You Can Keep Him, Tramp Chapter 04
Author: Free Time
I had never even liked diamond necklaces. Chloe was the one obsessed with them.
Kyle only said that to make himself look like the perfect husband who spoiled his wife and did everything he could to keep her happy, while making me look like some ungrateful brat who was impossible to please.
I had no interest in reading any more of the fake praise in the group chat. I left the chat, turned off my phone, and tossed it aside.
I didn’t sleep at all that night.
The next day, I went to Dad’s birthday party.
The party was lavish. The ballroom was packed with relatives, family friends, and plenty of the company’s business partners.
The moment I walked in, I spotted Chloe.
She wore a custom designer gown and stood beside Dad, chatting with him like she belonged there.
Dad kept praising her, holding her hand and looking at her with more affection than he ever showed me.
When Chloe noticed me, she smiled and said hi.
I walked right past her without answering.
Kyle was there as well, making the rounds with the twins and greeting guests.
The second the kids saw Chloe, they pulled their hands out of Kyle’s and ran straight to her, one on each side.
“Chloe, what took you so long? We missed you!”
Chloe bent down and ruffled their hair, smiling.
“I’m here now, aren’t I? And I brought presents.”
I stood a few feet away and watched, strangely numb.
The moment Dad noticed me, his smile vanished. He gave me a cold look, then turned back to Chloe and started fussing over her plate.
Everyone could see the difference in how he treated us.
He showed more warmth to an employee with no blood relation to him than he did to his own daughter.
After years of Chloe quietly poisoning him against me, that was hardly a coincidence.
“Emily, don’t take it personally. Your dad’s just busy with the guests. He probably didn’t even realize he hadn’t said hello.”
Kyle walked over with a forced smile and reached for my arm.
“Come on. Let’s go sit up front. Everyone’s waiting.”
I stepped aside before he could touch me and chose a seat at a table well away from the head table.
Kyle had built his whole image around being a devoted husband, so he had no choice but to sit beside me.
His smile tightened almost immediately. Every few seconds, his eyes drifted back toward Chloe at the head table.
Watching him sit there with that sour look on his face while practically itching to be somewhere else, I almost laughed.
Halfway through dinner, Chloe suddenly set down her fork, picked up her wineglass, and smiled at the table.
“Everyone, since we’re all here for Mr. Rogers’s sixtieth, there’s something I wanted to ask.”
The conversation around the room quieted as people turned toward her.
Chloe smiled and looked at Dad.
“Mr. Rogers, didn’t you once say that when you turned 60, you’d give half your shares to the twins? You haven’t changed your mind, have you?”
The room fell quiet for a moment before a few relatives chimed in.
“Oh, right. I remember him saying that.”
“He really does spoil those two. They’re going to be set for life!”
My expression hardened.
If Dad transferred half his shares to the twins, then combined with the shares Chloe and Kyle already held, the three of them would own more of the company than I did.
They would even control more shares than Dad.
Together, they would become the company’s largest voting bloc and effectively take control of the Rogers family business.
Suddenly, it all made sense. So this was the surprise Chloe was talking about.
Dad broke into a wide smile and nodded.
“Of course, I remember. Good thing you brought it up.”
He looked toward the twins.
“They’re my grandchildren. They’re Rogers blood. Those shares were always going to be theirs eventually, so I might as well give them now.”
Chloe and Kyle exchanged a quick glance, barely able to hide their excitement.
Kyle looked over at me with a pleased smile. “See? Your dad’s always had a soft spot for the kids.”
I lifted my glass and took a slow sip.
When the room finally quieted, I spoke.
“The Rogers family fortune is supposed to stay with Rogers blood, so someone else’s children won’t be getting a single share.”
