Chapter 669

Eleanor Vance shook her head without a second thought.

"No."

The living room fell silent instantly.

Several pairs of eyes fixed on her.

Robert Vance was the first to lose his composure.

"Mom, you said it yourself back then. You'd give shares when Julian got married. Why are you going back on your word now?"

Eleanor didn't even lift her eyelids.

"What's mine is mine to give. Am I so old I can't even decide that?"

"This is too unfair!" Robert's voice rose. "Alexander Vance practically holds half the company's shares already! We, the eldest branch, are your flesh and blood too. Are you just going to watch us be crushed and humiliated?"

Eleanor snorted coldly.

"I built the Vance Group from the ground up. What's mine, I decide."

As Robert prepared to argue further, Richard Evans suddenly dropped to his knees with a thud.

His eyes were red-rimmed.

"Grandma, I know you don't like me. It's because of my mom... But she's been gone for so many years. Do you still hold that against me? I'm still your own grandson! Treating me like this... are you trying to drive me to my death?"

He wiped his tears.

"Ever since the Vance Group moved to New York, people outside look at me like a joke! They say I'm the Vance family's eldest grandson in name only, that I don't even have a say... I'm not trying to compete with Alexander. But as an elder, you can't be this biased, can you?"

He looked up, his voice trembling.

"Have you forgotten? That year you had a heart attack and collapsed in the study. I was the first to find you! I carried you downstairs, ran every red light to get you to the hospital... The doctor said ten minutes later and you would have been gone! Grandma, was the bond between us back then all fake?"

Eleanor's breath hitched.

She looked at Richard kneeling on the floor.

He wasn't wrong.

Richard had only been brought back to the Vance family at fourteen.

He was timid when he first arrived, trying to please everyone.

He was especially attentive to his grandmother.

After all, he was her own grandson, and still young. Eleanor's heart had softened back then. She had shown him kindness. Until she saw Alexander in the ICU, covered in tubes. That's when her sympathy faded.

After that, she deliberately distanced herself from Richard.

But that heart attack... Richard really had saved her.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs.

Alexander Vance hurried down, his face pale.

"Grandma, when did you have a heart attack? Why didn't I know?"

Eleanor patted the back of his hand.

"You were studying abroad. I didn't want you to worry, so I didn't tell you. See? Grandma is perfectly fine now."

Alexander clenched his fists, a wave of retrospective fear churning in his eyes.

If Grandma had really passed away back then...

Richard seized the opportunity, shuffling forward on his knees.

"Grandma, I'm your own grandson. Julian is your first great-grandson... Can you really bear to give us no shares at all? Even just one percent? We wouldn't complain!"

After the Vance Group's relocation to New York, Alexander had diluted five percent of the shares to boost the stock price.

Alexander, who originally held over half the shares, now had a slightly more delicate controlling stake.

More troublesome was the fact that the Vance Group still had a mysterious shareholder holding ten percent of the shares. No one knew who it was to this day.

Within the Vance Group now, every single share was crucial.

Eleanor looked at Richard and sighed.

Richard immediately kowtowed.

"Grandma, please have mercy on your grandson... For the sake of saving your life once, have mercy on me..."

Eleanor pressed her lips together tightly.

Evelyn Ross knew the old lady was wavering.

In the Vance family, Eleanor's favoritism had never been concealed.

But Robert and Richard had indeed been filial to her. She just felt sorry for Alexander, who had lost his mother so young...

Eleanor took a deep breath, unsure what to say.

Alexander also frowned.

Saving Grandma's life, and Julian was about to marry a new wife from a prominent family... Not giving the shares was unreasonable from a logical standpoint.

The atmosphere in the living room was deadlocked.

Evelyn suddenly stood up.

She looked at Julian Evans and smiled slightly.

"I heard your ex-wife is still in a psychiatric hospital?"

Back then, Mr. Valentine had punished Isabella Ashcroft by sending her directly to an asylum. She was still locked up there.

Julian was taken aback, then nodded.

Evelyn raised an eyebrow.

"So, are you divorced? You're here discussing marrying a new wife without being divorced?"

Everyone: "..."