The Cold Surgeon's Contract Bride novel Chapter 278

"Vivian," Lucille suddenly interrupted, her voice rising in a sharp sneer. "It seems your hearing is deteriorating. Even Dr. Sterling just admitted that those were the previously agreed-upon rules. Does the Sterling family think they can just rewrite contracts on a whim?"

This time, Lucille didn't call him her son-in-law. She called him Dr. Sterling.

And her tone had completely shifted from its usual desperate fawning to a biting, cold detachment.

Lucille had completely transformed.

Vivian was visibly struggling to handle her.

"Alright, back to business," Lucille said, softening her tone slightly. She looked at me, then at Ferris standing beside me. "Setting everything else aside, even if the Sterlings go back on their word and leave the Hayes family to rot, we'll accept it today. But regarding swapping the attending physician..."

She paused deliberately before continuing. "Since our familial ties clearly mean nothing, if you want us to drop the swap, there has to be something in it for us, right?"

The word 'something' caught all of us off guard.

I naturally found the proposition incredibly inappropriate.

We had swapped physicians solely because of Ferris's sheer negligence; it wasn't something to be leveraged in a dirty transaction.

Vivian seized upon Lucille's words like a lifeline. She pointed an accusatory finger at her and turned to Ferris. "Did you hear that, Ferris? It doesn't matter how well you treat them. She's actually trying to extort money from me using your reputation! Have you ever heard anything more absurd?"

Ferris gave Lucille a quiet, unreadable stare but said nothing.

Lucille didn't bat an eye. She stood up, radiating sheer confidence. "That's not fair, Vivian. We're in-laws today, sure, but who knows what tomorrow will bring? As a mother, don't you think I have an obligation to secure my children's futures?"

"Go home?" Lucille glared at me, annoyed. "Can't you see I'm closing a deal here?"

"Listen to her, just listen," Vivian scoffed, her tone dripping with venomous sarcasm. "First, they sold their daughter to cling to the Sterling family's coattails. Now, they're actually trying to extort my son for cash. The absolute sheer audacity!"

Sold their daughter?

I stared at Vivian in shock. Seeing the two women winding up for another screaming match, I raised my voice to cut through the chaos. "Enough! Both of you, stop fighting!"

My sudden outburst silenced them, though they continued to shoot venomous glares at each other. I knew Lucille was only trying to build a nest egg for the Hayes family, but doing it like this only cheapened us further and made us look incredibly pathetic.

Steeling myself, I glanced at Ferris and dropped the bomb. "The Sterling family is simply too far out of our league. Since things have reached this point... we should just take this opportunity to get a divorce."