Quentin couldn't afford to upset Avery since he was counting on Angie's investment. He rushed to support Amanda. "Mom, let's wait over there for now. She'll come around later."
Amanda shrugged off his hand. "Today, I must take this damn girl away with me. If she doesn't leave, I'll die right here."
"Well, die for all I care. I wish you would drop dead sooner rather than later." Marianne snatched a rope from the prop master and flung it at Amanda's feet. "How about this? Call Laverne, and you two can drop dead together. At your funeral, I'll consider getting tested for a transplant. Until then, forget about it."
Amanda was dumbfounded, slapping her thigh and wailing. "You ungrateful scourge, a total loss! Why are you not the sick one? Oh, Lord, show mercy and swap this wretch's life for Ryan's!"
Avery was speechless, having never encountered such shameless audacity.
Leah, hands on her hips, stormed over with fiery support for Marianne.
"Mrs. Clark, it’s the 21st century, and you still favor boys over girls. Aren't you a woman too, or are you also a loss your parents should've snuffed out at birth?"
Amanda's face turned various shades of red and white. "You little brat, what's it to you? I'm disciplining my granddaughter. It's none of your business!"
Leah stuck out her tongue at her. "You've insulted all of womankind. As a woman, it's my duty to call you out. If you despise women so much, why don't you get a sex change and become a man yourself?"
"Well said, Leah!" Marianne cheered and clapped enthusiastically beside her.
Amanda was fuming. "I bore a son for the Clark family and carried on the lineage. I am a hero to the Clark family."
"Pah!" Marianne spat on the ground. "Your values twist, and your morals corrupt. You indulged the mistress and abused your legal daughter-in-law. Even God can't stand the sight of you, so it punishes you. Your son had cancer and lost his fertility, and your grandson's got kidney failure, and even if he gets a transplant and keeps his life, he can’t have children to carry on the family. The Clark family are done for, uprooted!"
Amanda nearly fainted with rage, raising her hand to strike Marianne.
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