Family on Their Knees Heart Turned to Ice novel Chapter 788

Celia Bennett completely brushed off the incident. She had been incredibly busy the past few days.

She was still replacing all the expensive equipment the Bennett family had destroyed in her apartment.

After clocking out from the office, she poured all her energy into helping Hope adjust to a normal routine. The girl was nine years old. In the city, a child her age would already be in the fourth grade.

But Hope had never stepped foot in a classroom. The few words she knew had been bartered for—she'd trade her meager snacks or foraged berries to her younger brother in exchange for a quick lesson.

Or she’d pick things up from other school kids, sometimes just hiding outside the village classroom windows to secretly listen in.

Over the last two days, Celia Bennett had assessed her niece's actual academic level.

She was barely at a first-grade reading level.

Throwing a nine-year-old into a fourth-grade classroom with that kind of foundation would be setting her up for catastrophic failure.

She wouldn't be able to keep up with the curriculum, and her peers would quickly label her a freak, inevitably leading to brutal bullying.

That was why Celia Bennett decided to homeschool her first. Once she closed the educational gap, she would formally enroll her in a proper school.

Forcing Hope into a traditional environment right now would only crush her spirit rather than help her grow.

Celia Bennett knew that pain intimately. She had walked that grueling path herself, and now that her niece was in her care, she refused to let history repeat itself.

After permanently erasing the video, Celia Bennett texted Ethan back: *Moving forward, please don't update me on whether they live or die.*

Let that vile genetic line rot away in the dark.

She had sworn off having children of her own. She refused to pass on the Bennett family's tainted legacy.

As for how Hope might feel about it when she grew up, that was out of her control.

But for now, Celia was severing every toxic tie she could reach.

From that moment on, Celia Bennett's world revolved entirely around her thriving career and raising the little girl.

Another Monday rolled around, and the Mercer Group stock finally resumed trading.

The capital they had injected in the latter stages was heavily financed by debt. All their hopes hinged on a miracle recovery.

But as they stared helplessly at the monitor, the stock opened and immediately plummeted, hitting rock bottom and locking at the daily limit down!

Bella's stomach violently dropped right alongside the stock price.

"How is this possible? Limit down?! What about our money? What are we supposed to do now?!" she screamed in sheer panic.

Brandon stormed out of the office in disgust. Colin shot her a cold glare. "I'd love to know what we're supposed to do too. Aren't you the major shareholder? Why don't you come up with a brilliant plan?"

Bella couldn't even process his sarcasm. Her mind was entirely consumed by the looming shadow of the loan sharks.

Time was running out. Even if she couldn't repay the staggering principal, she had to cough up the astronomical interest payments immediately.

Her personal bank accounts were completely drained. If she couldn't liquidate any funds from this stock, she'd be forced to secretly pull cash advances from the black card Sebastian had given her just to cover the interest.

And what the hell was going on with Debbie? Debbie had borrowed millions of dollars from her, promising a swift repayment, but had completely ghosted her ever since.