Richard Quinn was a very calm man; he liked to think that he was reasonable. His wife was very patient and down to earth. Despite all the wealth that their son had made, the couple remained down to earth.
Richard had met Cassius’s father, and he was grateful for all the things the man had taught Hades. If it had not been for him, there would be no Quinn manor or Quinn group today.
Cassius had not always been a fool; he was once a promising young man with a bright future. It was not until six years ago that he fell off a yacht on their vacation and nearly died, that he ended up a fool.
Richard felt guilty for what Cassius had suffered. Even though it was nobody’s fault, he felt as if he had let down Hades’s mentor. The least that they could do was care for his son, no matter what condition he was in. His sister’s words did not sit well with him for those reasons.
"You know how this happened Fifi." Richard Quinn cut on. "You also know how Hades revered Cassius’ father Peter, his mentor and first business partner. Adopting Cassius after Peter’s death was the right thing to do and caring for him after the accident is our duty because he is family. You may not like him but please refrain from using insults when addressing my grandson." He asserted the point.
Fifi grunted, she thought her brother was a fool. And she thought the fool should have been sent to a mental facility or a sanatorium a long time ago. "Let’s put aside the fool for a moment. What about Sunshine, you said she was the best wife for Hades, and I don’t agree. The deal we made with the Raine’s was that she takes care of him and bears more Quinn heirs for our family. She did not even spend the night with him. These two Raine sisters are all nuisances, and we should drive them out." Her voice was as cold as a winter morning.
"So, there was a deal?" Sunshine put the fork down and finally said something. "You just put me up for sale to breed like a prize cow. How much did I fetch at the auction?" She smiled provocatively at Fifi.
A withering look settled on her uncle; his eyes were heavy with unspoken reproach.
Sunshine did not care. Even though deep down she knew that her aunt and the Quinn’s had cajoled him into accepting, she was still disappointed that he had no balls to stand up to them. How could he sentence his own niece to a lifetime of marriage with a fully paralyzed man with three children. All without asking said niece for her opinion!
This was human trafficking.
If they were not heading into an apocalypse, Sunshine would be up in arms and suing everyone involved.
"So how much do you have to pay back if I get a divorce right now?" Her question hit like a thunderclap, freezing the room into stunned silence.
"You...you! Don’t you dare." Rowena slapped the table. If her daughter could marry a fool, Sunshine could marry a quadriplegic.
She forgot that her daughter had willingly consented while Sunshine had not.
After dropping that bomb, Sunshine helped herself to little pieces of chopped pineapple. She ate them with relish, having not tasted, seen or smelled a pineapple all through the apocalypse.
She was blind to the looks of shock, horror, betrayal and other myriads of expressions on the faces of those around her.
"Suni my dear you cannot be serious! Please you have to reconsider, I cannot think of a better wife for my son than you." Rori let out a shaky sigh.
She had always wanted Suni for Hades because she had watched her care for Cassius without expressing any form of disgust after he became a fool. When she was around, she would clean him and feed him without complaining. She would sing for him and tell him bedtime stories.
She would take him for walks around the manor, bring him small gifts and even play music and encourage him to dance and live a full life despite his condition.
That is what she wanted for her son, whether he had his feet or not. And she would obviously be a good mother. As a bonus, she was intelligent, always topping her classes. Any children she gave Hades would be clever, no doubt.
Divorce was not an option.
"Suni, I know you don’t like Mr. Hades, and you are still in love with Cassius, but he is married to me now. I beg you to let us be happy." Moon held onto Cassius’s arm, speaking in her coquettish voice which was disgusting to many ears.
While many of them raised their eyebrows when they heard Sunshine was in love with Cassius, the fool, they frowned more in disgust at Moon. This was a wealthy family, and they had seen many coquettish pretentious women over the years.
Moon had been seen being snarky, rude and mean to Cassius. Her sudden change in behavior was very questionable.
"This is crazy." Warren shuddered.
"No matter how nice you are to poor people they will turn around and stab your back, I just hate the fact that we now share the same table with the help." Colleta Malloy, Fifi’s daughter stated.
"Then you can return to your father’s house my dear." Old patriarch Quinn croaked as he wheeled into the dining area. "Your father divorced your mother not you, return to your father’s home if you do not like our in-laws." He kept his wrinkled eyes on the girl.
Fifi was unhappy to hear about her divorce, and she was even more unhappy to see her daughter Colleta shrink like a criminal. No matter what, her daughter was more precious and higher in status that the servants whose status had just been changed a little bit.
"Father, everything has a price on this planet. I am sure that with the right number of zeros Sunshine can be convinced to forget about this divorce issue." She spoke, giving Sunshine a derisive smirk that was provoking her.
"Suni is not money minded, you are wrong about her. I have watched her grow up from a young girl to a young woman. Fifi, please stop aggravating her anger and giving her more reasons to go through with the divorce. She knows how rich we are, yet she wants to leave all that behind." Rori rubbed her moist eyes.
Richard covered her clenched fist with his hand, he hated to see his wife in pain therefore he was going to get Suni to stay, whatever the cost. "The divorce will not happen; it would create a scandal with people saying that you left your husband when he needed you the most. That will taint your image young lady." He offered unsolicited advice.
Sunshine scoffed. She would not be morally kidnapped ever again. In her last life, she had only agreed to marry Cassius because her uncle pleaded with her, and she was sympathetic towards him. See where that had landed her? Besides in the apocalypse, spouses abandoned and even sold each other for profit.
Right now, she did not need a husband, but she needed money to prepare for the apocalypse and the Quinn’s had a lot of it. Perhaps it was not such a bad idea to be a Mrs. Quinn for now.