The Hugh family buzzed with excitement after learning that Phoebe and Harold had agreed to join their outing. Their carefully laid plans were finally falling into place.
Ivan clutched his phone and walked away, his shoulders shaking slightly as he turned his back on the family gathering.
Dwayne Hugh watched his eldest son leave, pain flickering across his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but Lawrence Hugh's stern gaze silenced him.
Dwayne desperately wanted Ivan to understand—everything they were doing served the Hugh family's survival. Once Harold fell, the Bailey family's vast resources would be divided among the other powerful clans like scraps thrown to hungry wolves. The Hugh family had spent years positioning themselves to reclaim their place among Clearwater's elite families. This moment demanded steel, not sentiment.
Ivan lacked the ruthless edge that Isaac possessed so naturally.
