Chapter 340: Adelyn is not an outsider.

Liam froze for a second.

Although he had never intended to hide the investment, he had never expected to be confronted about it either.

So, when Benjamin asked him so directly, he didn’t immediately know what was happening. The question had caught him momentarily off guard.

But he understood what was happening when he heard Clara speak before he could answer.

"Dad, don’t misunderstand Liam. He must have his reasons for investing in it." Clara’s voice was soft ... too soft. Just like the sweet, kind, and understanding daughter she had always portrayed herself to be. "Furthermore, Goldstem Productions’ work is never a losing deal. Especially with Director Rhodes involved in it, The Empress’s Grief is bound to be a blockbuster. Liam must have seen its potential and only then decided to invest in it."

Liam heard her, and his brows furrowed slightly more.

Charlotte glanced at her daughter and gently patted the back of her hand in reassurance.

"Clara, don’t speak up for your brother," she said before casting a displeased glance toward her son. "Since your Dad is asking him, let him answer directly."

"But, Mom..."

Clara wanted to speak up again.

But before she could, Charlotte shook her head at her, silently asking her not to interfere.

In the end, Clara only gave a reluctant nod and then looked back at Liam with an expression of helplessness.

Benjamin’s gaze never moved away from Liam the entire time.

He watched him and waited.

But when several seconds passed without an answer, he probed him again.

"What’s so difficult about answering such a simple question? If you have done it, you cannot be thinking of hiding it forever, can you?"

Liam composed himself, and his expression grew serious.

Looking at his father, he said without even the slightest hesitation, "Dad, I have learned to be upright from Grandfather, and I haven’t done anything that I would have to hide from anyone."

He paused for a second before continuing honestly, "I have indeed invested in the production of Goldstem’s upcoming work. And that’s The Empress’s Grief."

Clara’s fingers clenched silently.

For a second, her gaze even revealed the deep-seated resentment she had started harboring against Liam recently.

But soon, she composed herself and returned to her previous expression.

She had thought Liam would hesitate, even if only slightly.

But seeing him admit it so openly, she realized that he never felt it was wrong for him to invest in a project that had rejected his sister.

And it was all because it was for Adelyn.

The more she thought about it, the more bitter she felt inside.

However, she didn’t let that bitterness surface in her attitude or expression.

She held it in because only by holding it in could she continue to fight for herself.

"Then tell me, has your decision to invest solely been from a business perspective?"

Benjamin asked again.

And once again, Liam didn’t hesitate.

He did pause for a second, but that wasn’t because he needed to think of a way to lie.

"Though the decision to invest in Director Rhodes’s work is quite favorable from a business perspective too, I haven’t decided on it just because of that. I had a personal intention as well."

Benjamin’s expression hardened.

He looked at his son coldly.

He hadn’t always been there to watch his second and third son grow up the way he had watched Adam.

But when it came to disciplining his children, he had always maintained absolute authority.

He wouldn’t let them run astray —not even in the slightest.

Especially not for a girl who had no ties with them.

"Your personal intention?"

He slapped his hand hard against the table and rose to his feet.

"What has that got to do with business? All these years, haven’t you learned to keep your personal intentions separate from business?"

Liam lowered his head.

He didn’t defend himself —not because he felt guilty, but because he knew doing so wouldn’t help.

Charlotte saw her husband fuming like that, and her expression turned complicated.

She immediately stood up and reached out to rub his arm, a gesture she had always known could help calm Benjamin down.

"Don’t be angry," she told him quietly, trying to ease him a little.

But when she saw that it wasn’t really helping, she turned to look at her son and said, "Liam, how could you invest in that production? Clara clearly suffered because of it so much. She’s still looking for a way to get a spot in its casting. Yet, instead of helping her, you went ahead and invested in it. Have you not, even once, considered that it would hurt your sister?"

Before Liam could say a word, another voice came from behind, laced with pure cold mockery.

"Sister? Mom, have you forgotten that we also have one more sister?"

Charlotte frowned and turned toward the entrance.

The furrow between her brows only deepened when she saw Bryer walking in.

His expression was already rebellious, and there was a challenge in his eyes.

"Bryer, you..."

Before she could say anything else, Bryer added, finishing what he had begun.

