After saying goodbye to Amelia, Rebecca hopped into her car and headed out
Meanwhile, Amelis pulled out her phone and chot Ryan a message: [Rebecca’s here. If the suffers even a tiny bit at the Curman family, I won’t mind hacking into your company and blowing up some secrets.
Since they’d added each other as contacts, this was actually the first time Amelia had ever messaged him
Ryan replied almost instantly: [Don’t worry.)
Amelia put her phone away and didn’t bother checking it again.
Ryan turned to Old Mr. Lawrence and asked, “Did you give those folks a heads–up?”
Old Mr. Lawrence replied, “No.”
Ryan’s brows furrowed in frustration.
Anyone could tell Ryan was clearly annoyed by that answer.
He was the one who had invited Rebecca and promised to make sure everyone treated her right. Now he was hearing that Old Mr. Lawrence hadn’t prepared anything at all–it seriously ticked him off.
“I had them show up an hour early,” Old Mr. Lawrence said, old but still sharp. “Everyone should’ve arrived by now. If you need to say something, now’s your chance.”
Ryan fixed his eyes on Old Mr. Lawrence–he couldn’t shake the feeling the old man was setting him up.
Old Mr. Lawrence pressed, “Why are you just standing there? Rebecca’s gonna show up any minute. Do you want her walking in and overhearing stuff she’d hate to hear?”
“What exactly are you trying to pull?” Ryan snapped, the usual respect gone from his voice.
Old Mr. Lawrence just replied calmly, “I just want Becky to come home for a meal, meet her uncles and grandpas in the family. That’s all–what else did you expect?”
Ryan just sat there, not moving an inch.
Old Mr. Lawrence was starting to get anxious.
“What’s he doing just sitting there? It’s almost time–he should be out there talking to those people already, Old Mr. Lawrence fretted.
“Aren’t you going?” he pressed again.
“I’m not going over there until you tell me what you’re really after,” Ryan said, his tone icy. He’d grown up in a world full of schemes, from the Guzman Group’s shares down to the smallest details of daily life.
He’d kept his cool through more than twenty years of family scheming.
11:19 Wed, Oct 15
Chapter 335
During that time, he and Old Mr Lawrence hardly ever exchanged more than a few words.
Now, with Old Mr. 1 serence pulling all this out of the bloe, it was hard not to get suspicious
20
“Don’t always think the worst of you dad, Old Mr. Lawrence finally spoke up. Sure, I was harsh with you and Amelia before, but Becky’s your daughter, part of the Guzman family There’s no way I’d go that low when it comes to bey”
Ryan just ignored him, not even bothering to respond.
There’s no way he’d go that low?
He pulled out every dirty trick in the book, Ryan scoffed to himself.
“I just told them Becky’s coming over for dinner tonight, Old Mr. Lawrence said, realizing he couldn’t win this standoff. He was worried that if they kept arguing, it would ruin everything he’d planned. “That’s all I said -nothing else.”
Ryan gave him a look with a skeptical edge. “You sure about that?”
Old Mr. Lawrence replied, “What’s there to be unsure about? Just go see for yourself.”
Ryan didn’t bother saying anything else. He just stood up and headed out. He knew he’d get his answers face to face–no way the old man could bluff his way through at this point.
When Ryan stepped into the main hall, he saw the place was already packed with Guzman family members.
As soon as he walked in, everyone turned to look at him. Since he was the CEO of the Guzman Group, most people started buttering him up, but of course, Miles’s crew couldn’t resist throwing in some snide remarks.
Ryan didn’t pay them any mind. He just laid out what he needed to say, then gave them a warning: “Rebecca is my only child, and I’m fiercely protective of her. I don’t want to hear anything inappropriate at the dinner table tonight. Otherwise…”
“Or what?” someone from Miles’s faction stepped up, challenging him.
“Nothing Ryan drawled, his voice cool while his eyes bore down on them like a warning shot. “Just saying- most of you aren’t getting any younger. I’m sure you’d all prefer your golden years to be drama–free.”
That landed hard. The vibe in the room instantly grew tense.
On Miles’s side, faces darkened and shifted; even the clueless ones caught on–Ryan was laying down a threat.
The rest of the Guzman family didn’t bat an eye.
Ryan was the Guzman Group’s CEO, and him having his own kid actually worked out in their favor. From a practical angle, nobody wanted to see the family shares end up in Miles’s kids‘ hands once the old folks were out of the picture.
If the Guzman family’s shares ended up in Rebecca’s hands, they wouldn’t have to worry about the family’s future. With how much Ryan and Amelia cared about their daughter, they’d make sure to marry her off to
11:19 Wed, Oct 15
Chapter 335
someone who could help her manage the Guzman family in the future
Ryan saw exactly what they were thinking
But that wasn’t important
He planned to use both their expectations and Jeffrey’s influence once he arrived to make the share transfer go even smoother.
About forty minutes later, Rebecca arrived.
Rebecca Jensen pulled up at the Guzman family home.
By then, the Guzman family’s dinner was ready, and nearly all the elders had gathered.
The seating at the family banquet was all about seniority and status–at the head table sat Old Mr. Lawrence, Ryan, the other key Guzman shareholders, and, sneaking in late, Miles.
Rebecca took the seat to Old Mr. Lawrence’s left, with the spot right next to her left empty.
Someone noticed and looked around, asking, “Who’s that seat saved for?”
By the looks of it, based on seniority and rank, there really wasn’t anyone else in the family who qualified to sit there.
The vibe was clear–no other family member seemed worthy of that spot.
“Don’t tell me that’s for Jeffrey?” someone else at the table tossed out.
“Jeffrey? Why would he be coming?” one person asked, sounding genuinely puzzled.
I heard Mr. Quinn mention that aside from the family dinner, there’s an important guest from Jelasburg showing up tonight,” another added.
“We’ve got nothing to do with the Hanson family, so why are they even coming?” someone muttered, confused.
“Oh, please, you can’t say there’s no connection,” Old Mr. Lawrence’s younger brother said, dropping his voice just in case Rebecca was listening. “Officially, he’s Ryan’s ex–son–in–law.”
Rebecca heard everything.
But after hearing these kinds of rumors so many times since she moved to Honnala, Rebecca barely even cared anymore.
Still…
‘Nobody told me Jeffrey was coming!’
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