family an heir.” She pulled Joshua into her arms and wiped away his tears. “Joshua has suffered a lot these past few months. Give me back my house and position, then apologize to him in front of everyone, and I’ll let bygones be—” I cut her off coldly. “Quinn, open your eyes and take a good look at who’s getting married today.” At that moment, the LED screen on the stage, stretching over a hundred feet across, lit up with the words: Serena Fitzpatrick and Jensen Selway’s Wedding Celebration. Quinn turned, and the smugness instantly vanished from her face. Music began to play, and the ballroom doors opened. Jensen entered in a crisp white suit, holding Serena’s hand as she walked beside him in her wedding dress. Serena’s slightly rounded belly already showed her pregnancy. As Quinn stared at Serena’s belly, the color slowly drained from her face. She pushed through the crowd, rushed over, and grabbed Jensen’s hand, her eyes red-rimmed. “Jensen, is she carrying your child?”