Stand Me Up? I'll Marry His Billionaire Uncle novel Chapter 73

It was already eight o'clock in the evening when Sean finally arrived—unfashionably late, as usual.

His daughter had blocked his number, so it took him a round of awkward inquiries before he managed to find out that his mother had been admitted to the intensive care unit on the sixteenth floor.

Stepping out of the elevator, Sean spotted his daughter at the end of the corridor, just emerging from the doctor's office.

"Sunny—"

His voice rang out, not loud, not soft, just enough to catch her attention.

Sunny lifted her eyes, meeting the sight of a man in a perfectly tailored suit striding toward her.

At forty-five, Sean was still in impressive shape, keeping up his weekly gym routine without fail. There were traces of herself in his sharp gaze—features they shared—but to Sunny, the resemblance was something to be ashamed of.

Her stepsister liked to boast about how she was the spitting image of their father. As if looking like a cold-blooded creature was something to brag about.

A heavy stench of alcohol drifted off him as he approached.

While her own mother was in surgery, her father was out drinking with clients. The fact that he could stomach it was astonishing.

"Sunny, what's with that look?" Sean frowned, clearly annoyed, as if he couldn't fathom why his daughter's eyes were so—icy.

He was her father. The head of the family. He wouldn't tolerate defiance in his own home.

"Where's your grandmother? Which room? I want to see her!"

Sunny's lips curled into a chilly, mocking smile. "Grandma had a stroke. She's in the ICU now."

"A stroke?" His face paled. That was serious.

"I told you to call Ms. Quinn, didn't I? Why didn't you?"

Sean realized, a beat too late, that his words had crossed a line. He covered his mouth with a cough and glared at his daughter. "She's my mother. Why wouldn't I care? Sunny, listen to yourself. What kind of things are you saying?"

"If you can't see her tonight, maybe you should just go ahead with the wedding tomorrow as planned," Sunny said, swinging her arm in its sling, her voice cold as stone. "Think I'm fit to get married like this?"

Sean seemed dazed, struggling to keep up with the conversation. "What happened to your arm now? You know how important tomorrow is, and you're still so careless!"

He shot a look of disgust at the cast on her shoulder. "Go get it taken off. If you keep your arm down at the ceremony, no one will notice."

"Just hold out until after the wedding, then you can get it put back on."

His words, so callous and unfeeling, left Sunny gutted—like icy wind whistling through holes stabbed straight through her heart.

"You want this marriage alliance with the Lawsons that badly?"

"Yes," Sean replied without hesitation. "I need the Lawson family's money. Their support. Their connections."