"Shut your filthy mouth, Raymond!" Grandfather’s voice ripped through the room like thunder, causing everyone to tremble slightly. For a moment, even the beeping machine by Celeste’s bed seemed to fall silent, as though they too understood the gravity of his wrath. Raymond froze, his mouth still open mid-word. His lips trembled, but no sound dared to escape. His wide eyes darted around frantically, like a cornered animal searching for an exit. This is the very first time that I was seeing Raymond in such a panic and I must admit that I quite enjoyed watching him. The old man’s cane struck the tiled floor again. Each strike was like a judge’s gavel. The one thing that my grandfather cared the most about is the Black family name. I stood near the doorway, my arms folded across my chest, my expression was cold and detached. Inside, I was alert, watching the red in Grandfather’s face darken. His chest was heaving far too heavily, and I knew I would have to rein him in before rage tipped his body into something worse. Because Raymond deserved every shred of it. "You dare..." Grandfather’s voice broke as he took a deep breath. Then his eyes became even more red with anger as he seemed to have become stronger and the aura surrounding him was also extremely fierce. He pointed his cane directly at Raymond’s chest. "You dare stand before me after disgracing this family? After dragging our name into filth?" Raymond stumbled forward, dropping to his knees with a pathetic thud against the tiled floor. His hands clasped together in desperation. "Father, please... I never meant for this. I.. I lost control. I’m still your son-in-law, I’m still family. Please, don’t..." he pleaded. "Don’t?" Grandfather cut him off, his eyes blazing. "Don’t what? Don’t acknowledge that you’ve been bedding your own daughter’s friend and the girl we all chose for your son to marry like some stray dog in heat? Don’t see the bastard child you planted in her womb? Don’t admit that you spit on the honor of the Black family while eating from its table?" He fired a series of questions at him. The words struck Raymond, as he hung his head in shame, but the old man wasn’t done. "I gave you everything!" Grandfather’s voice roared, each word sharper than the last. "You were nothing but a penniless lowlife. My precious daughter saw you and begged me to accept you. Against my better judgment, I did and I opened this family to you. I gave you wealth, I gave you shelter, I gave you the Black name as protection. And this... " he swung his cane toward Celeste, who flinched on the bed "This is how you repay me? By betraying your own son by sleeping with his supposed fiancee? How dare you try to pin the child on him?" He asked him angrily. Raina’s sobs broke again but she tried to muffle them. Her body trembled as she hugged herself, staring at her father with disgust and heartbreak. Celeste’s face was wet with tears, her hands trembling as she pressed them over her stomach. She looked between Raymond and Grandfather as if caught in a nightmare she couldn’t wake from. "Grandfather..." she whispered weakly, her voice trembling. "Please... I never meant to... it just happened... I... " she stuttered. "Silence!" Grandfather’s cane cracked the floor again, startling her into sobs. "You are nothing to me, girl. Nothing! You were brought into this family’s circle because you were meant to strengthen its future but instead, you’ve proven yourself to be a snake and a shameless leech!" Grandfather said to her angrily. Celeste buried her face into her palms, her cries muffled. For once, she couldn’t twist the narrative in her favor. Not with the old man cutting her down with every word. Raymond crawled forward on his knees, his hands shaking. "Please, Father, I’ll make it right. I’ll fix this.... Just don’t cast me out... "He pleaded with an expression of regret. "Cast you out?" Grandfather’s bitter laugh shook the room. "You are already out. From this moment forward, you are no longer part of the Black family. You, and every parasite you’ve brought with you, are finished here. Do you hear me? Finished!" Grandfather roared at him angrily. The air went still as his words sank into everyone’s mind. Raina gasped, her teary eyes snapping to him. "Grandfather... what?" she asked with a shocked expression. Grandfather didn’t even bother to look at her. "You heard me, girl. He is nothing to me now. Which means you, your brother and your mother... " he jabbed the cane toward Raymond. "Will follow him. I will not have this family’s name poisoned any further. You will leave with him. All of you!."Grandfather said with an authoritative tone. The silence that followed was suffocating. Raina’s body staggered back as though struck. Her lips parted while trembling. "Leave? Us? But.. Grandfather, we have nothing