?Chapter 269:


    Elena cut him off. “Stop creating drama. You tried to push me into marrying a man twice my age and ndered me without hesitation. All I did was terminate the contract—I didn’t even destroy the Reed family. You’re the one being unreasonable.” She threw his own words back at him.


    Benjamin was momentarily stunned, blindsided by her response. All she did was terminate the contract? Was she the reason their business partners withdrew?


    His face twisted into a grim scowl. “So, you’d turn your back on the people who raised you? After twenty years, this is the thanks we get? I’ll give you onest chance—fix this. Get the Harper family to restore the partnership and find me the bestwyer in the city. Do it now, and I’ll overlook your foolishness.”


    Javier had been standing by the door, listening. At first, he told himself it wasn’t his ce to interfere. But Benjamin’s arrogance pushed him over the edge.


    Furious, he stormed in and snapped, “To hell with your ‘chance’! Keep dreaming!”


    Javier’s voice thundered, his eyes shing with contempt. “Enough of your ramblings, old man! How dare you even presume to give Elena a chance? Where’s your shame? My cousin recognizes only one father, and that’s the CEO of the Harper Group. Who do you think you are, pretending you’ve earned the right to call yourself her dad? And who do you think you’re fooling with those threats of yours? Talking about finding the bestwyer—perhaps it’s a top-notch psychiatrist you need, to examine that delusion of yours!”


    Benjamin, caught off-guard by the sudden intrusion, could only stand frozen in ce. As Javier’s words flew, stinging and sharp, a flicker of anger flitted across Benjamin’s eyes.


    Javier, his chest still heaving with rage after his tirade, turned to Elena with a scowl. “Where’s all that sharp tongue from earlier, huh? You had plenty to say to me, but now you’re just letting this old man walk all over you?”


    Elena arched an eyebrow, her voice cool and steady. “Why are you so worked up?”


    Her words were right on the tip of her tongue when he barged in, cutting her off before she even had a chance.


    Javier paused, his anger simmering down as he nced away. “You’re a Harper, not some pawn to be bullied by outsiders.”


    Though Javier had previously seen Cecily mercilessly belittle and humiliate Elena, at the time he had simply stood by, passively enjoying the spectacle. He had assumed that Elena probably deserved it to some extent to attract such negative attention.


    However, his perspective shifted dramatically today when he overheard Benjamin barking orders at Elena. Suddenly, Javier couldn’t help but feel that Elena was far too yielding. The thought that the Reeds once schemed to marry her off to some washed-up divorcee was now utterly repugnant to him.


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    Elena was barely in her twenties, and this cruel old bastard had no shame, trying to wreck her life without a second thought. How could she just stand there and let him spew that nonsense? Had it been him, that old man would have been thrown out!


    Javier, observing Benjamin’s intense scrutiny of Elena, felt a surge of protectiveness. His voice was sharp as he snapped, “What on earth are you staring at? Do you even realize where you are? Get the hell out now before I have security throw you out!”


    Benjamin, defiant and not ready to retreat, opened his mouth to retort. But Javier, towering over him, shielded Elenapletely, cutting off any chance for Benjamin to continue.


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