Terrified, Lucas ducked by sheer, panicked reflex. The heavy porcelain vase sailed past his ear, shattering violently against the wood-paneled wall behind him and showering the trio in sharp white shards.
Lucas's heart hammered against his ribs; he couldn't believe the old man had actually tried to take his head off.
"Great-grandfather, I—" Lucas stammered, but the Old Elder cut him off with a thunderous roar.
"You what!" the elderly snapped, his chest heaving with fury. "If you genuinely believe you can insult my intelligence after parading that pathetic digital garbage in front of this family, then you are a bigger idiot than I thought. It doesn't matter if Evie is your ex-fiancée. The only reason you walked away from her was that you lacked the vision and the future to deserve a woman of her caliber. And thank God you did, because it left her for your uncle—a man who is ten times the gentleman you could ever hope to be, you absolute nimrod."