"And that sister has gotten into that same production on her own merit?"

Clara saw him and frowned.

These two were clearly her brothers, yet they were standing on Adelyn’s side without even the slightest guilt.

Her fingers clenched hard, her nails almost digging into the skin of her palm.

"So what if Liam invested some money into that production?" Bryer continued. "Being Adelyn’s brother, how is it wrong for him to show her some support?"

Benjamin heard that and couldn’t help but fume.

"You have grown this old, and you still haven’t realized it?" he asked, exasperated. "That girl was never a Scott from the beginning. She wasn’t your sister at all."

Bryer frowned at that.

He was ready to counter his father head-on.

However, Liam held his hand and spoke first.

"Dad, don’t say it like that. We might not share blood with Adelyn, but she has been the sister we grew up with. In our hearts, she is just as much our sibling as any of us."

Benjamin looked at his son, and his eyes turned cold.

"Just because you consider her your sibling doesn’t make her one," he said, his voice cold and final.

Liam’s expression turned complicated.

He wanted to refuse to accept that.

He wanted to tell his father that blood wasn’t the only thing that made a family.

But in front of his father, he couldn’t.

Not when Benjamin had already made his position so clear.

"How much did you invest?" Benjamin inquired.

Liam clenched his fingers before replying, "A hundred million."

And the moment that amount slipped past his lips, Benjamin was enraged.

He had already been fuming inside, and in that second, he could no longer hold it in. Taking the cup from the table, he hurled it onto the floor.

The sound of it shattering made Charlotte almost flinch beside him.

"Benjamin, what are you doing? Clara is here. You might scare her."

She turned and held onto Clara’s arms, silently trying to make her feel safe.

Benjamin, however, didn’t care about that. He simply glared at Liam and said in exasperation, "Ask your son what he’s been doing."

His voice was filled with anger.

"He has invested a hundred million for a girl who is completely unrelated to us."

Charlotte frowned.

She knew it wasn’t really about the hundred million. It was about Liam investing it for Adelyn.

Benjamin had never liked Adelyn.

And his attitude toward her had only grown colder after he learned that Adelyn wasn’t their biological daughter.

She turned to look at Liam, her expression complicated.

She understood her husband.

But she also understood her son.

Choosing between them was too difficult.

Just when she was thinking about how to ease the tension, she heard Liam speak up.

"Dad, you misunderstood me," he said, his gaze turning serious as he looked at his father. "The hundred million that I invested in Goldstem Productions wasn’t for Adelyn."

Benjamin looked at him.

"Not for her? Then who else was it for?"

He might not have seen his son grow up as closely as he should have, but he knew him well enough to see through his lies.

Liam remained calm.

He simply glanced toward Clara briefly before turning back to his father and saying, "It was for Clara. She wanted to be in that production very badly, so this investment was just to help her."

Benjamin turned and glanced toward his daughter as well.

"So you’re saying that you did it to help your sister and not some outsider?"

"Adelyn is not an outsider, Dad," Bryer said, unable to take it any longer.

Benjamin only glared at him.

However, Bryer didn’t back down.

He met his father’s gaze with even more seriousness and repeated, "Adelyn is our sister too. Don’t call her an outsider. She isn’t."

"You are young, Bryer," Benjamin said. "Just because I have allowed you to be willful doesn’t mean you can forget your boundaries."

"Dad, you..."

Before Bryer could say anything more, Liam interrupted him and deliberately drew Benjamin’s attention back to himself.

"The investment serves two purposes, Dad," he said, his voice polite. "The first is purely business, and the second is to help Clara secure a chance in the production."

Benjamin thought for a second.

He knew that wasn’t the complete truth.

But even if it wasn’t, he would make sure to make it one now that he was back.

Nodding, he said thoughtfully, his intent very deliberate, "If you have done it to secure Clara, your sister, a spot —then that’s fine."

He paused, deliberately emphasizing his next words.

"Or else, I won’t let you burn the family’s hard-earned money for some unrelated girl."

Liam nodded.

"Don’t worry, Dad. Clara is my sister too. I know I have to take care of her." He then glanced towards Clara and said, "Her second audition has already been arranged. As long as she passes that, she will have her spot secured in the production."