Her mother shook her head slowly at first, then more sharply, as if the motion itself could dislodge the absurdity.“You don’t mean it,” she said. “You cannot possibly mean what you just said.”Mia, exhausted and still simmering from the memory of the day, looked at her with the tired bitterness of someone who wished she were exaggerating.“I do,” she said. “I mean exactly what I said.”But her mother was not yet ready to accept it. Not fully. She paced again, lifted one hand in agitation, then let it drop against her side with a sound of frustration.“Are you trying to tell me,” she said, voice rising with disbelief, “that Ethan is actually this powerful? That bastard? Are you telling me that he is rich and we did not know? What the hell is going on? Did he get rich overnight? Did heaven suddenly open and pour fortune on his head while everyone was looking somewhere else? Since when? Since when did everything start suddenly going well for him? What is this? What kind of madness is th

Her mother shook her head slowly at first, then more sharply, as if the motion itself could dislodge the absurdity.“You don’t mean it,” she said. “You cannot possibly mean what you just said.”Mia, exhausted and still simmering from the memory of the day, looked at her with the tired bitterness of someone who wished she were exaggerating.“I do,” she said. “I mean exactly what I said.”But her mother was not yet ready to accept it. Not fully. She paced again, lifted one hand in agitation, then let it drop against her side with a sound of frustration.“Are you trying to tell me,” she said, voice rising with disbelief, “that Ethan is actually this powerful? That bastard? Are you telling me that he is rich and we did not know? What the hell is going on? Did he get rich overnight? Did heaven suddenly open and pour fortune on his head while everyone was looking somewhere else? Since when? Since when did everything start suddenly going well for him? What is this? What kind of madness is th