Chapter 16 Cut Ties

• “No, Ethan! We can't do that!” Paulina struggled to sit up and uttered anxiously, “Maddie is still a child. If she makes a mistake, we, as parents, can teach her to redeem herself. But we can't kick her out of the family!”
• “Paulina!” He was serious. Staring sharply at her, he fumed, “It's she who has ditched this family! At the end of the day, she was adopted, after all. Not only is she not grateful to you for raising her for eighteen years, but she is also rebellious. She even stole money from the house to run away with a man. Are you still going to keep an ingrate like her?”
• Paulina avoided his eyes and muttered, “She is gone now. But that doesn't mean she isn't going to come back in the future...”
• “What does she think the Shaw residence is? A place that she can leave and come back at will?” Ethan arched his brows. “It's because of you that she's spoiled to this extent. She doesn't care about the Shaw family's reputation at all!”
• Ethan was considered the head of the Shaw family. He failed to start his own business when he was young, so he ended up helping out in Zachary's company.
• Or rather, he was working for his younger brother.
• Regardless, as long as the Shaw family encountered any problems, he would still go all out to play his role as the big brother. Be it the way he spoke or acted, he'd be extremely assertive.
• His domineering aura stopped Paulina from saying anything else. She shut her parted lips in the end. Whatever he said made sense, after all.
• Ethan continued, “We aren't of an ordinary family, and this current issue has spread across Avenport. Everyone is saying that Ms. Shaw stole money from her family's company. Now our stock price is affected because of that. We need to hurry up and hold a press conference to respond to this matter.”
• After hearing what he said, Zachary finally made up his mind. “All right, then! We'll listen to you.”
• Paulina pursed her lips, but she didn't object.
• Half an hour later, the Shaw family held a press conference in the front hall of their residence.
• Paulina was still weak, so she stayed in the bedroom to rest. Meanwhile, Zachary and Ethan were on the stage to respond to the reporters' queries.
• Shaw Corporation was a well-known real estate company in Avenport. Reporters from the major publications had long heard of what had happened to their family. They were crowding in the front hall, raising their hands to ask questions.
• “Mr. Zachary, we heard that Ms. Shaw has eloped. Is it true?”
• “Rumors say that she withdrew a large amount of money from the bank before running away. Was the money from the internal funds of the company?”
• “Have you verified the amount of that fund, Mr. Zachary? Is it going to affect the cash flow of the corporation?”
• “The stock price of Shaw Corporation is starting to drop. Do you have any plans to deal with this situation, Mr. Zachary?”
• Facing the cameras and microphones before him, Zachary found it hard to open his mouth to respond to the many questions thrown at him.
• “I want to make two things clear. Firstly, the funds of Shaw Corporation have always been kept in the corporate account. The account is managed by our financial department. I don't keep it with me. So the money that Madison took wasn't the company's asset.”
• “Not the company's asset?” The reporters were confused. Nevertheless, they still jotted down the points.
• “Secondly...” Zachary trailed off. He couldn't bring himself to continue saying the rest of the words.
• Ethan had been keeping silent at the side. Noticing Zachary's hesitation, he tapped his brother's shoulder at once and took the microphone over.
• “Mr. Zachary is not in good form today. Allow me to continue on his behalf. It's unfortunate that such a thing happened to our family. So from now on, we'll remove Madison from our family tree, and at the same time, Mr. Zachary has decided to cut ties with her!”
• “Whoa!”
• As soon as Ethan finished speaking, the reporters went into an uproar.
• At that moment, a green cab roared over and came to a screeching halt at the entrance of the front hall.