Edmund thundered at the other end of the line. He said that in addition to Lucian, Jonny had stirred up
all the shareholders of the An Group, forcing Edmund to give up his position as the CEO.
Emma's hand quivered when she heard Shelly's question—so much so that she almost spilled her
porridge. Thankfully, she was quickly able to gather herself. Smiling, she said, "You just woke up. You
shouldn't be thinking about these things yet."
Shelly pushed the bowl away, her eyes gleaming in anger. "Am I really your daughter? Why is it that
you're so focused on protecting your son so much?"
Back when Shelly was still a child, she felt as if Emma didn't really care about her. Although Emma was
kind to her, it wasn't really the same as how she was with Jonny. It seemed as if Emma cared more
about Jonny than she did Shelly.
Emma's face darkened. She apologized, "I'm sorry. I neglected your feelings all these years."
"Do you think that's enough?" Shelly sneered as she glared at her mother, eyes filled with
resentfulness. "What? Have you been waiting for this day all your life? You willingly take insults and
humiliation just so your son can have the power in the family? Are you proud, huh?"
Surprised, Emma didn't expect that Shelly, at her young age, would be occupying her mind with these
kinds of things and assumptions.
"Shelly, we're family, not enemies." This only made Shelly even angrier.
"Family?" Shelly snorted and bit back, "Did you ever hug me?"
"Shelly, I know I wasn't exactly the perfect mother to you but trust me when I say that I love you and
Jonny equally," Emma explained anxiously. She just wanted to let Shelly know how much she loved her
amidst all this.
"You don't need to explain yourself to me because you're a hypocrite!" Shelly kept her gaze fixed on
Emma, her eyes icy cold.
Emma trembled, bitterness filling her heart.
Meanwhile, the door of the ward suddenly flew open. Emma figured it was Jonny since she'd called him
when Shelly woke up.
"Dad..." Shelly called, her voice revealing that she was upset.
While Emma was surprised, she kept her composure on the outside.
She knew that it was Shelly who had called Edmund because she definitely didn't.
"Does your head still hurt? Are you feeling any better?" Edmund walked to Shelly's bedside, took her
hand, and looked at her with concern.
As Emma watched this entire scene unfold, she couldn't help but feel warm in her heart. Seeing
Edmund like this was a nice change to his usual demeanor.
"Can you leave?" Shelly said snidely as she cast Emma a cold glance.
Temporarily taken aback, Emma nodded and handed the bowl of porridge to Edmund. "She just woke
up so she needs to eat."
Edmund looked coldly at Emma as he took the bowl. Disgruntled, he said, "Looks like your son's
become more capable."
His voice was laced with irony which hurt Emma deeply.
"Well, her son's capable because his mother encourages him," Shelly chimed in, echoing Edmund's
sentiments.
Emma felt as if a knife was cutting through her heart. However, she was already used to being
misunderstood so she had no problems dealing with the pain.
"Dad, is the An Group really going to be owned by Jonny now?" Shelly asked anxiously as soon as
Emma left.
She didn't care who took control of the An Group. The only thing she cared about was her marriage
with Lucian even though it was only a business deal.
Edmund looked worried upon hearing this. Growing anxious, he frowned as he spoke, "Lucian is...
definitely not on our side. They have something on me. If I don't do as they say, I could end up in jail."
At this point, Edmund was trapped—there was no way this whole situation was going to turn out in his
favor and his priority right now was keeping himself safe.
"Are you saying that you're going to give up the An Group already?" Shelly asked in horror, her heart
pounding in her chest.
"Why would I want to do that willingly? The An Group is my life's work. If I had my way, this wouldn't be
happening. I just can't understand how it's slowly slipping away from my hands." Edmund didn't want to
be in this power struggle with Jonny anymore. If they continued like this, it was going to be a matter of
life and death for both of them. He knew that everything he had worked hard for in his entire life was for
Jonny but it seemed that Jonny's priorities lay elsewhere. Jonny was doing all of this as revenge on
behalf of Emma.
"I'm begging you. Please think of a way! There has to be another way!" Shelly urged him. Tears welling
up, she added, "I can't lose Lucian. What do I have to live for if I don't have him with me?"
"Don't even mention that name to me!" Edmund snapped, eyes furious.
If it were not for Lucian's help, Jonny never could have roped in all those shareholders of the An Group.
Shelly grew quiet upon hearing this. When Edmund had noticeably calmed down, she asked cautiously,
"Dad, can you think of a way to give Lucian a hard time?"
