As she spoke, she turned toward Dad.
“Dad, I don’t wish these things to ruin cooperation between our families. Bring Finley back and talk some reason into him.”
After saying this, she grabbed the car key and walked out.
Upon leaving, she took my stepmother and everyone else in the room, even gently pulling the door shut.
In the next moment, Dad’s angry shout burst like thunder.
“Rebellious child! Have you not shamed yourself enough? Want me to drag you home and discipline you? How did the Lawson family end up raising someone so rough and lacking manners like you?”
I let out a dry smile. “Probably bad genes. I’m not only rough, but I’m self-centered and cold.”
As a husband, he kept a mistress outside and even had illegitimate children, drove the real wife into depression, and she jumped from a building.
Compared to that, my simple intention to end a marriage was far less wicked.
Dad turned angry with embarrassment. “Finley, you’re just like your mother, small-minded and foolish. With such a bright future ahead, you still insist on creating trouble before being content?”
He stared at me harshly, tone like winter, “Even if you won’t think for yourself, at least think about Cassandra. She’s a senior in high school and earns medals every year. You wouldn’t want her to quit now, right?”
My expression dimmed right away. I sank onto the couch, worn out.
Honestly, I could not risk my sister’s future.
The year Mom jumped, she had only turned one.
Such a small baby, gripping my fingertip and smiling with bright eyes, unaware she would never meet Mom again.
From age one forward, she was given poison three times, attacked by a snake, hit by a vehicle, and broke ribs, nearly died from allergies.
I guarded her through too many near-death moments. How could I destroy her future?
Dad eventually slammed the door and left. When Aster came back, she found me on the ground, drunk and tear-streaked.
Quietly, she lifted me onto the couch and fetched a cloth to clean my face.
She brought a lemon drink, held my arm, helping me drink slowly.
For an instant, it felt like eighteen years earlier, when we still meant the world to one another.
Back then, Mom passed away. Dad married his mistress.
I was ordered to kneel and call that woman “Mom,” then hid in the attic, crying my heart out.
Aster held me exactly like this, wiping my cheeks, letting me drink water.
She hugged me, saying things would be fine, that she was here.
At thirteen, she knelt before her father to seek protection for me, using cooperation to prove I was worth keeping.
How could I not love such a girl?
That short comfort was shattered when she let out a long breath, “Finley, I won’t walk away. That really was only an accident.”
I gripped her neck tightly, voice broken apart, “Aster, you understand I can't accept this. I refuse to suffer like Mom once did.”
“Aster, send them overseas, alright? We can support them for our entire lives.”
“Why didn’t you end it back then? Why didn’t you tell me when you wanted children?”
After a long pause, Aster finally spoke flatly, “The Olson-Lawson clean-energy collaboration cuts the ribbon tomorrow. Get ready. Don’t be absent, it will raise suspicion.”
Seeing her cold back move away, my heart finally dropped to the lowest point.
…
The next day, Aster sent over a fitted suit and that diamond watch shipped from the Netherlands.
The assistant only stared at me nervously.
I put them on quietly and fixed my appearance.
Aster Olson was correct. Cooperation must not collapse, my sister was still young, and I carry the duty to take back everything that belonged to my grandpa.
