Vanessa didn’t stay quiet either. She kept sending me taunting messages on WhatsApp. Photos, videos, all showing how John and Keith were at her beck and call, doing whatever she asked.
“Don’t think running away will make them come crawling back to you. Playing hard to get? Please, I perfected that game a long time ago. You leaving was the best thing that ever happened. The title of the heiress of the Quinn family should’ve been mine from the start,” she wrote.
I muted all notifications from them.
Two days before the wedding, Keith showed up at the Stone residence. He was shouting at the gate, demanding to see me.
I didn’t want to cause trouble for Nathan or leave a bad impression on his family. So, I rushed outside, hoping to pull him away.
Instead, he plopped himself down right at the front door like he owned the place. “Willow, now that Nathan is awake and you two are about to get married, that means the Quinns and the Stones are basically family, right? Our parents are gone, I’m the only family you have left, right?”
He spent a while laying the groundwork, and I knew he was building up to ask for something.
Just as I expected, his next sentence gave away his real purpose. “Come on, I’m going to be Nathan’s brother–in–law. How could he do something like this?”
It was only from him that I found out, within just a few days, Nathan had launched a full–blown crackdown on the Quinn family. Several deals that they were about to close completely fell apart. Even longtime partners, after hearing there was tension between the Quinn and Stone families, cut ties early to avoid offending the Stones and protect their own interests.
In a matter of days, the Quinn family’s entire business came to a halt. The Webb family wasn’t doing much better.
Nathan hadn’t mentioned a single word of it to me. So, I said calmly, “That’s business. I’m sure he has his reasons. It’s not my place to interfere.”
“Willow! How can you be so heartless? Everything the Quinn family has today came from Grandpa, Mom, and Dad. Two generations of hard work! You’re really okay watching it all go to waste?” Keith said.
It had been years since Keith had said this much to me and with such heartfelt sincerity. All his attention had been on Vanessa for so long. It was clear he had been pushed to his breaking point.
If this had been the old me, I probably would’ve caved. However, I wasn’t who I used to be.
I smiled and said, “So, now you care about the legacy of the Quinn family? What about me?
“I was Grandpa’s favorite granddaughter, Mom and Dad’s beloved daughter, and the rightful heiress of the Quinn family. I’m a real, living person, and yet you cared more about money and status than you ever did about me?
“It’s just business. You lose it, you build it back. And you know Nathan’s only doing this to stand up for me. Once I’ve had my fill, I’m sure he will ease up on you.”
Just then, Vanessa and John came rushing over. Her face turned red after hearing what I said. “Willow, do you even have a conscience? You’re part of the Quinn family. How could you say that?”
I retorted, “When you said that Nathan and I were sneaking around like some sleazy couple, did you think of me as family then? “When you accused me of all kinds of horrible things, did it ever cross your mind that I’m part of the Quinn family? When you kept stealing everything I cared about, did you stop to think I’m a Quinn?”
She froze, completely caught off guard by my questions. She mumbled, “We all live under the same roof… of course, there would be some small arguments. You didn’t have to take them so seriously.”
Chap 7
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It blew my mind that everything I went through for six years was, to her, was nothing more than an afterthought.
I smiled bitterly. “Well, it’s business. Setbacks happen. So, what if Nathan is coming down on you? Why take it so personally?”
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