"Don't even think about arguing!" Claudia screeched. "You were penniless and had nothing to your name back then. We were generous enough to let you marry into our family, providing you with food and a roof over your head. Yet you stole our money when we let our guard down and absconded!"
Ethan's brow furrowed as he desperately tried to explain. "No such thing! I did borrow fifty thousand from Charles, but I returned it the same night…"
"Nonsense! You clearly stole it!" Claudia interjected harshly, turning to Charles. "Tell us. Did you lend him the money, or did he steal it?"
"Hmph, he married into our family, so why would I lend him fifty thousand? He obviously stole it and then scarpered!" Charles insisted, his voice full of disdain.
"That's outrageous! You're being too lenient with him! If I were in your shoes, I'd have sued him and put him behind bars long ago!"
"Exactly! I only found out about this today. This person is absolute rubbish!"
"He stole fifty thousand, yet he still has the audacity to come back. He's utterly shameless!"
"Quickly, get a divorce. If he refuses, we'll sue him!"
The Reeds' relatives were flabbergasted.
Ethan sneered inwardly. This couple had fabricated a lie to frame him and accuse him of absconding with their money. They're out to ruin his reputation before chasing him away.
"Hmph, if I really stole so much money from you, why didn't you say anything or file a police report after I left?"
Ethan looked Anastasia's parents straight in the eye. Years in the military had given him a menacing aura, so domineering that the two couldn't hold his gaze and shifted their eyes away.
"Well, we just didn't want to air our dirty laundry in public. We helped save your reputation, but you're blaming us instead, you good for nothing!" Charles roared, though his voice lacked conviction.
"I believe you all know the truth in your hearts." Ethan didn't say anything else. Trying to threaten me with something fabricated? Impossible.
Anastasia watched their reactions. Brainwashed and fed lies about Ethan absconding with her father's money for years, she began to suspect something. Could it be that… he really didn't flee after stealing the money back then?
"In short, hurry up and get lost!" Claudia rushed forward and knocked Ethan forcefully.
Ethan staggered from the impact, and the little girl in his arms was terrified to tears by Claudia's ferocious gaze.
She clung to Ethan's neck, bawling, "No! I want Daddy! Don't chase Daddy away!"
Claudia chided furiously, "How is this good-for- nothing, your father? What are you crying for?! Keep crying, and I'll lock you in the attic!"
The frightened little girl shivered violently and burped as she sobbed, not daring to cry again, her eyes full of terror.
Judging from her reaction, she must have been locked in the attic before! Anger surged in Ethan's heart. He glared daggers at everyone with an icy gaze that seemed to freeze the entire room.
Just as Ethan was about to lose his temper, a pair of hands gently lifted the little girl from his arms.
Anastasia kissed her daughter's frightened face, her own heartbreaking and tears threatening to spill. "Mother, the last time you locked Sophia in the attic, she was so frightened she had a high fever for days! Why are you scaring her again now? She's still young, and you're her biological grandmother. Don't you care about her at all?"
"I-I was just frustrated and said that to scare her! I wasn't really going to lock her up. Seriously, it's her fault for being so biased toward her father at such a young age…" Claudia muttered, her voice growing softer.
Ethan's sharp hearing caught the crucial words. His heart thumped, and he felt a lump in his throat. Trying to verify something, he asked Anastasia, "She… Is Sophia… our daughter?"
Anastasia bit her lips tightly. She wanted to shake her head and deny it, but when she saw the expectant gaze in her daughter's eyes, she couldn't bring herself to lie. Sophia had been clamouring for her father, and Ethan was indeed her biological father.
She nodded with a complicated expression.
Ethan's suspicion was confirmed, and he felt inexplicably agitated! He hadn't expected the child who had pounced on him and called him "Daddy" at the airport to be his flesh and blood!
The power of genetics is so amazing!
Ethan looked at Anastasia and Sophia with a tender gaze filled with remorse. This is his family. He owed them too much!
Ethan curbed his urge to pull them into his arms. He nodded solemnly and promised, "Don't worry. Since I've returned, I won't let you two down again."
At the side, Claudia rolled her eyes and exclaimed, "Hmph, talk is cheap! You're a needy man who has nothing. You shamelessly came back, and you still want us to feed you? Dream on!"
She poked Anastasia's arm forcefully, angry and expecting far better from her daughter. "I'm telling you now, go and divorce this good-for-nothing later! Silas has already said he'll get engaged to you on an auspicious date in the next few days. Do you hear me?"
Ethan's eyes were full of fury, and the temperature around him seemed to plunge several degrees!