Chapter 247

Chapter 247:

“You think you won,” he sneered, his gaze cutting across the table toward Eliza.

“It’s not a game, Father,” Dallas warned, his voice low.

“Everything is a game,” Ferd slurred. “And she is playing for the jackpot. Just like Dosha p>

“Ferdinand, shut up,” Gigi said quietly, not looking up from her plate.

“No! I see her!” Ferd shouted, losing control entirely. He pointed a trembling finger at Eliza. “She’s just like Dosha — a gold digger! A parasite!” He grabbed his wine glass, and for a brief, charged moment, it looked as though he might throw it.

Gigi moved faster than anyone expected.

She picked up her water glass — a heavy crystal tumbler filled with ice water — and splashed the contents squarely into Ferd’s face.

Ice water dripped down his flushed cheeks and soaked into his expensive shirt. An ice cube slid slowly down his nose.

𝗥𝖾𝘢𝗱 𝖿re𝖾 𝗇o𝘃𝖾l𝗌 𝗼ո

The room gasped. Even the servants froze against the wall.

“Cool off,” Gigi said calmly. “You are drunk and disgraceful p>

Ferd wiped his face with a napkin and looked around the table. No one supported him. Not even Jeannine. She was watching him with unconcealed disgust.

He stood up, knocking his chair over behind him.

“Fine,” he spat. “You want her? Keep her p>

He swiped at his face with the back of his hand, indifferent to his soaked sleeve, then fumbled inside his jacket with shaking fingers and produced a checkbook — miraculously dry on the inside. He scribbled furiously, the pen dragging against the slightly damp paper near the edge where his wet fingers had touched it. He tore the check free with a sharp, violent sound, walked around the table, and slammed it down in front of Eliza.

“Ten million dollars,” he said. “Consider it a settlement. A dowry. Whatever.” He straightened up, his jaw tight. “Just don’t expect me to walk you down the aisle p>

He stormed out of the room.

Eliza looked down at the check. Ten million dollars. Signed Ferdinand Koch. The ink was still wet.

“Is this… hush money?” she asked, looking up at Dallas.

“That’s from his emergency fund,” Gigi sniffed. “The last of his little secrets. Consider it the idiot tax.” She waved a hand. “Take it. He owes you far more for the insult. Put it in your own account p>

Dallas picked up the check, studied it for a moment, and smirked. “We’ll put it in a trust. For our children p>

Eliza felt heat rise to her cheeks. Children.

Jeannine cleared her throat. She looked at Eliza with an awkward, tentative expression.

“I… I have something too,” she said. “Not money. But family history. Pictures. Of Dallas as a baby.” She paused. “I’ll give them to you later p>

“Thank you,” Eliza nodded.

The storm had passed. Ferd was exiled to his study. Jeannine had come around. Gigi was, as ever, firmly in charge.