All too late for his love

Zayn's eyes suddenly darkened like a cloud skimming across a pond. With a mocking chuckle, he lit a cigarette and began to smoke.

Tim was surprised to see lan. Ian's arrogant expression had yet to fade. It remained frozen in a way that made him look utterly ridiculous.

"Mr. N-Nightin-"

"What are you mumbling about?"

Mandy expected Tim to scold Willow sharply, but his sudden meekness infuriated her.

She jabbed a finger toward Willow and yelled, "You brazen hussy, and you fatherless cripple! How dare you cross my precious son? This is your last chance. Kneel and apologize to my son, or you'll deeply regret it!"

As more parents arrived to pick up their children, many of them, driven by a sense of justice, found the arrogance displayed by Mandy and Tim hard to tolerate.

Even though they were indignant, actually confronting Mandy and Tim seemed daunting. The duo's attire. signaled their wealth, dissuading anyone from risking offense.

"Who do you think you're telling to kneel?"

lan's soft-spoken question held an undercurrent of authority, leaving those around him tense and almost breathless.

Mandy looked up at lan. She was quick to notice his air of high status. Confident that neither Willow nor Aaron could know someone of his stature, she felt emboldened.

Her voice rose dramatically as she yelled, "Obviously, I'm telling the hussy who temps men and the cripple to kneel! So what if she's attractive? She can't even maintain her own marriage after having a dumb child who waddles like a penguin!"

"Yeah, you dumb, fatherless cripple!"

With Mandy backing him up, Harlan puffed himself up, taunting Aaron with a stick-out tongue.

"You're a burden, you poor thing! Your mother is disgraceful, and you deserve to be left all alone! It's pitiful how you're unloved and fatherless. You really should be ashamed of yourself, you cripple-"

"Who are you calling fatherless ? lan cut in sharply, his commanding tone silencing Harlan and making the boy cower back into Mandy's arms in fear.

lan's sudden presence made Tím slightly nervous, but years in the business world had honed his ability to regain composure quickly. He knew that lan had a favorable view of Willow, but he also knew that even the strongest reputations could be shattered.

As Tim thought about the possibility of tarnishing lan's impression of Willow, thereby shifting the Arena of Glory's ambassador role to Skyler and reaping the benefits the latter had promised him, he felt a surge of Chapter 299

excitement.

He took a deep breath and bravely met lan's gaze.

"Mr. Nightingale, Harlan is speaking about Willow's son! You may not be aware but Willow's personal life. is quite chaotic.

"We can't even be sure who the father of her child is. Our brand, Arena of Glory, can't afford to associate with someone so mired in scandal as a brand ambassador!

"And this cripple boy... clearly, he's not been raised right! He wouldn't have behaved so poorly toward Harlan if he had any manners. It's no wonder his own father abandoned him." This belongs to NôvelDrama.Org.

Tim's words cut deep, and though Willow knew Aaron's biological father had left them, it didn't change her view of her son. She still considered Aaron the most precious child in the world.

"Darling, go on. Hit him back! This fatherless cripple dared to strike you. Give it back to him twice as hard! * barked, standing with her hands on her hips, her demeanor as fierce as ever.

Mand Willow positioned herself in front of Aaron, preparing to defend him once again interrupted the escalating argument.

further, but lan's clear and crisp voice