As soon as the door slammed shut behind him, an aggrieved look settled on Laura's face as she snorted.
"You still haven't changed. Always doing whatever it takes to get Bryan's attention. Do you think going under the knife and bewitching Bryan with your new beauty will make him like you again?"
"All this that he's feeling is temporary. Give him a few months and he'll toss you aside like the piece of trash that you are!"
Kelsie didn't bat an eye to a word she said. She calmly reached towards the table to pick up the blue pen on it. Then she leaned forward to sign the contract on the desk.
After she was done, she turned to leave, but Jerry suddenly blocked her path and gave her a stern look.
"How dare you walk out on your father! Did your aunty in the countryside rub off her horrible attitude on you in the past six years!"
Kelsie brows immediately knitted into a tight frown as she raised her eyes to look at him.
Jerry was well too aware of how she behaved. He knew better than to expect a response from her, so he just went ahead to stretch a thick stack of paper towards her.
"Here, sign this. You just need to pen down your signature in the three spots I've highlighted for you, and that will be all."
Kelsie stretched her hand and took it. But as she tried to flip through the pages, the man snatched it away from her again and waved it at her face angrily.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing? I'm your father, will I ask you to do something that would harm you?"
Kelsie stared at him expressionlessly.
"What kind of person would I be if I don't at least check what it is that you're asking me to sign."
It was at this point that Deborah scoffed coldly.
"And your father is telling you there's no need to check it. He's your father, he would never harm you."
Kelsie already suspected a foul play from the moment Jerry gave her a thick stack of paper to sign when he said nothing about it earlier.
Now, Deborah was urging her to sign it without taking a look at it. And to the best of her knowledge, Deborah had never done or asked her to do anything that'll benefit her in anyway.
Kelsie pretended to be confused as she glanced back at Deborah.
"Then why do you have a problem with me trying to see what it is you want me to sign?"
Jerry pressed his lips into a thin line and was about to yell af her again when Laura spoke instead.
"It's a contract that transfers 20 percent of your shares to father. Six years ago when everyone found out you were pregnant, Lumen Group lost a lot of customers and investors. Both our family image and that of the company's was almost ruined."
"Father spent a lot of time and money trying to take care of the mess you made. Giving him the shares you have under your name is the least you can do for everything he went through six years ago."
"Not to add that you'd also be paying him back for taking care of you all these years you lived in this house and even when you went over to the countryside."
A cold glint flashed past Kelsie eyes and she resisted the urge to scoff irritably.
Lumen Group was the company her mother built before she died. It was nothing but a small cybersecurity company.
But despite being so little, they were considered one of the biggest cybersecurity company back then until her mother died when she was five.
Although her death by accident was sudden and unexpected, Lois Fletcher was wise enough to put her daughter's name as her next of kin.
But she couldn't transfer her shares or vote in meetings until she was 23. Which was probably why Jerry took care of her all these years even though he hated her guts.
After a little reminisce about the past, Kelsie threw her face to the side and spat out coldly, "No."
Jerry's face twitched in anger.
"No? What do you mean no? Have I ever asked you for anything in your life? How could you turn me down the one time I ask you for something despite everything I've done for you, you ungrateful piece of trash!"
"I fed you until you were 18 but instead of doing what would make me proud, you slept with a random hobo on the street and disgraced our Sutton family!"
"Was it not for me, you'd have nowhere to come home to today! Those reporters six years ago would've totally had their fun embarrassing you!"
"How dare you say no to me after everything I've gone through to protect your stupid insolent self!"
Kelsie shook her head inwardly. This family hasn't changed one bit.
Laura huffed and pointed her long manicured finger at Kelsie.
"Hey, Kelsie. Don't be this ungrateful. You just embarrassed me in front of everyone at my engagement party by seducing my fiancé, but I promise not to hold it against you if you sign the contract in your hand!"
Deborah didn't hesitate to back them up with her sharp, angry voice.
"It's not like the company has amounted to anything significant in the last ten years. Your father is barely managing to keep it afloat."
"Once you give the shares to him, he'll be able to make meaningful decisions in the company to make it better."
"And it's not like you're giving the shares to someone who isn't part of our family. It'll still remain in the family and your father will continue to give you the monthly allowance he sends every month."
Kelsie almost sneered. Deborah spoke as though Jerry was doing her a favor by sending her a monthly allowance from the money he got from her mother's company.
It would've been a different case if he was managing it after her mother died, but for 19 years, the conpany had been managed and was still being managed by her mother's assistant back then.
Needless to say, neither Jerry nor Deborah raised a finger to help the company in anyway for the past 19 years, yet, here they were being so cheeky and shameless about it.
All they had to do was goof around and expect money to be remitted into their bank accounts twice every month.
Furthermore, the monthly allowance she eagerly spoke of was what Laura spent in a day. It was barely enough to take a taxi to the outskirt of town three times.
So, despite the heated glares from the three people in the room, Kelsie raised her eyes to meet theirs and still repeated, 'No.'"