outside this family! We’ve lived here all our lives! How... how could you.. " she stuttered but couldn’t complete her words. "You should have thought of that before following in your father’s footsteps, so you think I don’t know about your role in what happened to Christy? " the old man spat, his glare still fixed on Raymond. "Your mother should have thought of that before chaining her life to a beggar. This family does not exist to carry leeches." He said without sparing her another glance. Raina’s sob turned into a wail, her hands clutching at her hair. "No! No, please! Don’t do this.. don’t punish us because of him! Mother has nowhere to go, I have nowhere to go.. " Her words broke, dissolving into screams. Celeste looked up, her tears streaking her face, her lips quivering. For the first time, real fear flashed in her eyes. If Raymond was cut off, she was nothing.No safety or protection. The position she has always dreamed of will never become hers. If only she had known earlier that Raymond was not who he said he was. She had thought that it would be easy to become the lady of the Black family but now, she is finding out that Raymond isn’t even a true member of the family but a leech. "Father, please..." Raymond’s voice shook, desperate. "Don’t throw me away, I can change. I’ll end things with Celeste, I swear it. I’ll devote myself to the family again, I’ll serve you loyally... just don’t drive me out. Don’t take everything away from us." he begged desperately. I could see the fury trembling through Grandfather’s body, his breathing growing ragged. His knuckles whitened around the cane and the visible veins on his temple. I stepped forward slightly, my voice calm, measured. "Grandfather..." I said quietly, just enough for him to hear. "Careful. Don’t push too far. Your health..." His eyes flicked toward me for a brief second, but his fury pulled him back to Raymond. "You dare speak of loyalty?" Grandfather’s voice cracked. "You’ve been nothing but greedy and shameless since the day you entered this family. You’ve squandered my wealth, you’ve dragged us through scandal after scandal, and now this. Sleeping with your daughter’s friend? Planting a bastard child while still living under my roof? You are filth, Raymond. Filth I should have never allowed in." he said with a disgusted expression. Raymond’s face shifted from desperation to humiliation and then... to anger. His hands dropped from their pleading clasp and got up from his kneeling position trembling, but no longer begging. His lips twisted and his eyes flashing with something darker. "You think you can just erase me?" His voice was low and dangerous. "After everything? After the years I’ve spent in this family? After all my hardwork?" he asked with a sneer. Grandfather’s glare sharpened. "You were just someone I took pity on and never my blood. You were tolerated because my daughter loved you and now she has nothing to do with you, all that’s left is your filth." Raymond’s jaw clenched so hard a vein pulsed in his forehead. His chest rose and fell quickly, his face turning red. Then, slowly, his lips curled into a bitter smile. "You really think you can cast me out just like that?" His voice was cold now. "You think you can just snap your fingers and strip me of everything?" he asked with a sarcastic tone. Grandfather slammed his cane against the floor. "You are nothing to me and also nothing to this family. From this day forward, you are out!" he yelled furiously. The words thundered through the room. Raymond stood frozen for a second, his chest heaving. Then he chuckled. A low and hollow sound that sent chills crawling through the silence. "Well then..." he said slowly, his voice dripping with venom. "I guess it’s time I remind you of something," he said with a sinister smile. Grandfather’s eyes narrowed, his grip still firm. Follow current novᴇls on 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡⚫𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢⚫𝘯𝘦𝘵 "Remind me of what?" he asked impatiently. Raymond straightened, his anger turning into something smug. He looked Grandfather dead in the eye and dropped his signature smirk. "You can’t erase me from this family," he said, his voice calm, almost mocking. "Because I am still legally married to your precious daughter." he said with a triumphant expression. The words hung in the air like a curse, twisting the silence into something jagged and suffocating. Raina gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. Celeste’s eyes widened, her body going rigid on the hospital bed. Grandfather’s face drained of color, his cane trembling in his grip. I simply stood there, my arms crossed as my eyes became cold. But deep inside, a storm was building. Raymond had just played his trump card. And it had changed everything.