Sheila hadn't expected this level of composure, and it threw her more than she wanted to admit. She'd planned to needle Alex until she cracked publicly — a photographer sat positioned nearby specifically to capture the moment, ready to push it online the second Alex made a misstep. So far, nothing had gone according to plan, and that failure only stoked her anger further. Every insult she'd rehearsed on the drive over had landed with all the impact of a pebble against a wall, and she was rapidly running out of material.
"Don't push your luck. If it weren't for us, you wouldn't even exist. Your mother would have ended up sleeping her way to relevance without your father. You should be grateful for what little you have now."
Aria added, smirking, "Everything you have, you owe to my father and our family. Which means that ring is technically mine too."
