"It really is different having you close to me. That other boy's been back for over a year, and the only thing he ever gave me was some painting he did himself. Absolutely worthless." She scoffed, "If it weren’t for the fact that he has my blood running through his veins, he wouldn’t still be in this house."
Indifferent, my father interrupted, "It doesn’t matter. Soon enough, once he’s out of the hospital, I’ll arrange a press conference. He'll have no choice but to announce he's leaving the company, and then we'll send him abroad. Give him a couple of caretakers and a few million as a payoff. That should be enough to cut ties with him for good."
Fury burned through me, my fists clenching so tightly that my nails dug into my palms.
Jed smirked and asked, "But what if he refuses? Our family's fortune is worth billions. What if he clings to the company like a leech and won’t let go?"
My father simply snorted. "Even if he tries, the shareholders would never accept him. And if he pushes back, we can have him declared mentally unstable and send him overseas for treatment."
His voice then dropped, turning colder as he continued, "If he behaves, I don’t mind supporting him. But if he doesn’t... well, a blind, crippled man overwhelmed with despair? It wouldn’t be surprising if he took his own life."
I felt the blood drain from my body.
This man — my father — was talking about my death as if it were nothing.
Honestly, I had never felt warmth from this family. When they brought me back a year ago, they cried and apologized for losing me, swearing they’d spent every moment of the past twenty years missing me. They claimed they’d cast Jed aside for my sake, sending him overseas despite raising him for over two decades.
Back then, I said I was willing to get along with Jed, but my parents refused. They insisted they didn’t want me to carry any emotional baggage.
Yet, I’d seen my mother quietly wiping her tears at night. I knew she could never truly let go of Jed.
Cade's POV
As such, I swore to myself that I’d do everything I could to make my parents proud, to become their one true pride and repay them for all they’d done for me.
But now, they’ve shattered every last illusion I had about family.
"It might seem harsh," my mother said, her tone perfectly matter-of-fact. "But it had to be done. We can’t hand the company over to someone like him."