At that moment, Jeff joined in the laughter. He picked up a wine glass and walked toward Emily.
"Emily Harper, congratulations! You can finally find a man who matches your social standing."
Emily snorted coldly. She knew the smile on Jeff's face hid bitterness and resentment.
Emily said, "If you kneel down and beg me right now, I might plead with Grandma to hold off on the divorce for the time being."
Jeff chuckled lightly. "You betrayed me, and now you expect me to kneel and beg you?"
As expected from high society, from a near-first-tier family!
Jeff downed the wine in one gulp, then spoke word by word. "You are not worthy."
"You…"
Emily's beautiful face twisted with rage. In front of Jeff, she had always acted superior, like a queen.
But today, this lowly servant had rebelled!
Emily ran to Old Madam Harper, looking aggrieved. She grabbed one of the old woman's arms with both hands.
"Grandma, letting him off with just a divorce is too lenient!"
Brandon, unusually aligning with Emily, stepped forward as well.
"Emily's right. He needs to be taught a real lesson!"
Old Madam Harper patted her two grandchildren with her frail hands, comforting them with a smile.
"Don't worry. The Harper family isn't so easily bullied."
Then she turned to the guests.
"Everyone, this Jeff wasted three precious years of my granddaughter's life and even assaulted my grandson. The Harpers have been a prominent family in Riverforge for decades. If we let this slide, I'm afraid more people will look down on us in the future!"
The room fell quiet. From her tone, it was clear Old Madam Harper intended to punish him severely.
Jeff set down his glass and listened carefully. He wanted to see exactly how the Harpers planned to deal with him.
Old Madam Harper continued. "Everyone here is a prominent figure from all walks of life in Riverforge. I implore you to help me cut off his path to survival!"
Sever Jeff's path to survival!
For any person, the most critical thing is their source of income. The Harpers wanted to destroy Jeff's livelihood, to make sure he couldn't survive in Riverforge.
The guests murmured among themselves, but for a moment no one spoke up.
They were weighing the situation, calculating the consequences.
Business people are the most shrewd.
After all, cutting off someone's means of living is like killing their parents. No one wants to make an enemy unless absolutely necessary.
At that moment, Ryan Caldwell stepped forward first.
"On behalf of the Caldwell family, I support the Harpers!" Ryan continued.
"Everyone, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Ryan Caldwell. My family is involved in multiple sectors, including hotels and investments."
"I can't speak for everything, but from today onward, I guarantee that Jeff won't be allowed to stay in any hotel or guesthouse below four stars in Riverforge!" He sneered.
"You deserve to sleep on the streets!"
At first, some guests hadn't recognized Ryan, he was young, and many in the room were in their forties or fifties.
But after his introduction, everyone understood.
"So you're the young master of the Caldwells. I hear they own seventy percent of the hotels in Riverforge."
"Not just that, they have stakes in chains like Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn here too!"
"Jeff's finished. He won't be booking any decent room with a woman anymore, haha."
Jeff couldn't help but laugh. Why would the young master of the Sterling family ever stay in a hotel below four stars?
With Ryan leading the way, and knowing Jeff was just a live-in son-in-law with no connections in Riverforge, the crowd felt safe piling on.
Soon another man stepped forward.
In his forties, he glared at Jeff before speaking.
"Everyone, I'm Victor Lang, owner of The View, Lakeside Grill, and Sky Terrace restaurants. I've been in the catering business in Riverforge for twenty years."
"I support the Harpers and will cut off Jeff's path to survival!"
"With my connections in this industry, I guarantee Jeff won't find work in any restaurant in Riverforge!"
The Harpers clasped their hands in gratitude.
Marcus Kane stepped up next. "I'm Marcus Kane, general agent for Swift Delivery in Riverforge. I also support the Harpers and will cut off Jeff's path to survival!"
"Jeff, from now on, forget about food delivery. Not just Swift—you won't deliver for any platform in this city! Not even DoorDash or Uber. Heck, not even Lyft. None of them."
Jeff laughed again. At that moment, he felt a bit like a lone warrior facing a mob of accusers.
But this crowd was far less formidable than the legends he knew.
Jeff said calmly, "Hotel staff and delivery drivers—those two industries have blacklisted me. Any others?"
Another man stepped forward. "I'm the owner of Golden Crown KTV. Forget working as a waiter in any KTV or bar in Riverforge!"
"Haha, very good. Anything else?" Jeff continued to ask.
Two more people came forward, but they still only blocked low-level manual labor jobs.
In their eyes, Jeff had no education or experience, so they believed he could only do waiter work.
Cut that off, and he had no way to survive in Riverforge.
Seeing Jeff remain unflustered, Brandon suddenly said, "Jeff's such a good fighter. Will he apply to be a bodyguard next?"