Family on Their Knees Heart Turned to Ice novel Chapter 1410

It was the joke of the century: Sabrina Ward, not caring about Martin's money.

After tearing into his father, Brandon was still raging. He stormed into Colin's office and vented his frustrations all over again.

Colin quietly poured him a glass of water. "Drink up, Brandon. Your throat is going to bleed. Don't stress yourself into an early grave. If the sky falls, the tall guys will catch it. Dad isn't dead yet; he'll have to prop the company up.

"As for Bella claiming she can steal Tristan? Let her talk. When she stole Sebastian, she had a stellar reputation in the industry. But look at her now. Does Sebastian actually love her? If he did, would he have filed for divorce the second their trainwreck of a wedding ended? He dumped her because he despises her.

"Don't let her empty threats get to you. Beatrice Winthrop is still breathing. Even if Bella managed to bewitch Tristan, does he have the spine to step over his grandmother's dead body to marry her? Brandon, Beatrice is a hundred times more ruthless than our grandmother ever was."

Brandon took a deep breath, his rationality slowly returning.

Colin was right. Bella couldn't just snap her fingers and steal a man. Men weren't mindless objects on a shelf.

The Winthrop family was entirely controlled by Beatrice, and Tristan was notoriously obedient. He wasn't some rebellious bad boy; he was docile and easily managed. While that meant he might not achieve corporate greatness, he was the perfect, safe choice to maintain a legacy.

Brandon realized that was exactly why Tristan was the ideal puppet for Lillian. Lillian had the ambition and the sheer aggressive talent to conquer the industry; Tristan just needed to sit back and play the supportive, obedient husband. They balanced each other perfectly. Tristan didn't have a single playboy bone in his body, making him highly resistant to someone as toxic as Bella.

Lillian was well aware of the long-standing alliance between the Mercers and the Winthrops. Martin had always played the perfect gentleman in front of the older generation, so their continued social ties were normal. Furthermore, Lillian knew Beatrice was subtly trying to play peacemaker.

It was an old woman's kindness—Beatrice and Lillian's grandmother had been the closest of friends, and she naturally hated seeing the Mercer family shatter.

Curious to see if the brothers were there for business or just to leverage the family connection, Lillian agreed.

When Beatrice confirmed the joint dinner, Brandon was ecstatic. The brothers immediately finalized their plans, completely freezing Martin out of the loop.