Chapter 173 Mercilessly

Chapter 173 Mercilessly
Eden’s Point of View 

Father came as promised in the morning. The tension was thick between the three of us, but after exchanging brief pleasantries with Theron, Theron excused us and gave us privacy, allowing us to use his study for our meeting.

My father’s eyes scanned the whole room; he was unsettled, and his eyes shifted towards me again; they were cold just as I remembered, condescending, judging, filled with so much anger and scorn.

As hopeful as I tend to get, I knew my relationship with my father was a lost cause, nothing good ever comes from meeting up with him, and as much as I wanted to avoid the conversation, Theron was right. Sometimes, I have to face my problems head-on to ensure that they never bother me again.

And that is precisely what I am going to do—I will make sure he never gets to call me again. I heard a knock on the door to the study.

“Come in,” I ordered, and almost immediately, one of the workers of the mansion came inside, she was holding a tray containing tea cups and a kettle in her hands.

“Mr. Adler told me to bring you tea.” She answered before placing it on the small table that stood between father and me.

“Thank you,” I muttered as she served me.

“I heard you were kidnapped.” Father started. ” It was messy, the police got involved, and the culprit was Thorne Adler, your husband’s younger brother.”

“Is that the reason you decided to pay me a visit?” My lips flattened into a smile, and he scoffed.

“I couldn’t say that I was surprised when I heard. You never cease to amaze me. I am only surprised your husband is still with you.” He leaned back, refusing to take the tea from the girl, angrily waving her off. She took a step back and dropped the teacup on its saucer before exiting the study. “You dated your husband’s younger brother and kept it a secret from us. And even after you’re married, you still got involved with him and caused chaos in the prestigious Adler family. You really know how to ruin good things, don’t you?”

Something in what he said seemed to hurt me, because he wasn’t entirely wrong; it’s almost as if chaos followed me everywhere I go.

“If I had sat you down and tried to talk to you like two reasonable adults, would you have called off the wedding?” I let out a brittle scoff. “I told you I couldn’t go through with it. I begged you. And you refused. So, what exactly did you expect me to do? Smile? Endure whatever he did to me? Wasn’t that what you said? That I should tolerate it for the sake of your hospital?”

He quieted, for as long as I remembered, he hated when I talked back to him.

“And now that I did exactly what you asked, I stayed, endured, survived, it’s still my fault?” My eyes locked onto his, searching for even a flicker of accountability, but there was none. “Have you forgotten why your hospital is still standing?” I didn’t wait for his answer. “Because of me.”

“I was the sacrificial lamb, and you keep thriving on the sale of my future; you of all people have no right to come in here and act righteous.”

Silence settled on us once more.

“But you know what, Father? I am not even mad at you. In fact, I am thankful you slapped some sense into me the day I tried to refuse this marriage, because guess what? It’s the best fucking thing that has happened to me.”

His expression darkened.

“Yes, I forced you to marry my friend’s son. And what did you do with that opportunity? You destroyed their family.” His voice sharpened. “Keegan is divorcing his wife because of you. And his other son, the one you ruined, is in rehab.”

“As he should be,” I fired back instantly, fury flooding my veins. “That animal almost killed me. He nearly killed my baby.” My breath hitched, but I wasn’t done yet. “In fact, he should be locked in a psychiatric hospital and never allowed near another human being again.”

I snapped almost immediately.

“As for Madam Giselle, as much as I respect her, maybe this divorce is better for other people. Theron and his father don’t deserve to be around such toxicity.”

“You’re still as delusional as ever.” His voice thundered through the room.

Frustration carved harsh lines into his face. “I was never wrong about you, Eden. You’re a curse. You ruin everything you touch—just like you took from me the one thing I treasured most.”

Pain flickered in his eyes again. I recognized it. I knew what was coming next; the words were barely at the tip of his lips.

I had heard them so many times they echoed in my sleep, and I was tired of hearing them every damned time.

“Do you know how much I resent you, Father?” I asked quietly, setting the teacup down with a sharp clink against the table. My hands trembled, but my voice did not. “But as much as I hate you…” I swallowed, forcing the confession past the lump in my throat. “I hate Mom even more.”

His eyes widened as if I had struck him. Shock drained the color from his face. In all the years of silence and swallowed pain, I had never dared to say it aloud. Not even to myself.

But the truth sat between us now, ugly and irreversible.

“I have resented Mom every single day of my life. Do you want to know why?” My voice trembled, but I didn’t stop. “Because of you. I hated that she met you. I hated that she had me. And I hated that she chose to save me instead of herself. Maybe if she hadn’t… maybe you’d have something in your life that didn’t make you so bitter.”

His jaw tightened. “You think this is about me being grumpy?”

“No,” I shot back, my chest burning. “But it doesn’t give you the right to pour every ounce of your anger onto me. I was a child. I didn’t choose what happened. And yet you’ve punished me for it every single day of my life.”

My voice broke despite myself. “If you miss your wife that much, then grieve her. Love her. Mourn her. But stop making me pay for the fact that she chose me. Stop looking at me like I stole something from you.”

I swallowed hard, tears blurring my vision. “I already live with the guilt of surviving. I don’t need my own father reminding me I shouldn’t have.”

“Eden?” His voice faltered, disbelief laced in it.

All these years of bitterness, helplessness, and emptiness pressed against my ribs all at once, and the pain of growing up as an orphan, even though it was only a mother I lost, sliced through me.

“I will be dissolving the merger of the hospital as soon as Theron becomes the chairman,” I muttered, and his eyes snapped back towards me. “Evangeline will be fired as well.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Yes,” I replied, a slow, humorless smile curving my lips. “I can. And if I can’t, I can certainly make Theron do it.”

“Eden, the hospital is in your grandmother’s memory; you cannot do this.” He sounded desperate now. “She wanted us to protect her legacy. Doing this is destroying everything your grandmother ever built.”

Those were the same words he blackmailed me with, but this was a different Eden.

“No,” I corrected softly. “She trusted you to protect her legacy. And you failed at such a simple task.” My smile widened. “If Grandma is watching, I doubt she’s proud.”

I tilted my head slightly, meeting his eyes without mercy. “In fact, I think she might regret the day she had you.”