Family on Their Knees Heart Turned to Ice novel Chapter 1440

They couldn't hide in the study all afternoon while hundreds of elite guests mingled outside.

Despite the suffocating tension, they plastered on practiced, aristocratic smiles as they stepped back onto the terrace.

It was then that the elder Blakes spotted the Mercer family lurking near the buffet.

Old Mrs. Blake leaned in. "The Mercers had the nerve to show up? I thought you said Lillian was the guest of honor today?"

Sebastian immediately clarified, "The hostility between Lillian and the Mercers has thawed recently. Martin brings his wife to grovel for forgiveness in front of Lillian's mother every single day.

The Mercers are desperate to make amends and formally reinstate Lillian as the heir to their family."

The elder Blakes stared at him as if he had just announced the sky was green.

"What? Reinstate her?" They exchanged a look of pure, unadulterated shock.

Was this a bad joke?

Bring Lillian back into that toxic wasteland? There was zero chance she would ever agree to that.

Old Mr. Blake looked at his son like he was a complete imbecile. "Do you honestly believe Lillian would ever go back to them?"

Sebastian hadn't really scrutinized the logic of it. Given the Mercers' relentless daily groveling and the fact that Brandon was now openly communicating with Lillian, he assumed it was a done deal.

"If the Mercers bleed enough and show true remorse, why not? Lillian isn't a heartless monster.

Even a heart of stone can be warmed if you hold it close enough, right?"

Old Mr. Blake suddenly understood the delusional fantasy his son was clinging to.

No wonder Sebastian was so wildly optimistic about Lillian forgiving the Mercers. He was projecting. He was the one who had shattered her heart, and he was desperately praying that she would miraculously forgive him and fall back into his bed.

Lillian is a spectacularly brilliant woman. If you honestly think these pathetic, manipulative little tricks are going to work on her, you are vastly overestimating your own intelligence."

Sebastian blinked. Why was his mother suddenly lecturing him?

Weren't they just talking about the Mercers? Why did he feel like he had just been slapped?

"Mom, what are you talking about? I never meant..."

Old Mrs. Blake cut him off with a razor-sharp tone.

"If you are secretly harboring some delusional scheme to use the Mercers' reconciliation as a blueprint to win her back, I suggest you kill that fantasy right now."

Sebastian wasn't entirely dense. "You really think she won't go back to the Mercers? But they've been so close lately! She sees them every day, and out of everyone she blocked, she unblocked Brandon."

Old Mrs. Blake stared at him with pity. "And what does that prove? That she was moved by their sudden display of affection? Do you really think she simply forgot the years of abuse, the abandonment, and the sickening betrayal?"