\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 170\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 170\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sierra\u00a0<\/p>\n
My grandfather nodded slowly, as if he had reached some conclusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI see,\u201d he said. \u201cIt seems you like salty food. If that\u2019s the case, I won\u2019t keep it away from you\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His\u00a0<\/p>\n
gaze settled on my mother. She didn\u2019t flinch or even blink. It was as if she were used to this.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGo ahead,\u201d he continued calmly. \u201cEat it, then.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My mother bowed her head. \u201cYes, Fathe\u00a0<\/p>\n
She stepped forward, picked up his tray, still full of sushi, and began to eat. She ate standing there, obedient and quiet. shoving the food into her mouth as if that was all she was worth. Like a dog allowed scraps after pleasing its owner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I glanced at my father, waiting for some kind of reaction. Anger, discomfort, or anything, but he didn\u2019t move, or speak. He simply watched her with a bored,\u00a0<\/p>\n
detached expression, like this was nothing new.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked back at my mother, my face blank, something hollow in my chest. Here she goes again. Letting them do whatever they wanted to her. Letting herself be humiliated when she could have left. When she could have walked away with me after I begged her so many times. But no, she chose this. She chose to stay and play servant in a family that would never see her as anything more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fine. If she wanted to kneel, she could kneel alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned my head away, refusing to watch anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My grandfather shifted his attention back to my father and uncle, his voice sharp, as if dismissing her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you remember the time your sister chose another man over her family?\u201d he asked. \u201cYou both acted as if she wouldn\u2019t survive without us. Well, you were right. She didn\u2019t survive. But her sons\u2026\u201d His eyes gleamed. \u201cHer sons turned out far smarter and better than the two of you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The air in the room thickened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOne is intelligent, quiet, and calculating,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd the other-that boy is the one I\u2019m most interested in. Every time I look at him, I can\u2019t help but think how much he takes after me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHow good the Kim family could have been if I had accepted your sister\u2019s relationship,\u201d my grandfather went on, thoughtfully. \u201cThis is the first decision I ever rejected that proved me wrong. And yet here you are, acting smug over earning pocket money. How foolish.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked at my father and uncle again. They still didn\u2019t speak, but their hands were clenched now, knuckles white.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Leave it to my grandfather to destroy their pride whenever he pleased\u00a0<\/p>\n
He leaned back in his chair, fingers tapping lazily against the arrest \u201cSo, I\u2019ve thought about it,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve decided to bring Hades back into this house.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That was when they finally reacted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My father and uncle both looked up sharply, shock flashing across their faces as if the words had hit them physically.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d my father said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
21:15 Tue, Jan 13\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 170\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou heard me,\u201d my grandfather replied calmly. \u201cI\u2019m bringing Hades back. There is nothing you can do about it. Before he inherits the Sinclair company, I will make him an heir to the Kim company first.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He tilted his head slightly. \u201cOr is there something you don\u2019t like about that?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My father and uncle frowned, displeasure clear on their faces, but they didn\u2019t argue. They never did. In this family, disagreement was a luxury no one was allowed to afford.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGood,\u201d my grandfather said, then, for the first time that night, his gaze shifted directly to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that case, Sierra.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Everyone looked at me at once, as if they had only just realized I had been sitting there the entire time. I raised an eyebrow slowly, unbothered, meeting my grandfather\u2019s sharp stare without lowering my head. If he expected intimidation, he was looking at the wrong granddaughter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you\u2019re planning Hades\u2019 wedding party,\u201d he said calmly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t surprised. I had known from the moment I started moving pieces that he would be watching me. He always did when it involved Hades. My grandfather was obsessed with control, and Hades was the one variable he had never been able to truly grasp.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He could monitor me easily. But Hades would know the moment someone tried to keep tabs on him, and when he knew, especially now that Violet was involved, he would erase that person without hesitation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My grandfather probably didn\u2019t know much about Violet yet. Only that Hades was married. If he knew who Hades was married to, this dinner would have gone very differently. My father disliked women who were not up to his standards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms loosely.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My tone wasn\u2019t respectful. It wasn\u2019t submissive. But it wasn\u2019t rude either. My grandfather didn\u2019t get angry. He never really cared about me. He was already used to the fact that I wasn\u2019t afraid of him, and that alone amused him more than it irritated him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He stood up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The sound of his chair scraping against the floor echoed through the dining room. Everyone else stood immediately, like trained puppets whose strings had been pulled, everyone except me. I stayed exactly where I was, watching him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He looked down at me. \u201cThe Kim family will also be attending,\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t a suggestion. It wasn\u2019t even framed like a discussion. It was a command, spoken with the confidence of a man who had never been told no in his life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before anyone could respond, he turned and walked away from the table. My grandmother, who had sat the entire dinner like a beautifully dressed statue, rose instantly and followed him out without a word. My father and uncle stood as well, exchanging a brief look before heading upstairs together, their faces tight, already planning something, no doubt. Schemes were the only language they knew.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My aunt gently touched my mother\u2019s arm, whispering an apology. My mother shook her head, exhausted, then glanced at me once before leaving with my aunt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Soon, the dining room was nearly empty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I exhaled softly and shook my head, staring at the untouched food in front of me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What a weird chaebol family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
ue, Jan 13\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nights Burn With Regret \u2014 by Nathan Perez 170 \u00a0 Chapter 170\u00a0 Chapter 170\u00a0 Sierra\u00a0 My grandfather nodded slowly, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-craving-the-guardian-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}