The atmosphere in the great hall tensed up imdiately. There was even a sense that blades would be drawn at any second.
Ever since Ace faked his death and Ethan colluded with his cronies in an attempt to seize power in Moran Group, the Moran family was divided into two warring factions. The first took Alexander Moran’s side, while the second took Arthur Moran’s side—and from then on, the two cousins then beca adversaries.
Alexander had a forthright personality, so when he saw Arthur approaching from a distance, he imdiately glowered and blurted, "Hmph! I can’t believe you have the gall to step into this house! If I’m not mistaken, I don’t think my father ever invited you and your wife here today!"
"Co on, Alexander! Why are you treating like I’m a stranger?"
Arthur, cunning as an old fox, wore a wide phony grin on his face as he walked up to Alexander and put his hand on his cousin’s shoulder in a fake brotherly gesture.
"How could I not be here when it’s such a happy occasion for the Moran family?" he asked. "I’m your cousin, after all! Anyway, the more, the rrier, right? I must raise a toast to you today!"
His wife, Sheila Moran, followed behind him, clad in a luxurious wine-red coat and carrying a limited-edition designer handbag. As soon as she stepped through the door, she jeered, "Say, you two are indeed lucky, Alexander and Susan! You managed to get a daughter-in-law, a grandson, and a granddaughter in one fell swoop! I do envy you! Arthur and I can never hope to be as lucky as you!"
Sheila might possess enormous wealth and great style, but she still paled in every aspect when compared to Susan. Before she married Arthur, she always regarded Susan as her imaginary rival. Then, after marrying into the Moran family, she always compared herself to Susan at every opportunity she got.
Unfortunately for her, no matter which way she made a comparison, whether it was herself against Susan, her husband against Susan’s husband, or her son against Susan’s son, she always ca up short. She finally won, albeit barely, when she compared their daughters-in-law, yet now... Not only did Ace get himself a wife, but he even had a son and a daughter, which ant that she had, once again, completely lost to Susan!
Sheila was so angry she could barely hold it together, but she held her breath and gathered her strength. She would finally put Susan in her place today!
Arthur and Sheila seed to have no sha at all as they proceeded to calmly and respectfully offer old Mr. Moran a cup of tea even though they were accosted by cold glares and angry glances from the people around them.
"Take a seat!" old Mr. Moran told them in a lukewarm voice after taking a sip of the tea.
"Uncle Timothy!" Alan muttered with displeasure. "You’re too kind and generous! Don’t you rember the shaful deeds of this greedy brother of mine and his cunning son? They almost took over the entire company! If I were you, I would’ve booted them from the Moran family a long ti ago—yet you still drank the tea they offered..."
"Alan! You’re my own younger brother! How could you accuse of such things?!"
Arthur acted as if his feelings were hurt and let out a sigh. "At the ti, no one knew if Ace was alive or dead. Moran Group was thrown into chaos, and Ethan stepped in at the most crucial hour, leading the company in a ti of crisis and saving the family’s honor. Don’t you know how much pressure he was under?"
"Hmph! It’s not surprising that he was under a lot of pressure since he was a usurper!"
"How could you call him a usurper?" Arthur argued. "He was clearly taking charge of the situation to lead the company out of a crisis! After all, who else in this family could replace Ace other than my son Ethan?"
Indeed, no one could refute him in this matter. All along, there had not been many talented and capable people in the Moran family. In Ace’s generation, there were only three outstanding male mbers of the Moran family, naly Ace, Ethan, and Julian. The rest were either too unremarkable and diocre or were won.
Julian was only a junior mber of the Moran family. He grew up abroad and had his own career, but he never had much to do with the Moran family or Moran Group at all.
But Ethan was different. He was Ace’s cousin. Ever since he was young, he received the sa education as Ace, and he occupied the sa important position as Ace in the Moran family. Unfortunately, he was always ever so slightly inferior to Ace. If Ace got 100 points in a test, then Ethan could only ever get 99 points, never higher.
It was a minute difference, but it was enough to cent Ace’s position as the CEO of Moran Group. As a result, Ethan was forever relegated to the position of substitute.
"Arthur’s right," Alexander agreed smugly. "No one else in the entire Moran family could ever hold a candle to Ace apart from your son Ethan..."
Then he viciously added, "But I’ve got a grandson and a granddaughter now. As their grandfather, I will raise them and train them so well that they’d be able to take over the family business from Ace one day. We won’t need to trouble your son anymore."
Alexander’s words made Arthur and Sheila green with rage, but because old Mr. Moran was still there, they remained cautious and dared not cause too much of a scene. Still, these two would never give up so easily, especially not Sheila—she was not one to take it lying down! She had been stifling a grudge all along, and now that Alexander humiliated her in front of the whole family, she swore that she would let them pay no matter what!
"Alexander, Susan, let’s not forget that it is a happy occasion for the family, so let’s not bring up the ssy past! When I heard that Ace got back together with his ex-wife, I specially prepared a gift just for them."
With an affected smile, Sheila pulled a palm-sized gift box from her handbag and placed it in Susan’s hands.
"What is it?" Susan asked. She could not help but be curious when she found that the box was quite heavy.
"Oh, it’s nothing too expensive, just a two-pound lock made of pure gold."
"What? Why would you give them a lock?"
"Well, it’s not an ordinary lock. It’s called a chastity lock. I even had a master make it..."
Sheila covered her mouth to hide her smile and continued, "Because Ace got back together with his ex-wife, I figured that since no one knows how many n she hooked up with in the years after they divorced, it’ll be important to let her wear this chastity lock. That way, we can guarantee that she stays loyal and won’t dare to run from Ace again."
When the crowd heard this, they could not help but burst into laughter. In fact, the won seed to find Sheila’s words especially amusing, as they almost howled in laughter. They were already irked by Joanna for sleeping in so late—a behavior considered utterly improper for the wife of a powerful man like Ace. With Susan’s protection, however, none dared to say anything about it. Now that Sheila had led the way to criticize Joanna, their tongues began to wag again.
"Sheila’s right, Susan. The Moran family has a strict tradition of only letting in chaste won to the family because purity is very important to them. If this chastity lock really does work, then I think you’d better let her wear it!"
"Besides, and forgive for being blunt, I think you should do a paternity test on her children. We don’t ever have a gene for twins in the Moran family, yet she sohow showed up with a pair of twins! I’m just worried that Ace is being fooled to raise another man’s children..."
"..."
Susan’s rage almost reached the boiling point. She rolled up her sleeves, getting ready to battle these foul-mouthed won.
anwhile, Joanna had just gotten up. In a set of comfy pajamas, her hair was still ssy as she slowly made her way downstairs, yawning. Awoken by hunger, she headed downstairs to look for sothing to eat in a daze.
But just before she could get downstairs, she noticed that the hall was filled with Ace’s relatives. Her face instantly flushed red, and she quickly turned around to slip back into the room to hide, but she bumped into Ace, who was following closely behind her, and fell right into his arms.
"What’s wrong?" asked Ace. He held a coat in his hands, which he gently and lovingly wrapped around Joanna’s shoulders, worried that she might catch a cold from wearing too little.
Reviews
All reviews (0)