Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 1403

Steve's roar echoed through the hospital room, leaving Ella's ears ringing. She looked at her son as if he had gone mad, her heart aching yet burning with anger as she shook her head repeatedly. "Regardless of the details, the root cause of all this misery is Sylvia. If it were not for her, would you have ever gone to such a dangerous place? Steve, do not let that wretched woman completely blind you. I will absolutely never allow her to take a single step near you again. Just focus on resting here quietly. You do not need to worry about anything happening on the outside." With that, Ella stood up with a frosty expression, turning to leave. She was genuinely terrified that if she stayed a moment longer, her son's rage would trigger a fatal heart attack.

"Stop right there," Steve commanded suddenly. His voice lacked the explosive fury from moments ago, replaced instead by a chilling, deadened calm. "Do you know why I despised coming home ever since I was a child, and why I would rather die than inherit the family business?" Ella halted abruptly. Turning back, she stared at her son in absolute confusion. Steve's face was as pale as paper, and the corners of his mouth twitched upward into a smile entirely devoid of warmth. His next words sent a glacial chill straight into the marrow of Ella's bones.

"Because you suffocate me. Your obsession with controlling my life has been pathological since I was a boy. You operate under the absolute delusion that I must do exactly as you see fit. Whenever I dared to disobey you, you instantly assumed someone around me was corrupting my mind." Steve's lips pulled tighter into a grotesque, heartbreaking smirk. "When I was in elementary school, I had wonderful friends, but you despised them because their families were poor, so you secretly drove them all away. In middle school, I found extracurricular clubs I truly loved, but you deemed them a waste of time and pressured the teachers into shutting them down completely. And by the time I became an adult, you orchestrated my entire marriage with a stranger. I am a human being. I have blood and flesh. I am not your personal accessory."

Ella swayed unsteadily, the color draining entirely from her face. She had to grip the doorframe tightly just to remain standing. Steve, however, showed absolutely no intention of stopping, the freezing contempt in his eyes intensifying. "And then there is father. Aside from his corporate empire and the supreme glory of the Michell name, when has he ever spared a single thought for his own son? I have been lying in this hospital bed for God knows how long. Has he come to see me even once?" Panic seized Ella, and tears streamed down her cheeks as she frantically tried to explain. "Your father is... he is incredibly busy. You know the corporation cannot function without him at the helm. Furthermore, he hired the absolute best medical team in the world for you. These doctors are..."

"Oh, please," Steve cut her off coldly, his eyes brimming with sheer disdain. "James paid all my medical bills and personally arranged for this entire medical team. Father had absolutely nothing to do with it. He never even bothered to make a single phone call to ask if I was alive." Ella opened her mouth to argue, but the words died in her throat. He was entirely correct. George had never visited and had not even bothered to call, merely instructing his secretary to deliver a blank check. Watching his mother stand there utterly speechless, the profound disappointment in Steve's heart hardened into absolute despair.

"You want me to inherit the legacy of a man made of ice? Do you want me to turn into another version of him, a cold, soulless machine built only for corporate warfare? I do not want it." Ella had never imagined that her son harbored such an immense, towering mountain of resentment. Sobbing openly, she took two desperate steps forward, reaching out to grasp his hand. "Steve, how could you think so poorly of us? Everything we do is entirely for your own good. You are our only child. Who else will inherit this massive empire if not you? Your father pushes himself to the absolute limit to expand our borders just so everything will be easier for you when you finally take the reins."

"For my own good?" Steve spat out the words as if they were a repulsive joke, violently swatting her hand away. "You have absolutely no idea what I want. Mother, do not bother coming to see me anymore. While you both still have a few good years left, I suggest you go adopt a child who actually meets your impossible standards, someone obedient and docile who can serve as your perfect corporate heir. As for me, I will handle my own life from now on. I do not need your help." His words were brutally heavy, stabbing into Ella's heart like jagged daggers. She wept uncontrollably, her elegant makeup smeared across her face, leaving her looking utterly wretched. "How can you say such things to me? I am your mother." Exhausted and unwilling to exchange another word, Steve closed his eyes and shouted toward the doorway. "Escort the Madam out. I need to rest."