Chapter 176

The second Grandfather Rhodes showed up, Gilbert’s family felt like the world was ending. Even though Grandfather was getting up there in years, his word was still absolute gospel in the Rhodes family. And everyone knew that over the years, Grandfather had been Team Cassian all the way. Which totally made sense–in generations of Rhodes family history, they’d never produced a powerhouse like Cassian. Of course Grandfather was gonna back his star player.

“I heard everything that went down. You think some bullshit excuse about ‘being misled’ is gonna fly with me?” Grandfather Rhodes let out this icy laugh and slammed his walking cane on the ground.

When Grandfather’s cane hit the pavement, the entire Rhodes clan felt that shit in their bones. Dude was seriously pissed.

Gilbert opened his mouth to say something, but one look at Grandfather’s death glare and he immediately shut up and stared at his shoes. Yuria was so scared she could barely breathe, basically trying to disappear into thin air.

“Yuria, apologize to your sister-in-law. Now,” Grandfather ordered.

Yuria felt like she was being totally screwed over and clamped her mouth shut, refusing to budge.

Jesus Christ, kid, Michelle thought. Why are you being such a brat right now? She sneakily yanked on Yuria’s dress and hissed under her breath, “Yuria, just apologize.”

Didn’t matter who was right or wrong–when Grandfather told you to apologize, you fucking apologized.

Michelle reluctantly turned to Anastasia, looking like she was chewing glass. Through completely gritted teeth, she managed, “Sorry.”

Anastasia wasn’t trying to be a total bitch, and she could see that Grandfather was the one running this show. Since he’d forced the apology, she might as well be the bigger person.

“It’s whatever. You just got fed some bad info,” Anastasia said, then couldn’t resist adding, “Though you’re not exactly a little kid anymore. Maybe think twice about who you’re getting your gossip from.”

Anastasia kept it classy–everyone here was smart enough to get the message. Yuria was absolutely seething inside but had to eat her rage.

“Sweetheart,” Grandfather turned to Anastasia, his scary-ass expression melting into something almost grandfatherly. If you hadn’t just watched him go nuclear, you’d think he was everyone’s favorite grandpa. “If anyone in this family gives you any more shit, don’t bottle it up. Come straight to me and I’ll sort it out properly.”

Anastasia obviously wasn’t naive enough to think Grandfather would always have her back; as the family head, his main job was keeping everyone in line and the peace intact. But since he was throwing her a lifeline, she’d grab it.

“Thanks, Grandfather.”

“Weren’t you guys heading to the hospital? When you see your grandmother, tell her I said helio.”

Once Grandfather was gone, Anastasia could finally breathe again. Holy shit, this place is intense. I need to get the hell out of here.

Anastasia threw on some dry clothes and got ready to bounce to the hospital. Richard and Lancey were cool enough not to third wheel Anastasia and Cassian. Plus, they didn’t want the drama from the younger crowd, so they took their own ride.

Anastasia and Cassian rode solo.

As Anastasia watched Cassian drive, she kept starting to say something, then stopping herself.