That was the very pendant my mother had tied around Kylie’s neck on her deathbed, entrusting her to love me, to hold on to our bond.
Kylie stared at it for a moment. A flicker of nostalgia flashed through her eyes.
But in the end, she only nodded and tossed it to the ground at my feet like it meant nothing.
I bent down, picked it up, and gently wiped the dust away.
Kylie’s voice rang out, filled with impatience. “What’s your other condition? Hurry up and say it.”
“The second condition is I want custody of Ariana,” I said firmly.
“That’s impossible. Ariana is my daughter,” Kylie snapped without hesitation.
“You still have the face to call her your daughter?”
I clenched my jaw, my fury spilling out in a near-roar.
“If you truly treated her like your own, would you stand there and watch her kneel before your assistant and your bastard son?”
Kylie’s expression turned cold.
With a sharp crack, she slapped me hard across the face.
“Bastard son? That’s my biological child! Don’t talk so disgustingly, Brody. I’m warning you: don’t push your luck. Sign the divorce agreement now, or I’ll make you agree in a hundred different ways.”
“Mama, don’t hit Dad. I won’t go with him anymore.”
Ariana knelt, trembling as she begged.
I immediately pulled her to her feet.
“Ariana, remember this: she’s not your mother anymore.”
“A woman like her doesn’t deserve your kneeling!”
That slap from Kylie crushed the last piece of what remained between us.
From this moment on, I wouldn’t show an ounce of mercy.
“Kid, if Kylie isn’t worthy, then what about you?”
“At least she raised Ariana,” Tanner sneered.
He scanned me from head to toe and mocked, “Just look at yourself. Can you even feed yourself properly? And you think you’re qualified to raise her daughter?”
Before I could utter a word, Kylie cut in coldly.
“You want to take Ariana away? Fine. Let’s see if you even have the means to raise her. What if you just sell her off to some mountain village and vanish again?”
“How do you plan to test my capability?” I asked fists clenched tight.
This time, I had rushed back in such haste just to see the two of them still wearing my old lab uniform.
The worn-looking suit might have seemed shabby, but it was both radiation-proof and bulletproof.
Even after the brutal beating earlier, I was only bruised on the surface, with no real injuries.
That suit had protected me.