Chapter 321 Hard Lines
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Marie didn’t even wait for Ethan to speak. “I’m making this clear right now,” she snapped. “If you agree to your mother’s insane demands just to keep your job, we’re getting a divorce. I’ll take Natalie and leave. Your mother and sister have looked down on us for years. If I knew it would come to this, I would’ve taken her and left a long time ago. Your family has gone too far. You know exactly how much shit Natalie and I have taken over the years. She wouldn’t even be bringing this up if it wasn’t so damn much.”
She pulled Natalie close. Thinking about all the years she’d spent being treated like garbage, she couldn’t hold it back anymore and started crying right along with her daughter.
Ethan was about to try and calm them down when Bryan walked in. “Dad? What’s going on? Why are Mom and Natalie crying like this? I just heard Mom mention a divorce. Did you do something to them?”
He rushed over to his mother and sister, trying to figure out how to help, before looking back at Ethan for an explanation.
Ethan let out a long sigh and squeezed Marie’s hand. “I’m calling her back right now. If she wants to play it this way, fine. Let her do whatever she wants. I know you two have suffered because of me for years. It’s time I actually stood up for my wife and daughter.”
He turned and walked out to the balcony to make the call.
They couldn’t hear exactly what was being said, but Ethan’s voice was loud a
Bryan helped Natalie up and handed her a tissue. “Natalie, was the date that b and Lana trying to force you into something again? Are they actually trying to f marriage?”
He knew exactly how his grandmother and aunt operated. Lana used Rosaline as a shie time she showed up. It was always the same: trashing Natalie just to make Nina look like so perfect angel.
He had been sick of their fake act for years, but since they were family elders, he felt like hands were tied. Every time he tried to talk back, they’d scream about him being a disrespectful ingrate.
He was done with it too.
Natalie nodded, wiping her eyes as she told him everything that had happened that day.
“What?” Bryan’s face went red with rage, and he slammed his fist into the wall. “They’re really trying to pull that? No wonder Dad’s pissed and you’re both a mess. We’ve been calling her Aunt all these years, but she’s a goddamn animal. Natalie, trust Dad on this. He won’t let you get
9:13 Fri, May 22
Chapter 321 Hard Lines
screwed over like this, and neither will I.”
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He paused, taking a breath. “Honestly, Dad’s position has been shaky for years anyway. Let them take the job. We’d be better off. Dad works himself to the bone to grow that company, but the second anything goes wrong, the board treats him like a criminal. Those people get rich off his hard work while they stab him in the back. And now they’re coming for his daughter? It’s too much.”
His eyes were stinging. To the outside world, his sister was the pampered princess of the Sand family, living a life of luxury.
Nobody saw the reality. The rules, the backstabbing, the constant power struggles. It was a shark tank. And with Lana around constantly stirring the pot, it was a nightmare.
Ethan walked back in, his face grim. He grabbed his car keys off the table. “I have to go. Your grandmother’s worked herself into a fit and I need to go check on her. But don’t worry, I’m not backing down this time. If she wants her other son to take over my job, fine. He’s been dying to get his hands on it anyway. Once I’m out, I’ll have time to take you guys on a real vacation. As long as we’re together, I don’t care if we’re eating scraps.”
Ethan headed for the door. Bryan followed right behind him. “Dad, I haven’t seen Grandma in a while. I’m coming with you.”
The Sand family estate was an old-school villa. It had been renovated, but the place still felt like a museum of the past.
When Ethan and Bryan walked in, the other brothers were already there. they were crowded around Rosaline, acting all concerned while she sat there looking perfectly satisfied with the attention.
The second she saw Ethan, she let out a cold snort and shoved a document toward him. “You said you were willing to give up the CEO spot. Sign the agreement now, before you change your mind tomorrow.”
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