The Cold Surgeon's Contract Bride novel Chapter 460

I had no idea how Lucille tracked me down.

"What kind of idiot are you, Selena? Everything Ferris gives you is exactly what you deserve! Just take it and keep your mouth shut. Why on earth are you trying to give it back?" The moment she saw me, she bolted over as if her pants were on fire.

She yanked me by the arm, shoving me behind her back, and leveled a predatory glare at Vivian. "Or did someone force you to give it all back? You're just too timid, always letting people bully you. Why didn't you tell your mother what was going on?"

I was completely bewildered, stumbling as Lucille dragged me behind her. I barely managed to get out, "No, Mom, nobody forced me. I'm choosing to return..."

"It's fine, Mom is here now. I'll handle this." Lucille struck with lethal precision, clamping her hand firmly over my mouth and shoving my unfinished sentence right back down my throat. Puffing up like a fiercely protective mother hen, she declared, "Don't you worry. As long as I'm here, no one is taking a dime from our family."

I desperately wanted to scream that none of this belonged to our family in the first place.

And Lucille was being dangerously naive. She actually believed Ferris had just handed me all this for free.

Setting aside the fact that there was no such thing as a free lunch, would a man like Ferris ever be stupid enough to hand over a massive fortune to a woman he didn't even love?

"Lucille, do you even hear yourself? What do you mean 'your family's things'? Eden Gardens belongs to Ferris. It's a premarital asset, meaning there is absolutely no scenario where Selena gets to walk away with it. What the hell do you think you're doing throwing a tantrum here?" Vivian clearly hadn't anticipated Lucille crashing the party, and it took her a solid minute to recover from the shock.

But the moment she did, she glared straight at me. "Selena, no wonder you were stalling the transfer just now. You were dragging this out waiting for Lucille to show up and cause a scene, weren't you?"

I thought it was downright laughable. I just knew Vivian would twist this against me.

But before I could even open my mouth to defend myself, a deep voice cut through the tension. "I'm the one causing a scene."

Vivian and I both snapped our mouths shut, turning to look at Ferris, who stood silently off to the side, unyielding as a towering pine.

I stared at Ferris, completely paralyzed by confusion and bewilderment.

Lucille immediately seized the upper hand. "You heard him, Vivian! Ferris voluntarily gave all of this to Selena. You have absolutely zero right to force her to return a damn thing."

She really was...

I gave her hand a tight squeeze, silently praying for her to shut up.

I watched Vivian's face drain of color. Her lips clamped together in a furious line as she fixed a deadly glare on Ferris. "Ferris, don't tell me you can't bear to divorce this woman?"

My heart gave a violent jolt, and I snapped my gaze up to Ferris in absolute disbelief.