Chapter 4Dad Threatened Me With Mom’s Life, My Reply Stunned Him

My blood ran cold. "Are you insane? She’s been your wife for twenty-five years!"

"Twenty-five years of playing the obedient husband, putting up with her spoiled tantrums, and kissing up to her and that old man!"

"I am sick of it!" Marcus whipped out a document and threw it onto my bed. "Sign this."

I looked down. It was a Voluntary Relinquishment of Inheritance Rights.

Black ink on white paper. Clear and absolute.

"Sign it and leave your thumbprint, and I'll authorize her surgery. Otherwise, you can watch her die."

I glared at him. "You bought off the board of directors, didn't you?"

He let out a smug chuckle. "Why do you think I've been playing the loyal servant all these years?"

"Those greedy old fools on the board have been in my pocket for a long time."

"If you don't sign, your mother dies. When she's gone, the board will pressure your grandfather. That old traditionalist will never let a massive conglomerate fall to an outsider like you."

He leaned down, his voice dripping with malice. "If you know what's good for you, you'll sign."

"You love your mother so much, don't you?" Marcus shoved a pen into my hand. "She spent millions on you. She sent you to the best schools, gave you the finest life."

"Now it's time to pay her back. Surely you aren't so heartless as to let her die?"

I stared at the document, the pain in my side flaring up.

My voice was iron. "You planned this all along."

"You knew Sabrina was your daughter. You knew I was adopted. But you waited for the exact moment my mother was unconscious after surgery."

"You wanted to trap me, force me to give up the inheritance, and install Sabrina as the heir. Once Grandfather passes away, you can finally put your own name on the family legacy and take over everything."

Marcus looked down at me with mock pity. "And what are you going to do about it?"

"In the end, I'm the one who wins."

The nurse stood by the door, sweating profusely.

"Miss Lockhart, your mother is slipping away! We can't wait..."

"What's the rush?" Marcus cut her off coldly. "We're waiting for my daughter to sign."

He turned back to me. "Fiona, you wouldn't want the world to know you let your mother die, would you?"

Sabrina looked at me with a glint of smug satisfaction beneath her mask of pity.

To her, I was a fallen princess. My stepfather had betrayed me, my mother was on her deathbed, and my gilded life was finally over.

She was about to become the new queen of the Lockhart empire, and out of sheer generosity, she might spare me a little pity once she had the money.

I let out a slow sigh. "Marcus, twenty-four years, and you haven't changed a bit."

"With such cheap tricks, it's no wonder you never made anything of yourself."