The Raise of James Morrison.

Chapter 9

Marcus continued, his tone confident. "Think about it. Families at that level don't just throw money around for no reason. These gifts—the jewelry, the cash, the luxury items this is a courtship display. They're signaling their interest in one of the Anderson daughters."

The unmarried women in the room exchanged glances, their eyes wide with dawning realization.

"Oh my God," breathed Melissa Anderson, a cousin in her mid-twenties with carefully highlighted blonde hair. "He's right. This is a marriage proposal!"

"Or at least a PRE-proposal," added another cousin, Julia, who was already mentally calculating how much the diamond necklace was worth. "They're testing the waters. Seeing if we're interested."

"Well, obviously it's me they're interested in," Melissa said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I mean, I'm the most beautiful woman in this family. Everyone says so."

"Are you kidding me?" Julia whirled on her. "You? You already have a boyfriend! Everyone knows you've been dating that lawyer for six months!"

Melissa's face flushed. "I do NOT have a boyfriend! We broke up weeks ago!"

"That's not what I heard!" Julia shot back. "Rachel saw you at dinner with him just last week!"

"That was a business dinner!"

"Oh, please! You were holding hands!"

"We were not—"

"Ladies, ladies," interrupted another cousin, Stephanie, stepping between them with a smug smile. "Let's not fight. Clearly, the Morrisons are interested in someone with class, sophistication, and elegance. Someone like... well, me."

"you?!" both Melissa and Julia shrieked in unison.

"You're barely even part of this family!" Melissa snapped. "Your mother married in! You're not even a real Anderson!"

"How DARE you!" Stephanie's face turned scarlet.

"She's right, though!" Julia added, ganging up on her. "And besides, you're already engaged! Or did you forget about Christopher?"

"That engagement isn't official yet!" Stephanie protested.

"Your families already exchanged gifts! That's as official as it gets!"

The three women began talking over each other, their voices rising, their perfectly manicured hands gesturing wildly.

Emily stood off to the side, arms crossed, watching the spectacle with growing disgust. The greed in their voices, the way they were already dividing up a proposal that didn't even exist yet—it was pathetic.

"Alright, everyone calm down," Emily said, her voice cutting through the noise. "Nobody knows who the Morrisons are interested in yet. Maybe we should wait for more information before we start tearing each other apart."

"Oh, that's rich coming from YOU," Melissa sneered, turning on Emily with vicious satisfaction. "What, you think you have a chance? You're married, Emily. Or did you forget about your little charity case over there?" She jerked her chin toward James, who was still standing in the corner, watching everything with an unreadable expression.

"Yeah, you're completely out of the running," Julia added with a cruel laugh. "I mean, even if you weren't married, who'd want Old Master Anderson's mistake following you around like a bad smell?"

"Exactly!" Stephanie chimed in, her earlier anger forgotten in the joy of having a new target. "You can't seriously think a family like the Morrisons would be interested in someone who's already tied to... that." She looked at James like he was something stuck to the bottom of her shoe.

Emily's face went rigid. "I wasn't saying I—"

"She's right, you know," Melissa interrupted, her voice saccharine sweet and dripping with venom. "You're damaged goods, Emily. Sorry, but that's just reality. The rest of us still have a chance. You're just here to watch."

"Maybe if you divorce him fast enough, they might consider you," Julia said with mock sympathy. "But honestly? I wouldn't count on it. Three years married to a nobody? That stink doesn't wash off easy."

The three women dissolved into laughter, linking arms as if they hadn't been screaming at each other thirty seconds ago, united now in their shared mockery of Emily.

Emily's hands clenched into fists. Her face burned with humiliation and rage. She opened her mouth to respond—

"ENOUGH!"

Grandma Anderson's cane slammed against the marble floor with a crack like a gunshot.

Everyone froze.

She stood at the head of the table, her face dark with fury. "All of you, stop this nonsense immediately."

The women stepped back from each other, smoothing their hair and dresses, but their eyes still burned with resentment.

Then Grandma Anderson looked around the room slowly, calculating.

"The Harrison family," she said quietly. "I've never heard that name in our circles. They're clearly not from around here."

"Then why send gifts?" someone asked.

"And why so much?" another added.

"This isn't just a gesture," Grandma Anderson said. "This is a statement. Whoever they are, they have money. Serious money. And they're interested in forming a connection with this family."

Her eyes gleamed.

"The question is who caught their attention?"

The unmarried women in the room all straightened, each one imagining themselves as the answer.

But then someone spoke up from the back.

"Wait," a man said slowly. "Solomon. Isn't that his name?"

A few heads turned.

The young man stood in the corner, still holding his plate.

"That's his last name, right? Harrison?"

Grandmother Chen's face twisted. "Don't be ridiculous. That nobody has nothing to do with this."

"But it's the same name—"

"It's a coincidence." Her voice was ice. "A common surname. Nothing more."

The young man said nothing.

But something in his chest stirred.

Harrison.

His family name.

The name he'd been born with, before everything fell apart.

He set down his plate slowly.

"Maybe it's not a coincidence," someone else said hesitantly.

"Of course it is!" Grandma Anderson snapped. "Look at him. Does he look like he comes from a family that can afford to send ten million dollars in cash? with gift worth over 20 million dollars, he's a freeloader. A nobody. This has nothing to do with him."

But the room was starting to buzz with speculation now.

"What if he's related to them somehow?"

"Could he be hiding something?"

"No way. He's too pathetic."

"But the name—"

"Stop." Grandma Anderson 's voice was final. "This conversation is over. That man—" She pointed at James without looking at him. "—is irrelevant. The Harrison family clearly sent these gifts because they're interested in one of our daughters. That is the only logical explanation."

She turned her sharp gaze on the unmarried women.

"And whichever one of you it is, you'd better be ready to make this family proud."