Emily and Hamlin were at their wits' end.
They never imagined their eldest daughter, Lily, would spew such hurtful, venomous words.
Emily was trembling with rage.
Hamlin, in a fit of fury, grabbed a plate and hurled it toward Lily, exclaiming, "How did I ever father such a curse?"
The plate crashed with a clang against Lily's forehead before shattering on the floor.
Lily touched her forehead, relieved there was no blood.
With a broken heart, she accused Hamlin, "You're just defending Nora, as if her sleeping around with a bunch of guys wasn't filthy enough. Am I not even allowed to state the obvious?"
Nora's scandal had once set the town abuzz.
The entire upper crust had seen that explosive video of Nora.
"Dad, the real disgrace to the Dawson family is Nora, not me."
"The one who brought shame upon you was Nora. Yet, you cruelly threw me out of the house."
"Do you have any idea how tough it's been for me these years?"
"When I didn't even have enough money for a hotel, I was sleeping under bridges in a foreign land, did you know that?"
By the end, Lily was shouting in anguish, her voice tearing through the air.
But neither Hamlin nor Emily felt a shred of pity.
Emily, disappointed, looked at her daughter, "When you divorced Alexander, you got a decent settlement. You shouldn't have ended up under a bridge unless you gambled it all away. Besides, your father and I paid for your education abroad. With your qualifications, you should've never ended up like this. It's all your own doing, because you refused to work honestly for your money."
"If you and Dad hadn't cast me out, Alexander wouldn't have left me, and I wouldn't have ended up a total wreck," Lily said, without realizing her own faults.
She stared defiantly at her parents.
Hamlin clutched his chest in anger, "Get out, just get out. I never had a daughter like you."
"Hah!" Lily snorted coldly, "Kicking me out again? This is my home too. Where do you expect me to go?"
"Anywhere, as long as it's far from here."
"You want me out? Well, I'm not leaving."
Lily glanced at Emily's arms where little Kent sat, too scared to speak.
"And what about your precious grandson? Will you really let him wander the streets with me?"
Hamlin's heart softened at the sight of his grandson. After all, the child was innocent.
At four in the afternoon, the streets of Seraphim Haven were bathed in the warm glow of the winter sun.
Roxanne stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows of her office, completing several facial recognition verifications in a row.
Once done, she called Harrison.
"Harrison, about the facial recognition checks your CFO and Mr. Johnson had me do, what were they for exactly?"
Mr. Johnson and the CFO had launched several verifications, and she was clueless about their purpose.
Harrison asked in return, "Did you complete them?"
"Yeah. You haven't sold me out, have you?" Roxanne joked.
"It's almost half-past four."
On the other end, Harrison glanced at his watch and said, "I'm going to pick up Angela from preschool soon, then I'll come for you. Let's dine out tonight and talk."
"Sounds good."
"You hang up first."
"No, you hang up."
"You first," Harrison insisted patiently.
He knew she was still shaken from a recent plane crash scare and needed reassurance.
In the past few days, Harrison had been extra careful, and Roxanne could feel it.
After facing a crisis together, they both treasured their love more cautiously.
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