Terra Nova Online: Rise of The Strongest Player

Chapter 417: Jacob's Regret

Chapter 417: Jacob’s Regret

Once Leo stormed off, Elena helplessly looked at Jacob with her tears suppressed.

Today was supposed to be a day of joy and family reunion, but it did not go the way that she expected it to go at all.

Leo was visibly cold to Jacob and he did not seem keen on welcoming him back as a member of the family.

“Jacob…. Why didn’t you tell him the truth? Why didn’t you tell him your side of the story?” Elena asked, sounding frustrated, as she could not understand as to why Jacob would not come clean in front of the kids.

In reality Jacob had not left behind just a mere 500$ inheritance for his family, he had left behind a grand sum of $500,000.

And this sum of money was not a one time amount either, but rather a monthly occurrence with him sending back an additional 100,000 dollars every month for the last twenty years, believing that his family was well taken care of with that money.

Unfortunately, the individual that he entrusted this money to, was his brother Marco, and he was the one who cheated Elena and the kids out of their inheritance.

Right before he was going to be deployed overseas for a rather important mission, Jacob trusted Marco, his elder brother, to look after his family and Marco promised to do so.

However, as soon as Jacob left, he only passed on a mere 500$ of the 500,000$ inheritance that Jacob had left behind and did not pass on any subsequent pay checks either.

For years, Jacob believed that his family was well taken care of whenever he talked to Marco, however, with Marco telling him that his family hated him after his deployment and that they never wished to see him again, Jacob never tried to contact Elena or the kids directly, since he was a gentleman at heart.

After the first year into his deployment, Jacob was about to come back to his family, however, it was Marco who sent him pictures of Elena sitting with some other man in a cafe and telling him falsely that she had remarried.

Heartbroken, Jacob decided to cancel his trip back home, since he no longer had one and decided to continue serving the country abroad.

Aware of his obligations as a father, he made sure to send 70% of his paychecks back home, thinking he was paying for the education of his children and the lifestyle of Elena, however, it was all pocketed by Marco.

For 18 years, his own brother conned him and his family, with Jacob being none the wiser.

In the end, because of Marco, his kids hated him, his wife struggled to make ends meet and he lived an empty life without receiving the warmth of his family.

It wasn’t until the first batch of Arc Ships took off and the governments across the world totally collapsed that Jacob returned to Washington DC and met Elena by chance in the poor slum district.

For a while, he was stunned to see his once pretty wife dressed in such Haggard clothes, however, he still gathered the courage to approach her.

Shockingly, instead of hating him or detesting him, Elena broke down in tears when she recognised his face, and proceeded to hug him tight.

It was only then after Jacob talked to her that he realized that his whole life was a lie, and that for the past two decades his family had to undergo innumerable struggles in his absence.

Elena had to sell off her jewelry, his children had to work odd jobs, and instead of the life of luxury that he wanted for them, they had to grow up in a tough environment with minimal resources.

Naturally, listening to this reality of his family, Jacob was heartbroken, as he realized that he had failed them as the head of the household.

Although Elena forgave him after hearing his side of the story, he completely lost the chance to apologize to his kids who had already left Earth and this scarred him internally.

On one hand he was a super smart secret service agent that could make entire governments tremble with his presence, however, on the other hand he was a foolish man who was fooled by his faith in his own brother.

Never in his wildest dreams could Jacob imagine that his brother would betray him this way, however, when he arrived at his house to question him, Jacob was frustrated to find out that Marco had already left Earth alongside his wife and kid aboard the first round of Arc Ships.

While Elena had to sell her own kidney to secure two tickets for Leo and Luke, Marco secured the tickets for his family from the years of money that Jacob had been sending home.

“I will not jump to conclusions here…. Since it’s wrong to make assumptions without having all the facts, however, if you have really cheated my family Marco, then I will give you the most brutal death, no matter where you are in the universe–” Jacob swore, as he felt his entire body bubble with rage towards his brother.

However, no matter how much Jacob regretted it now, the time that had passed was never going to come back and what was done could not be changed.

He had missed the most beautiful moments of Luke and Leo’s childhood and those moments were never going to come back.

As a father, he had always dreamed of molding his children with his own ideals, making them mini versions of himself, imbued with his morals and values. However, that opportunity was now lost, with both Luke and Leo already fully grown.

Thankfully, they had turned out to be good young men who cared for their mother and each other. Yet, Jacob still hadn’t figured out how to apologize for the suffering they endured due to his foolish negligence.

That was the main reason behind why he could not apologize to Leo today, as he simply did not understand where to even start.