Chapter 6
I curled my lips into a smirk. “And who am I to you? Why should I help you get close to him? Do you have any idea how many companies would kill for a chance to work with him? What makes you think I’d help you just because you asked?”
“You‘ re my mom. Isn’t that reason enough?”
“Didn’t you say before that if I took half of your dad’s assets, you’d never call me
‘mom again? So much for sticking to your word.”
“Willie, she’s probably lying to deceive us. This Al dog might not even belong to ElectroBot Inc! That woman is malicious and will do anything to get what she wants! She obviously just wants to ruin everything today.” Whitney said, trying to calm her brother.
I looked at my daughter. Even now,
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married and a mother herself, her hatred for me ran as deep as ever.
“That’s enough!” my father snapped, scolding me to once again defend his illegitimate daughter. “You just got back and you‘ re already making a scene. Can’t you settle down for once? It’s been 20 years, and you still can’t let it go? Today was supposed to be a big day for your sister and Harlan, but no, you had to steal the spotlight! And don‘ t even start with that nonsense about knowing Duncan Chadbourne! You‘ ve been gone all this. time, and now you‘ re just a compulsive. liar. Honestly, you‘ re an embarrassment!”
“Maybe I should just tell everyone how much money you took back then. Life’s been rough for you, huh? Why else would you come crawling back?”
“What a shame! I wish you weren’t my mom!” Whitney muttered under her
breath.
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Relatives in the hall whispered amongst themselves, pointing fingers at me.
“Even her own kids don‘ t want anything to do with her. She must’ve done
something so horrible!”
“The Barrymores really raised a problematic daughter. What a pain in the ass!”
“How can she even show her face here? As a daughter, she neglected her father; as a mother, she abandoned her children for money. She’s spent it all, and now she’s back talking crazy about knowing the richest guy in the world. Like someone like him would even talk to her.”
I smiled faintly, ignoring the accusations and insults. Instead, I pulled out my phone. With a quick tap, I started a video call with
Duncan.
When he greeted everyone on the other end of the call, the reception hall instantly went dead silent.
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“Leanna, I never said a bad word about you earlier,” my aunt piped up. “I always believed you wouldn’t do anything wrong. Look at you now, so successful you even know the richest man in the world! Do you remember my son Marvin? You two grew up together. Help him out, will you? Forget a collaboration with Mr. Chadbourne–just getting him a job at ElectroBot Inc. would be amazing! I cared for you so much when you were little; don’t forget that, okay?”
Everyone watched as she seized the opportunity to play the emotional card. Then, they jumped in, scrambling to cozy up to me. They surrounded me, shaking my hand, suddenly acting like they’d always been on my side.
“Hey, you’ve been gone so long. You didn’t even send a gift for Grandpa‘ s birthday all these years. Now you‘ ve made a mess of today’s party! But hey, if you help Hannergy Technologies partner with Mr. Chadbourne’s company, we‘ 11 let all that go. Willie and I will even call you
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“Leanna, I never said a bad word about you earlier,” my aunt piped up. “I always believed you wouldn’t do anything wrong. Look at you now, so successful you even know the richest man in the world! Do you remember my son Marvin? You two grew up together. Help him out, will you? Forget a collaboration with Mr. Chadbourne–just getting him a job at ElectroBot Inc. would be amazing! I cared for you so much when you were little; don’t forget that, okay?”
Everyone watched as she seized the opportunity to play the emotional card. Then, they jumped in, scrambling to cozy up to me. They surrounded me, shaking my hand, suddenly acting like they’d always been on my side.
“Hey, you’ve been gone so long. You didn’t even send a gift for Grandpa‘ s birthday all these years. Now you‘ ve made a mess of today’s party! But hey, if you help Hannergy Technologies partner with Mr. Chadbourne‘ s company, we‘ 11 let all that go. Willie and I will even call you
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‘mom again. You can come home more often and have dinner with us whenever
you want.
Even when she needed a favor from me, Whitney still spoke as if she were entitled
to it.
But I wasn’t mad when I heard that. She’s just like her dad–selfish and manipulative. She knew exactly how to use her looks and words to get people to do
what she wanted.
Back then, she was the one who came up with the idea to frame me by telling her brother to eat peanuts he was allergic to.
The one who cried to our relatives about how “horrible” I was to my children.
The one who helped Leanne and Harlan cover their affair more times than I could
count.
I turned to Willow and asked him, word by word, “Is that what you think too?”
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“Of course! You owe us! You abandoned us, took Dad’s money, and ran off to live the good life somewhere far away! If you hadn’t stolen half of Hannergy Technologies’s assets, we’d be so much further ahead by now! We wouldn’t even need your help to get to Mr. Chadbourne!”
I replied calmly, “It’s true that I haven‘ t given gifts for Dad’s birthdays all these years. Today, I’ll make up for it. I can introduce you to Duncan, but that’s all I can do. The rest is up to your abilities.”
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