Chapter 26: A fake apology

Mrs. Green’s strength seemed to drain out of her. She dropped to her knees and begged, "Mr. Vale, I am sorry. Please forgive me. I know I was wrong. I accept that Natalie wronged your daughter. I’ll punish her. But please don’t target our family business."

Soren stood tall there, his expression unreadable.

"A moment ago, you were laughing at me and mocking me. And now you are begging me? Where did all that arrogance go?"

"I failed to recognize you." She hung his head down in shame. Beside her, Natalie was crying. "Please show us some mercy."

Her plea did nothing to soften him. "You wronged my daughter and wife. You humiliated them. You should apologize to them, not me."

Mrs. Green turned to Elowen. "Mrs. Vale, please let this matter go. I am begging you."

"I’m sorry, Seraphina," Natalie apologized. "I was wrong. I’ll never do that again."

Seraphina didn’t answer. She moved closer to her mother and clutched her skirt.

Elowen wrapped an arm around her protectively. Her gaze remained unapologetic as she stared at Mrs. Green.

"You are not sorry," Elowen said coldly. "You are apologizing because you are scared. When you didn’t know Soren’s identity, you were full of arrogance. You wanted to destroy us. The moment you learned who he was, that arrogance vanished."

Mrs. Green opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something. But she couldn’t make a sound.

"If we weren’t wealthy and powerful enough, would you have begged us like this?"

Mrs. Green pursed her lips.

"For you, money and status are everything. You bully the people you think are weaker than you. Instead of teaching your daughter right from wrong, you covered up her mistakes and encouraged her behavior. Your apology is not sincere. And we don’t accept it."

Mrs. Green lost her patience. "How could you be so heartless? We apologized. Yet you wouldn’t forgive us. What else do you want us to do? You are misusing your power."

"That’s enough," Soren interjected. "My wife said what she had to say. We are not accepting your apology."

He lifted Seraphina into one arm and reached for Elowen’s hand with the other.

They walked out of the principal’s office.

As they moved down together, Elowen glanced at him.

Seeing Soren at the school had been the biggest surprise of all. But what stunned her even more was what happened afterward.

He had protected their daughter and even taken strong action against the Green family.

Until today, Elowen had thought Soren’s sudden change was nothing but an act. But what she had witnessed forced her to question that belief.

"Why did you come to the school?" she asked finally.

Soren glanced at her and flashed a smile. "I told you before. I’d make it up to you and Sera."

Her breath caught for a moment.

"I talked to the principal," he continued. "I wanted to contribute something to the school for the betterment of our daughter. I donated one million."

"A million?" she exclaimed in shock and disbelief. "That’s huge."

"I just want my Sera to study in the best school and get the best education. For her, that amount means nothing."

Soren smiled at his daughter. "And from now on, no one is going to bully you. If anyone dares to hurt you again, Daddy will take care of it."

Seraphina looked at him hesitantly. "You mean Natalie won’t bully me again."

"Yes, sweetheart. No one will bully you."

Seraphina finally smiled. "Thank you, Daddy."

Just then, Mr. Green rushed over. "Mr. Vale, please save my company."

He dropped to his knees, panic written all over his face. "My company is sinking. If you don’t resume the collaboration, it will never recover. It will go bankrupt. Please, help me."

There was no trace of sympathy in Soren’s eyes as he looked down at the man.

"Your daughter bullied mine, hit her, and humiliated her. Then your wife mistreated her and even dared to threaten my wife. She should have made her daughter admit her mistakes and say sorry to Sera. Instead, she wanted Sera expelled."

Mr. Green gawked at him, half-shocked, half-in disbelief.

"She also told me that she could wipe out my family’s existence with a single phone call."

"That woman is crazy," Mr. Green muttered, his displeasure plain. But his complexion paled soon.

"Whatever my daughter and wife did has nothing to do with me. Please don’t target my company. I’ll pay thirty percent profit shares. No... Forty percent. Just don’t cancel the collaboration..."

"Hubby!"

"Dad..."

Mrs. Green and Natalie hurried over.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Mrs. Green asked. "Please get up."

She held his arm and tried to pull him up.

"Get off me." Mr. Green shoved her away.

"Uh..." She fell onto the ground, caught off guard.

He didn’t even look at her.

"Mr. Vale. I am begging you. This company is my family’s legacy. Generations of hard work went into building it. Please don’t ruin it just because of some ignorant people’s stupidity."

He folded his hands, pleading desperately, "If you help me this time, I’ll be loyal to you forever."

"Look at my daughter." Soren gestured to Seraphina. "This is what your daughter did to her. She called her a bastard. And your wife also slapped her. You should be grateful that you all are still breathing."

Mr. Green trembled in fear. "I’ll punish them. I’ll make sure they never hurt your daughter. Just spare my company."

"Really?" Soren grew interested. He wanted to see how far this man could go to save his company. He wanted to know what punishment he would give his wife and daughter.

"Okay. If you satisfy me and assure me that they won’t target my daughter, I may consider sparing your company."

Hope surged within Mr. Green. When he turned to his daughter, his eyes burned with anger.

"You fool," he thundered. "How dare you hurt your classmate? I sent you to the school to study, to learn good things, not to bully other children."

Natalie cried. Fear and regret shook her tiny form. "I am sorry, Dad. I won’t do it again."

"And you..." Mr. Green turned his furious glare at his wife.

Mrs. Green flinched and lowered her head immediately.

"You were supposed to control the situation. Yet you made everything worse. When you saw Natalie did something wrong, why did you defend her? Why didn’t you tell her to say sorry?"

"She is our daughter," Mrs. Green replied, still taking Natalie’s side. "Of course, I’ll defend her."

"You..." Mr. Green was so mad that he raised his fist to punch her.

Mrs. Green shrank back and threw her arms over her head to shield herself.

His fist didn’t land on her.

"Who wouldn’t want to defend their children?" Elowen chimed in, unable to stay quiet. "But defending your child is one thing. Covering up their mistakes is another."

Mrs. Green fell completely silent.

But Elowen wasn’t done yet. "She is a child. She might not know what she was doing. As her mother, you should have made her realize her mistakes. But you acted arrogantly and even threatened to destroy us. This is something I won’t forget."

"You heard her," Soren’s voice followed. "We won’t let this matter slide so easily."