“Evelyn Lane, trying to leave?” He yanked me toward the living room. The pain from my elbow slamming against the carved doorframe was nothing compared to the icy cruelty in his voice. “That dress you’re wearing—I bought it last month. The necklace on your neck—that was a gift from my mother. Everything you’ve eaten and worn these years came from the Hayes family. If you want to leave, leave it all behind.”
The living room instantly erupted in laughter.
His old buddy Jason Miller whistled with an arm around his date. “Ryan’s right! Some people really don’t know their place. Living off the Hayes family and still daring to throw a tantrum?”
His secretary Sophia Reed, teetering on ten-centimeter heels, sauntered up, her finger deliberately brushing my skirt as she spoke in a saccharine tone. “Don’t be upset, Evelyn. Your brother’s still in the hospital waiting for a bone marrow transplant. Without Ryan, where would you get the money to save him? If you really walk away, your brother will…”
Her words pierced me like needles, striking right at my softest spot.
Clenching my fists, I still managed to wrench free of Ryan’s grip. “Ryan, have you forgotten what we had back then?”