"A hard time?" Edmund was immediately lost in thought. A bit nervous, his eyes lit up as if he'd thought
of something. After a momentary pause, he finally spoke, "Well, you were injured because of Lucian.
You can use that to your advantage. Threaten him if you have to so you can get what you want."
With that, Edmund felt as if Shelly had given him new insights which put him in a much better mood.
Nodding in agreement, Shelly said, "All right, dad, do what you have to do but I really don't believe
Lucian is as cold-hearted as you believe he is."
"In that case, you have to figure out his weakness then so we can hit him where it hurts," Edmund
added.
"Dad, don't worry. I'm willing to do anything for the man I love." She was ready to risk everything
because that was how much she loved Lucian.
Just as they had finished talking, someone came knocking on the door.
Briefly exchanging glances, Edmund opened the door.
"What are you doing here?" With a hint of displeasure in his tone, Edmund turned around and said to
Shelly, "Shelly, now that the person you've been wanting to see is here, I'll get going then."
"Dad..." Shelly exclaimed, pretending to be upset.
"Be good to my daughter..." Before leaving, he reached out and patted Lucian on the shoulder.
Lucian couldn't help but be a little confused. With the way things were going at the An Group, he would
have expected that Edmund would be more hostile towards him, not calm like this.
The room reeked of the smell of disinfectant fluid, the air extremely chilly.
Lucian stood in front of the bed as he asked Shelly in concern, "How are you feeling now? Is there
something wrong?"
After all, Lucian blamed himself for her accident so when he spoke, his tone was soft and gentle.
However, the care he showed Shelly was completely platonic, the same way he would care for a sister.
This gentle tone did not go unnoticed by Shelly. Her once knitted brows immediately smoothed out as a
smile spread across her face. "Lucian, don't worry. I'm not blaming you."
She only said this in an attempt to please Lucian but it seemed as if it didn't work as in his mind, he
was frowning.
"Oh, Lucian, my father was just about to feed me porridge when you arrived. He already left so would
you mind helping me?" Shelly pleaded as she glanced at the bowl of porridge sitting on the table. She
tried her best to look as miserable as possible in order to gain Lucian's sympathy.
Catching sight of the bowl of porridge, Lucian had no choice but to agree.
When Lucian grabbed the bowl, a glimmer of hope immediately arose in Shelly's eyes. In excitement,
she was already racking her mind for a way to stop Lucian from leaving.
"Open your mouth," Lucian said emotionlessly as he fed a spoonful of porridge to Shelly's mouth.
Shelly came to herself immediately and obediently opened her mouth.
Before Shelly could even swallow the porridge, the door of the ward flew open once again as Jonny
entered followed by Emma.
The moment Shelly caught sight of the two, the smile on her face evaporated as it was replaced with
dissatisfaction in her eyes.
"Shelly, Jonny came here especially to see you." Emma was trying her best to repair Shelly and
Jonny's broken relationship these years.
"Well, I don't want to see him," Shelly refused without hesitation.
Jonny's face was unreadable. He said lightly, "Well, since you're angry with me that means that this
isn't anything serious. Lucian, let's go."
"Jonny, you're free to come and go as you please but you have no right to take Lucian with you." Shelly
grew furious at the thought of Jonny taking Lucian with him.
"Shelly, don't get mad. Your brother only wants to talk with Lucian because they're in business together.
That's it. It doesn't mean anything else," Emma tried to explain.
This only provoked Shelly further especially that Emma was once again defending Jonny. Her eyes full
of resentment, she snapped, "You always take Jonny's side no matter what. Is this what you mean
when you say you love us equally?"
Emma was rendered speechless.
Her lack of a response didn't mean that Shelly was right, she just didn't want to infuriate Shelly even
more. After all, Shelly had just woken up and the doctor did say that she was going to be emotionally
unstable for a while.
"Shelly, you can do whatever you want to me but when it comes to mom, I'm drawing the line. Why are
you yelling at her?" Jonny's pet peeve was his mom being mistreated and being yelled at so he didn't
care that Shelly just woke up—he was angry and he wasn't going to just stand by and do nothing.
"Jonny, you're her brother," Emma said sternly.
"Do you and your son enjoy taking advantage of me when I'm sick and helpless?" Shelly taunted,
frowning. Then she turned to Lucian and whined, "Lucian, I want to go home already. I don't want to
stay here anymore."
Shelly believed that if she acted weak and miserable, Lucian would take pity on her.
"I talked to the doctor just now and he said that since you just woke up, you need to stay in the hospital
for at least a week," Lucian said calmly, feeling a little uncomfortable.
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