Chapter 677

The patriarch’s expression also soured as he stared at his son.
A muscle twitched in Victor’s cheek. “This is my only demand! I will step down, but Simon must be given a position!”
Harrison’s reply was absolute. “The Lancaster family business will never involve an illegitimate child who has no right to be here.”
Victor’s face darkened with fury. Simon, standing there as the object of scornful gazes, looked both defiant and humiliated.
“I’m a Lancaster too!” he burst out, his voice shaking with anger. “Why do you get everything, and I get nothing?!”
The room fell silent.
Anastasia stared at him, speechless. Where did this person get such audacity?
The others looked at Simon with a mixture of pity and contempt, as if watching a clown perform. In essence, that’s what he was. What on earth gave him the confidence to think he could compare himself to Harrison?
Standing in the center of their collective gaze, Simon clenched his fists, refusing to back down, demanding an answer. The law itself granted illegitimate children the same inheritance rights as legitimate ones. What right did Harrison have to deny him what was legally his?
Harrison, however, didn’t even deign. to look at him. His attention was fixed solely on Victor. “You have two days to complete the handover of your duties. If you are even a minute late and disrupt any work, you are welf aware of my methods of punishment.”
He delivered the threat openly, in front of the entire family. He had no intention of entertaining Victor’s ‘demand’ and was, instead, forcefully ejecting him from the company. Those who knew Harrison understood that he was a man of his word. Victor looked like he was about to have a stroke. He turned to the patriarch. “Dad! Are you just going to stand by and watch him act like a tyrant?!”
The old man lazily lifted his gaze. “A tyrant? I think he’s being perfectly reasonable.”
It was just words, after all. And even if he did take action, it would only be because someone else was in the wrong. His grandson could do no wrong.
Watching it all unfold, Anastasia nearly burst out laughing. She clung to Harrison’s arm, gazing up at his handsome profile, her eyes sparkling.
*Wow, my hubby is so incredibly cool.*
And so, the family banquet
concluded. Apart from Barry, Victor, and Simon, no one was harmed. As Simon for Barry’s wife, Debby, she had long been emotionally estranged from her husband and had no interest in power struggles She ignored mis dark mood, happily chatting with Emily about an upcoming party. Victor’s second wife, Janice, whose scandalous origins left her with no real power in the family, could only offer her husband silent encouragement from the sidelines.
Todd and Emily were likely the most content members of the family, having long ago accepted Harrison’s authority and become his
staunchest supporters. Anast.ne
also observed Harrison’s
sins.
Some were content with their lot,
while others harbored ambitions, but under Harrison’s formidable
presence, none dared to step out of line.

From this one dinner, she had learned a great deal about the family and, more
importantly, about her husband’s unchallengeable authority within it.