Chapter 16 From now on, I'll protect him.

"What did you say?" Kelsey's face suddenly changed, her tone rising several degrees. "You want me to apologize to this brat? I haven't even had her apologize to Bob yet, and look at what she did to him, he can't even speak!" Kelsey said bitterly. Ethan turned the wheelchair around to face Kelsey, his deep black eyes filled with ice-coldness as if plunging her into a glacier. Kelsey unconsciously shivered, not daring to look directly at Ethan. Meanwhile, Emily who was originally angry immediately turned joyful. Initially, she had thought that Ethan was asking her to apologize to Kelsey. Unexpectedly, he wanted Kelsey to apologize to her. "Firstly, your son was in the wrong, and it's normal for Emily to use family discipline," Ethan said methodically, "Secondly, in our presence, she punished him according to the family rules without engaging in any underhanded actions. You initiated the verbal abuse first. Everything she said in response was the truth. If it weren't for Bob's poor health, he wouldn't have been unable to endure even fifty strikes of the jade rod. Lastly, you started the physical altercation and insulted her mother first. Her retaliation was self-defense. You owe her an apology!" Ethan laid out the facts one by one, leaving Kelsey speechless. “You…” Kelsey grabbed William and wanted him to help her out. However, William was unable to retort. He looked at Aldrich and realized that he didn’t look like he wanted to intervene. William could only say awkwardly, “Kelsey, apologize to Emily. We have to hurry up and bring Bob to the hospital.” Kelsey’s face was ashen. She gritted her teeth and apologized in a very low volume, “I am sorry.” Emily smiled and said, “Kelsey, I can’t hear you.” Kelsey’s expression was even worse. She tightened her fists and could only increase her volume. “I am sorry for speaking so nasty to you.” Emily looked like she had just heard it. She nodded and said, “Since you have reflected on yourself and apologized to me sincerely, I will gladly accept your apology.” Kelsey had never been so humble before. She thought, ‘I am the wife of William who is the head of the Thomas family! How can I apologize to a girl? She has also injured my son to this extent. I am never going to let this go!’ ***** William and Kelsey left with Bob. Some of the children of Aldrich were abroad, and others didn’t come after hearing what was happening. Thus, the family banquet didn’t resume. Only Ethan and Emily stayed at the Thomas Mansion. Halfway through lunch, Aldrich sighed, “Ethan, I am already old and not healthy anymore. I only wish everyone in the family to get along with each other. I wasn’t trying to favor Bob.” Ethan didn’t answer. His black eyes seemed to spark cold lights. He didn’t look like he understood Aldrich’s intention, but he didn’t plan on retorting. Emily was enjoying the meal just fine. The food was very delicious. She had used a lot of energy hitting Bob just now, so she was hungry at the moment and didn’t want to pay attention to Aldrich’s words. At this moment, Aldrich looked at her and said, “Emily, I will hand Ethan to you from now on.” After being called upon suddenly, Emily was stunned and coughed. She looked at Aldrich confusedly and asked, “Mr. Aldrich, didn’t you say that I wasn’t suitable for Ethan?” Aldrich sighed deeply and said, "In my eyes, Ethan is the most promising among all my children, but three years ago, his legs... The Hines family has a decent reputation, and Harper is also a well-known lady of elegance and grace. Since the Hines family was willing, I did my utmost to arrange for Ethan and Harper to be married, but I never expected… At first, I indeed looked down on you. You had been in prison, with scars on your face, and the Parker family's reputation wasn't great either. I did harbor reservations about your background and origins. However, today you've made me see things differently. You stand up for Ethan at every turn. If Ethan were to be entrusted to you, I would rest assured." Emily couldn't help but ask, "If you're worried about Etty being bullied by them, why don't you stand up for him? Isn't this blatant favoritism towards William’s family?" Aldrich fell silent. Emily knew he was in the wrong. She knew about Aldrich's story. Originally, Aldrich's marriage with his first wife was a political union, and he had no feelings whatsoever for his first wife. It was only after being drunk one time that they had slept together, leading to her pregnancy and the birth of his eldest son, William. Although he didn't love his first wife, Aldrich still raised William and took care of him since he was his son. Later on, he neglected his first wife, who remained dissatisfied alone in the house, and she drugged him again, resulting in a second child, Garry Thomas. Both of these sons were born to his first wife. After this accident, Aldrich had never allowed his first wife to get close to him. However, his first wife wanted to have a daughter to win back his love. Then, she used medical means to find a surrogate to give birth to a daughter. As expected, Aldrich adored his daughters, treating all three children with kindness. Despite this, he remained cold to his first wife. After learning a lesson from this, she continued to manipulate medical means to give birth to five children. Eventually, after Aldrich uncovered the truth and stepped in to prevent further children, his first wife's mental state deteriorated, and she eventually was sent to a mental hospital for treatment and died twenty years ago. Ethan's biological mother was Aldrich’s true love, but at that time, Aldrich was still in a marriage with his first wife. He hid his identity and the relationship from Ethan's biological mother, who eventually discovered the truth and fled. Emily greatly respected this mother-in-law who was unwilling to be a third party in the relationship and always remained a woman of integrity and principles. However, such a good woman had a short lifespan. Eventually, she was at the end of her wits and sent Ethan back to the Thomas family. When Ethan was sent back, he was only nine years old, and coincidentally, that was also the year Aldrich's first wife died. Some people say that Aldrich's first wife died of anger after learning of Ethan's existence. Whether it was a sudden illness or anger, it was impossible to know. It was universally believed that Aldrich valued ​​his eldest son William, his second son Garry, and his third daughter Faye Thomas. The rest of the five children were brought up by the nanny, and Aldrich had little affection for them. The presence of these five siblings in the Thomas family was very low, and few people even knew their names. The outside world unanimously believed that Aldrich valued ​​his eldest son William the most since he was currently in control of the Thomas Group. At this moment, Aldrich sighed deeply, "I want to maintain the peace of the Thomas family, so sometimes, I can only... I'm sorry, Ethan." Emily also sighed lightly, sighing for Ethan's experience. "If you don't protect him, it’s fine. From now on, I'll protect him."