He Threw Me Out At Six And Came Back Twenty Years Later To Marry Into My Family Chapter 04

My mother looked at me with red eyes.

“How did the Hales ever wrong you? How did Liora ever wrong you? You can dislike her, but you can’t

humiliate her like this.”

I said, “I’m not humiliating her. I’m saying the Hales aren’t right for the Voss family.”

My father said coldly, “The Voss family is one of the most respected old-money families in the country. Are you going to throw away basic decorum? Vetoing a partnership between two families because an adopted daughter is being willful-what will people think of Voss Consolidated?”

Knox let out a scoff.

“What people think isn’t your concern, Mr. Hale.”

Milo spoke lazily.

“But the Hales seem awfully rushed. I have to ask-are you having cash flow problems?”

My father’s eyes sharpened for a split second.

Ronan finally spoke.

“That’s enough for today.”

Liora looked at him, all color gone from her face.

“Ronan, you don’t want me either?”

Ronan was silent for a few seconds.

“It’s not that I don’t want you. It’s that I need to reconsider.”

Liora’s tears fell again.

My mother immediately shielded her.

“Ronan, you and Liora have years together. You can’t overturn it because of one sentence from Elowen.”

My father dropped the engagement talk.

“Since the marriage can’t be settled today, the partnership can still be discussed.”

He leaned back into the sofa, putting his businessman’s decorum back on.

“The Hales and Voss have overlapping interests in the Eastridge Medical Campus and overseas wellness

channels.”

“Marriage is private. Partnership is business. The Voss family won’t veto business just because Miss Voss

personally dislikes someone, will they?”

Matriarch Clara looked at him flatly.

“Are you threatening the Voss family?”

My father laughed immediately.

“Matriarch, you misunderstand. I just think adults should consider the bigger picture.”

The bigger picture.

That phrase sent a chill through my chest.

Twenty years ago, after he dumped me by the road, the Hales had a bigger picture too.

Back then, Hale Enterprises was chasing policy support.

My father couldn’t afford the public fallout from being exposed for abandoning his own daughter.

My mother couldn’t go from “the woman whose husband loved her to madness” to “the mother who used her daughter to provoke her husband.”

So my disappearance became “suspected abduction.”

I wasn’t dumped.

I was packaged and dumped.

My mother helped Liora over to me.

“Elowen, if you really mind, we can keep Liora out of the Voss family for now.”

“But Liora is innocent. She just loves Ronan. You can’t take your dislike of the Hales out on an innocent girl.”

That sentence stabbed into my heart like a needle.

My father looked at me, his voice going completely cold.

“Miss Voss, know your limits.”

“Being favored by the Voss family is your luck, Don’t actually believe you can decide everyone’s fate with one

sentence.”

“Liora has never been treated like this. We won’t stand by and watch you bully her.”

All my brothers stood at once.

I raised a hand to stop them.

The living room went quiet as ice.

I looked at my father.

When he’d thrown me by the road, there hadn’t been a flicker of hesitation.

Now, for another daughter, he stood in front of me like a wall.

I looked at my mother.

She was holding Liora tight, her eyes full of heartache.

I finally smiled.

“Mr. Hale. Mrs. Hale.”

They both looked at me.

I said, word by word, “When you dumped your own daughter out of the car-did you ever think about today?”