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Even the clink of cutlery stopped. I felt my stomach drop. My cheeks were burning, and I looked down at my plate, trying not to cry.
Ethan’s jaw was clenched, his hand still resting on my knee, now gripping a little tighter.
“Karen,” Richard said slowly, his voice quiet but filled with something unmistakably stern, “that’s enough.”
Karen blinked, taken off guard. She tried to laugh, her eyes darting around the table. “I’m just teasing.”
“No,” he said, firmer now.
“You’re humiliating her.”
She let out a sharp breath. “Richard, please don’t start. Not here.”
But he didn’t back down.
He stayed calm, but his words cut through the thick silence like a blade.
“You’ve spent years belittling her,” he said. “Calling her small, acting like she’s beneath you. Maybe it’s time you remembered who lifted you when you were beneath everyone else.”
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