Chapter 157 Dad Misses You Very Much

Chapter 157 Dad Misses You Very Much

Royce's voice carried through the microphone and across the entire plaza.

Amanda's expression shifted instantly. Anger flashed behind her eyes.

She forced herself to hold it down and deliberately slowed her voice as she responded.

"A strong personal style doesn't mean someone can't work with a group. I'm taking on a student, not putting together a private band. There's no need to get hung up on whether she fits in."

With everyone watching, Amanda had no interest in making a scene.

Her tone stayed controlled, but her eyes stayed locked on Royce, carrying an unmistakable warning.

Royce, who had always been good at reading the room, chose this time to ignore it entirely.

"Ms. Peterson, that's not quite right. The student you take on will need to work closely with us going forward. If she can't fit in with the team, there's no point in taking her on at all."

He stood up — not to speak up for Penelope, but to say loudly, "How about this? I'll pick a piece and have Ms. Ross perform it with us. If she can keep up with the group, then—"

"That's enough."

Before Royce could finish, Amanda's expression went cold.

She rose from her seat, the last trace of a smile gone from her face.

"Royce, I respect you because of your talent. That doesn't give you the right to make decisions for me."

Her voice carried no attempt to soften the words.

Royce hadn't expected Amanda to call him out publicly over Olivia. His eyes went wide.

"Ms. Peterson—"

"I've made my decision."

Amanda shot him a sharp look and cut him off with a raised hand before he could say another word.

The moment Royce stood up, Olivia had already braced herself for a confrontation — even a head-to-head performance if it came to that.

What she hadn't expected was for Amanda to stand up for her so firmly. A quiet warmth moved through her.

She lowered her head, pressed back the smile tugging at her lips, and walked over to Amanda's side.

The exchange was brief, and it ended quickly. But everyone present was sharp enough to see exactly what it meant. Amanda had a clear soft spot for her new student.

It wasn't long before a small crowd gathered around Olivia, each person offering their own version of congratulations.

Olivia handled it all with ease, a composed smile steady on her lips throughout.

After she saw off the last of them, a soft voice came from close by.

"You're nothing like I imagined."

Olivia turned to find a strikingly beautiful woman standing in front of her.

The Barnett family had kept Penelope well out of sight.

Even when Olivia had deliberately looked into her, she'd never been able to find a single photo of Penelope anywhere online.

The few times their paths had crossed, everything Olivia knew about Penelope had come secondhand from others.

Now, face to face with her for the first time, Olivia took a real look.

"Ms. Barnett, then what did you think I'd be like?"

Penelope smiled gracefully. "You don't need to be this guarded with me. I've never had any intention of competing with you for anything."

Her manner was calm and open, but it did nothing to warm Olivia to her.

Thinking back over everything that had happened recently, Olivia tilted her head and looked at her. "The reason you don't compete is that someone has already laid everything out for you. You get the benefits without lifting a finger, so of course you can afford to stand apart from it all. Penelope, you're not innocent in any of this — so don't put on an act in front of me."

The bluntness landed. Penelope's expression shifted, just slightly.

It wasn't the anger of someone caught out. It was the irritation of someone tired of being pushed.

She held herself just as straight as before, but the smile faded, and a small crease formed between her brows.

"Olivia, not everyone operates from a place that dark and narrow-minded."

"Right." Olivia's voice came out flat with contempt. "Then tell your brothers to stop harassing me."

She pulled out her phone and held up the message threads — every recent text from Tony and Murray laid out plainly.

"Your brothers have been flooding my phone with messages because they're afraid I've come back to take away what's yours. Tell them — I have zero interest in anything they think I'm after."

Olivia's expression had gone completely cold.

Penelope stood still, genuinely caught off guard. She hadn't known any of this.

Her face cycled through several expressions. After a moment, she spoke, brow furrowed.

"I wasn't aware they'd done this. If they've caused you any distress, I apologize on their behalf—"

"Don't bother."

That short exchange told Olivia everything she needed to know about Penelope.

She was nothing like Hestia.

It wasn't that she had no wants or desires.

Hestia, when she wanted something, would drop hints and work people carefully to get it.

Penelope didn't need to do any of that.

She came from one of the most powerful families around, had everything going for her, and had never been short of anything. Whenever she showed even the faintest interest in something, people lined up to hand it to her without her ever having to ask.

There was no question Penelope had grown up completely adored.

But that didn't make her innocent.

Even if she genuinely had no idea what her brothers had been doing, the root of all of it still led back to her. So as far as Olivia was concerned, innocent wasn't a word that applied.

Olivia turned and faced her directly.

"Ms. Barnett, I have no desire to have anything to do with you or the Barnett family. If you actually feel bad about any of this, then tell the people around you to stay out of my life and disappear completely — not to disrupt my life and then show up with a half-hearted apology after the fact. That only makes things worse."

Olivia turned to leave.

Penelope reached out and caught her by the wrist, her tone carrying a note of protest.

"Olivia, we're family, whether you like it or not. Do you have to speak to me this way?"

"We are not family."

Olivia's voice was steady. "Whatever front you put on, the fact is your mother knew Barney had a wife and family and chose to have you anyway. She was the other woman. And you were born outside of his marriage. Because of you, Barney pressured my mother to terminate her pregnancy — that was a deliberate act of harm. Even though it didn't go as far as they intended, everything my mother and I have been through all these years traces back to your family. So no, you are not innocent. I will not go back to that household and everything it represents, and I will never accept a father who once tried to have me erased before I was even born."

Olivia's voice never wavered once.

Penelope's long-held composure finally broke.

Her brow knotted tight. Her breathing went uneven.

"Olivia, why are you being so extreme about this? That was a different generation. What happened between them is over — and you're standing here just fine, aren't you?"

"Not every kind of damage disappears just because someone says it's in the past."

Olivia took a slow breath and saw it clearly now. For all her polish and apparent depth, Penelope was no different from the rest of them.

She lived at the top, surrounded by every advantage, and from that height she felt free to pass judgment on the struggles of people who had far less.

"Penelope, there's nothing left for us to talk about — and the same goes for me and the Barnett family. Don't seek me out again, and tell the people around you to stop coming after me. 

"Because if you don't, I have no problem putting the full story out on every platform available to me. Barney has spent years building his image as a devoted, loving man. Once it comes out that he pushed his wife out of the way for a mistress and kept that relationship going for years, not even the Barnett family's reach will be enough to keep the fallout contained."