Chapter 492: What Doesn’t Kill Me Makes Me Stronger

Arabella Donovan stared at the words her subordinate had just written, her fingertips trembling slightly.

The story of her, Eloise Donovan, and Cassandra Lynch all began with that mudslide in Yarrow Province years ago. It was the same disaster that had tragically killed her fourth sister’s parents, leaving her an orphan from the moment she was born.

Before this, everyone had blamed the tragedy of her and her fourth sister being swapped on Cassandra Lynch’s birth mother, Holly Wagner. But now, having seen how a certain *thing* was unscrupulously and methodically scheming to seize control of this world, she couldn’t help but think there was more to it.

‘Was it really just a natural disaster back then? Was it truly an accident that the three of them were at the same hospital at the same time? Was Cassandra Lynch’s congenital heart defect really just a fated coincidence? Had she and her family been living in someone else’s scheme since the day she was born?’

One question after another popped into Arabella Donovan’s mind, scaring her so badly that she broke out in a cold sweat, her entire body turning ice-cold.

Just then, a hand took hers, warming her frigid fingertips and stilling their uncontrollable shaking.

A startled Arabella Donovan turned her head and met Mrs. Donovan’s pained and worried gaze.

“Don’t be afraid. Mom’s here.”

“That’s right, Dad’s here too.”

“And so are we. Your brothers and sisters are all here.”

At that moment, everyone in the room was looking at her, their actions showing her that no matter what, her family would always be her greatest support and source of strength.

Arabella Donovan couldn’t help but smile at the scene. It reminded her of a quote she had once seen.

“That which does not kill me makes me stronger.”

The saying was a perfect fit for them. Whether the events of the past were accidental or inevitable, it didn’t change the fact that they were now locked in a fight to the death with that *thing*.

Arabella Donovan pressed her lips together. The events of the past had taken her fourth sister’s parents. This time, it wouldn’t take anyone else.

As long as her family was together and safe, she feared nothing!

Of course, the immediate priority was to inform the professionals about these matters as quickly as possible.

To that end, not only did Ron Cole have to work overtime, but even Dennis Donovan, who had been retired for years, urgently activated his long-dormant network of contacts to help handle the situation.

In an instant, everyone pulled together as one to face the impending natural disasters.

Fortunately, just as Arabella Donovan had predicted, The Providence hadn’t been able to absorb enough fortune from its “Children of Providence.” As a result, the natural disasters it could trigger were not very severe.

Still, their sudden appearance in such a cluster led some of the more pessimistic netizens to believe that something strange was afoot. They speculated whether so many disasters happening at once meant the apocalypse was coming.

But thanks to the joint efforts of various powers, the damage and impact from these natural disasters were minimized, and there were no casualties.

Most ordinary people, already exhausted from toiling away for their families, had no energy to care about such things. They mostly treated the news like celebrity gossip that popped up on their apps. If they were interested, they’d click, glance, and close it. If not, they wouldn’t even bother opening it, simply swiping it away.

As for the illegal groups that had been stirred into action by the “protagonist factions” and later used by them to pad their stats, they were even less of a concern. Most of them, like the protagonist factions themselves, had long been blacklisted by the relevant authorities.

They were fine as long as they stayed put, but the moment they made a move, they were met with the full package: arrest, harsh interrogation, and a free meal in a cell. Any major disturbance was nipped in the bud. They couldn’t amount to anything, let alone cause widespread panic that would allow the world’s consciousness to take advantage of the chaos, absorb their negative energy, and transform the world into an “unlimited flow” instance.

And so, for a whole month, the hidden mastermind behind the scenes tried all sorts of schemes but failed to make a single ripple.

A certain Providence’s Consciousness: ‘… Argh, this is infuriating!’

When Arabella Donovan learned that all the natural disasters across the country had been resolved with a few close calls but no real harm, she let out a huge sigh of relief.

However, the subsequent news about the much-discussed protagonists from various “books” left Arabella Donovan with some complicated feelings.

First was Claire Bishop and her outlaw boyfriend. In fact, ever since Mr. Donovan had accidentally learned from his youngest daughter about Claire Bishop and Jasper Jacobs’s romance (or rather, “domestication”) history, he had been secretly gathering evidence of Jasper Jacobs’s crimes.

His old friend’s daughter, whose brain seemed to have been eaten by zombies, might forget about her father’s death, but he, his sworn brother, could not. As long as he had the chance, he was determined to bring that man to justice and offer some peace to his old friend’s spirit in the heavens!

With this thought in mind, Mr. Donovan had long since collected a mountain of evidence of the man’s illegal activities. He was just racking his brain on how to lure him to a place where he could be legally punished when the man decided to dig his own grave. He tried to make a move on their family company and their family members, even attracting the attention of Dennis Donovan and the others. How was that any different from walking right into a trap?

Therefore, the last time Jasper Jacobs made a move against their company, Mr. Donovan decisively joined forces with his son, submitted the evidence with Dennis Donovan’s help, and took Jasper Jacobs down in one fell swoop. This finally fulfilled a wish he had held for years.

If The Providence wanted to stir up trouble by controlling him now, it would have to go looking for him in the Netherworld.

As for Claire Bishop, her running away was because she had accidentally discovered that Jasper Jacobs had other mistresses besides her. She’d left in a fit of anger.

After suffering for a while on her own, she started having second thoughts. Just then, Jasper Jacobs came looking for her. Although Claire Bishop acted reluctant on the surface, she was actually relieved. She was planning to play hard-to-get for a bit before using her pregnancy to secure her position as the boss’s woman… but then the boss was gone.

Claire Bishop: “…”

As she was nominally one of his victims, Claire Bishop was not implicated or imprisoned after Jasper Jacobs’s arrest.

And just as Arabella Donovan had predicted, once Claire Bishop realized that Jasper Jacobs had crashed and burned and would likely never get out of prison in this lifetime, it was as if her love-addled brain finally woke up. She no longer wanted the child.

However, her belly was already very large by then. A rash abortion would not only kill the baby but also pose a danger to her own life, and it could even affect her future fertility.

In the end, Claire Bishop had no choice but to give birth to the child. But as soon as the baby was born, she abandoned it at an orphanage.

After that, Claire Bishop even considered coming back to rely on Mr. and Mrs. Donovan, hoping the Donovan Family would give her a place to stay for the sake of her deceased parents. Unfortunately for her, when Mr. and Mrs. Donovan learned of her intentions, they had her driven away without even meeting her.

Arabella Donovan, who had only recently heard her parents mention this: “???”

‘How does she have the nerve? What gives her the audacity to think that after carrying another man’s child and trying to get my older brother to be the sucker who takes her in, the Donovan Family would still treat her as they did before, taking care of her as the daughter of a family friend?’

But calming down and thinking about it, although the situation when she came to frame them had been awkward, they hadn’t truly had a complete falling out.

‘Perhaps in her mind, as long as no one had it out with her to her face, she could just pretend nothing ever happened?’

Arabella’s scathing take: Shamelessness truly makes one invincible!