Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Samantha was left startled once more.

Although she had no interaction with the Barkers for so many years, she had heard the name Donald Barker before.

Donald was Old Master Barker’s son and the half-brother of Timothy’s father.

Old Master Barker, or Edward as he was known, was the Barkers’ heir. The position of family head should have been passed on to him since he was a cut above his peers. However, being the family head came with numerous family rules that he had to obey, which included his future spouse.

The Barkers have always been related by marriage to royals, and Edward had a marriage agreement with the eldest princess of the royal family. However, he met Nancy-the future Old Madam Barker-and fell in love at first sight with her.

Edward had a falling out with the family elders because of Nancy. He brought her away from Uriegh, where his family was located, and came to Capital City to establish his own business.

The elders all scoffed at him, thinking that his arrogance would only last a brief moment. They believed that it would not be long before he came back to beg for mercy due to the lack of protection and resources from the Barkers.

Unexpectedly, Edward did not fare as badly as they thought and instead did spectacularly well. The Barker Group, which he set up, began to establish themselves and succeeded in getting several major projects.

Moreover, Edward held a high-profile wedding with Nancy, who soon became pregnant with a child.

The elders could not accept Edward giving them such a big slap in the face. The royal family was extremely furious over it and the eldest princess felt thoroughly humiliated.

Being the princess that she was, she believed that she was not inferior to an ordinary woman like Nancy!

Furthermore, she loved Edward deeply and could not stand to see him living together with another woman.

The elders, therefore, joined forces with the eldest princess to suppress the Barker Group.

It went without saying that the combined forces of the Barkers and the royal family should not be underestimated. Despite Edward’s capabilities, the foundation with which he built his empire was still unstable and would easily be shaken.

During that time, the Barker Group’s faced numerous internal and external troubles, all of which were extremely tricky.

However, Edward did not want Nancy to worry because she was pregnant, and therefore he kept everything a secret from her because he was afraid if anything would happen to her.

Edward was in very low spirits, and on a certain drunken night, the princess took advantage of him and engaged him in intercourse.

The princess wanted to use that to threaten Edward into divorcing Nancy so he would return to her side. She then promised to stop putting pressure on his business.

Edward was so angry that he gave her a tight slap and berated her to stop being delusional. He would never divorce Nancy regardless of what happened, much less marry a woman like the princess!

The eldest princess could not accept what was happening and felt even more resentful after receiving that slap. She wanted to do something, but she was surprised to find out later that she was pregnant.

She knew that Edward would not want her even after finding out about her pregnancy and might even tell her to abort the child. As a result, the princess temporarily kept her grievances to herself and returned to Uriegh to nurture her pregnancy.

During the span of a few months, Edward’s amazing boldness and one-of-a-kind vision turned what everyone saw as an unpromising project into one that had immense potential. It became one of the hottest prospects in the business world and had completely changed his fortunes.

Both the Barkers and the royal family were not local, so they no longer had any power to suppress Edward and could only let him go.

At that point, Edward’s child was more than nine months old and was about to come into the world soon. Meanwhile, the princess’s child was already about eight months old.

The eldest princess came to Nancy with a pregnant belly, telling her that Edward had cheated on her and asked her to leave.

She wanted Nancy’s child to die to make way for her own.

Unexpectedly, Nancy did not collapse but even stubbornly called her out. Nancy’s pregnancy was unaffected, but the princess’s fetus was and Nancy’s subordinates immediately sent her away.

She later learned that Nancy was simply pretending that day and got so angry that she delivered her baby that night, about half a month earlier than the due date.

The princess then waited for Edward and Nancy to have a conflict and divorce, but she waited and waited until she received news that Edward confessed everything to Nancy and received Nancy’s forgiveness.

The mental anguish was so severe that her health deteriorated after her child was born and she had been bedridden ever since.

Although the eldest princess’ child was born, Edward never acknowledged him and treated it as if it did not exist.

As for the son that Nancy gave birth to, Edward loved him so much that he wanted to give him everything good in the world.

That son was Timothy’s father, Charles. The name was chosen by Edward in the hopes that Charles, as his name suggested, would live according to his wishes as a ‘free man’.

After the princess found out, she gritted her teeth angrily and named her son Donald, for she wanted him to be a ‘ruler of all’ that would always get what he wanted!

When Donald came of age at 18, he chose to return to his family and was slated to inherit the position of the family head in the future.

He did not need a father who chose not to acknowledge him, because he would prove his own ability to everyone and surpass Charles so Edward would regret it!

He competed with Charles in everything, be it in studies, career, and even Charles’ love interests!

Unfortunately, his chance to compare his achievements with Charles was not meant to be.

Charles had been in poor health since he was born prematurely, and after marrying his wife, he fell ill and passed away before he could see his son Timothy.

After Charles’ wife gave birth to the child, she missed Charles so much that she suffered depression and committed suicide.

Everyone thought that their enmity would end there, but Donald’s hatred and unwillingness lingered on. The subject of Donald’s hate changed from Charles and his wife to their son Timothy.

Timothy only learned about all that when he was about ten years old because Donald had been suppressing the Barker Group more vigorously after becoming head of the family.

After Edward’s death, Nancy began compromising with several of the family’s elders and eased the relationship between Timothy and the Barker Group.

The elders acknowledged Timothy’s ability and said nothing further since he was their flesh and blood after all. Donald, however, was unwilling to accept that. He wanted control of the Barker Group and have it surrendered to him.

Timothy was even more arrogant than his grandfather Edward and his ability far surpassed that of the old man.

The young Timothy did not waver in the slightest despite the pressure Donald exerted over so many years. That led Donald to look at his nephew in another light.

Timothy’s talents were vast.

There came a point when Donald even started to admire Timothy.

Donald had never loved anyone in his entire life, and the only woman he had ever interacted with was Timothy’s mother, Margaret Blackford.

He could not describe what kind of feelings he had for Margaret, but they were a little different than most.

Margaret did not choose him in the end and therefore did not belong to him, but he wanted her son Timothy to belong to him.

He knew that Timothy was also a tough nut to crack, and after trying so many times to win the young man over, he began to spend his time and energy to formulate a plan.

Samantha was stunned to hear that.

...

It was no surprise then that Timothy never mentioned his parents or the Barkers’ affairs during the entire time she was with him...

She thought that Timothy did not mention it because he just wanted to ignore her.

In hindsight, he never told her any of that because those were the Barkers’ family scandals.

Samantha did not know how she managed to finish that meal because her mind was so full of information that she could not digest.

She still did not respond even after Timothy led her out of the restaurant, helped her into the car, and started driving.

It was not until the car stopped again that Timothy’s low and sweet voice sounded in her ear, “We’re here, Sammy. Let’s get off.”

She wondered where they had arrived at.

Samantha glanced up subconsciously and her eyes widened as she looked in the distance.