I Raised Him for 12 Years; He Sends Me His Wedding Bill

The punch slammed into Tiffany's shoulder.

"Tiffany!"

My heart seemed to stop, and I dropped beside her. "Where does it hurt? Are you okay?"

My chest tightened at the sight of her. I looked up and glared at Maxwell, fury blazing in my eyes.

Across the room, Evelyn rushed over, but not to check on Tiffany. Instead, she grabbed Maxwell's hand, turning it over anxiously.

"Max! Does your hand hurt? You could've broken something! What were you thinking?"

Only after making sure he was fine did Evelyn turn to me. She jabbed a finger in my face and yelled, "Lawrence Zimmerman! Are you really going to tear this family apart over a little money?

"She's your daughter. Once she gets married, she'll belong to someone else's family anyway! What are you giving her all that money for? Why are you wasting money on a worthless woman like her?"

Tiffany couldn't take it anymore. Her voice choked with sobs as she shouted, "Mom! I'm your daughter as well! How can you say that?"

Evelyn froze for a second at the outburst, then her anger flared.

"Why can't I say that? Am I wrong?" she retorted. "You'll get married eventually, and your brother's the one who'll carry on the family name!"

Tiffany screamed, "He's not my brother! His last name is Larson! Mine's Zimmerman! He's just an outsider!"

Without missing a beat, Evelyn slapped her hard. The sharp crack echoed through the room, and everyone froze.

Tiffany clutched her cheek, staring at her mother in disbelief as tears streamed down her face.

I pulled her behind me, trembling all over. "Evelyn, you hit her?"

Evelyn faltered, but she didn't back down. "S-So what if I did? I'm her mother. Can't I discipline my own daughter?"

"Discipline?" I let out a bitter laugh. "When have you ever cared for her in all these years? When she was sick in the hospital, where were you?

"Where were you when her school held the parent-teacher meetings? All you've ever cared about is your precious nephew! And now, for his sake, you hit my daughter?"

From the side, Maxwell fanned the flames. "Serves her right! A useless burden like her needs to be put in her place!"

Lucy hurried over to break it up. "Alright. That's enough. It's Christmas. Let's not fight.

"Lawrence, Evelyn just lost her temper."

"Lost her temper?"

I looked around at everyone in the room and nodded. "Fine."

Then, I took Tiffany's hand. "Let's go."

"Where do you think you're going?" Maxwell moved to block the doorway. "If you don't sign the agreement today, don't even think about leaving."

Having said that, he pulled out his phone and started recording. "Lawrence, you're a manager at your company, aren't you?"

He continued, "What do you think your bosses will say if I post this online with the caption 'A manager abuses the nephew he raised for 12 years and refuses to pay a dime for his wedding'?

"With how fast things spread online these days, I could ruin you overnight!"

I stared at his phone screen and felt my heart sink.

"What exactly do you want?" I demanded.

Maxwell set his phone aside before pulling out the agreement again. "Sign it and wire the 700 thousand dollars to my account within three days.

"Then, buy me a car. Violet's got her eye on a car. The down payment is only tens of thousand dollars.

"Oh, and you'll cover the renovations for my place, too. That will be about 200 thousand dollars."

He counted on his fingers, then added, "All in all, it's about a million dollars. That's pocket change for you."

Pocket change? I was making 12 thousand dollars a month, with a fifty-thousand-dollar bonus at the end of the year.

Even if I didn't spend a cent, it would still take me five years to save that much.

"And if I don't?"

A cruel smile spread across Maxwell's face as he said, "If you don't? Then, I'll air your dirty laundry for everyone to see."