Family on Their Knees Heart Turned to Ice novel Chapter 1078

Those words were incredibly jarring, so much so that Martin—who had been entirely ready to rush to his crying lover's side—instantly lost every shred of desire to comfort her.

Martin wasn't exactly ancient; he was still in the prime of his career. Hearing someone talk about his impending death struck a terrible nerve.

The moment the words sank in, a dark cloud settled over him.

Suddenly, he slammed his hand down and roared, "Enough! Stop crying! When you were plotting this behind my back, did you ever stop to think about the consequences?

"And you, Bella! You're supposed to be a highly educated, top-tier student.

"When your mother was orchestrating these things, why didn't you have the sense to talk her out of it? You two have been side by side for years—how could you just stand by and watch her go down such a dark path?"

He had absolutely zero inclination to soothe Sabrina now.

In fact, the more he thought about it, the more disgusted he felt. Here he was, shielding her from every storm, and her biggest concern was figuring out how to cash out if he died first?

How utterly toxic.

But Martin couldn't exactly throw a fit over that specific implication, so he seized the current argument to unleash his temper.

Sabrina froze. She hadn't expected that her tears—which usually worked like a charm—would result in Martin scolding her instead of coddling her.

Instantly, a bitter wave of resentment washed over her.

Bella rolled her eyes coldly. "Dad, I only just found out about all of this.

"Instead of yelling at us, maybe you should reflect on your own actions. Why would a woman as gentle and kind as Mom be driven to do something so extreme?

"Did you do something to make her feel terribly insecure, forcing her into a corner?

"Or maybe Lillian did something behind closed doors to threaten her?

"After all, there are far too many people in the Mercer family who despise the two of us."

"Even if she made a mistake, she would have done everything in her power to save her. Lillian would have thrown herself down those stairs, suffered brain damage, or fallen into a comatose state before she ever let Grandma get hurt.

"The only logical conclusion is that you are the real culprit. We were blinded by our own greed, sacrificing Lillian for a little bit of leverage, allowing a venomous snake like you to run wild in our home for years.

"And now, you think you can walk all over us.

"Look at yourself. Where is the humble, gentle girl who followed her mother through the front doors of the Mercer estate?

"The moment those shares landed in your lap, you morphed into something else entirely. Your true colors bled through.

"Colin and I deeply regret what we did. We regret breaking our real sister to let cheap trash like you into the family.

"You have zero actual talent, but your PR spin is flawless. You take an ounce of skill and dress it up to look like pure genius, and we fell right into your trap."

Colin aggressively backed his brother up. "Brandon is absolutely right. If it weren't for your manipulative schemes, would the Mercer family be dealing with this catastrophic mess right now?