Ian rushed over, trying to grab me. "What are you yelling about? It's just a small matter. Is it really that big of a deal?"

I took a step back. "A small matter? Let's switch places. You and your girlfriend can go and open a new cafe. Just do whatever you want, or go to the moon for all I care."

Ian's face immediately darkened. "That's impossible. Louisa's family is struggling financially, and they have no resources to open a new cafe."

I couldn't help but laugh in frustration. "Oh, so now you understand? And you still have the nerve to say that to me?"

Our argument grew louder, and soon, our parents rushed in to see what was going on.

I explained everything to them, recounting the whole situation.

Ian stood off to the side, looking nervous and guilty. He tried several times to interrupt me but failed each time.

After hearing the whole story, Dad turned red with anger.

"Is what your sister said true? Are you planning to marry Louisa and kick Vivian out of the cafe? Louisa's not even married to you yet, and she's already scheming to take over the family business. What's up with that girlfriend of yours?"

Ian shrank back, but he still tried to defend himself. "Dad, if Louisa marries me, she'll be part of the Kingston family, and any kids we have will carry the Kingston name. Giving her half the business is like giving it to your future grandkids. The cafe will still belong to our family.

"But when Vivian gets married, she'll be an outsider and no longer part of the Kingston family. Will you really hand our family business over to an outsider? Louisa has our best interests at heart!"

Dad's face turned red with rage, and his fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles cracked.

"Shut your mouth! I think you've lost your mind to put an outsider ahead of your own sister! What's wrong with you?"

He grabbed a broom and started hitting Ian, the sharp smacking sounds echoing through the room. After a few blows, red marks appeared on Ian's arms.

Mom rushed over and grabbed Dad's hand.

When Ian was born, she almost died during childbirth, so she had always had a soft spot for him.

"Stop it. Stop it! Do you want to hurt your son?"

Dad stopped, pointing at Ian. "Apologize to your sister right now and promise you won't ever do this again. And tell that girlfriend of yours to stop thinking she has any claim over this business."

Ian rubbed his sore arm, shivering in pain.

But he refused to back down.

"If Vivian won't give up her share of the cafe, then I'll need the 600 thousand dollars for the wedding gift. I can't afford that. Without it, Louisa won't agree to marry me. But Louisa is my soulmate. I won't marry anyone else. If you want to break us up, you might as well just kill me now!"

Dad's lips trembled with rage. He threw the broom, and it hit Ian in the forehead.

Seeing things get out of hand, Mom quickly stepped in to mediate.

"Enough! Everyone, stop fighting. I've been thinking about splitting the cafe business for a while now. Eventually, both kids will go their separate ways. Why not divide the business now and let them both do their own thing?"

Ian looked at Mom with renewed confidence and shot me a smug look.

"See? Mom agrees with me."

Mom turned her gaze to me, her expression complicated.

"After you do an inventory of the equipment in the cafe, you can take half. Your father and I have some savings, so we'll give you the money and equipment to start your own business."

She continued, "I know how much effort you've put into this cafe. But if Ian and Louisa are happy together, as family, we should support them. For my sake, take a step back. Siblings shouldn't fight over something like this."

Ian eagerly agreed. "Right. Mom's right."

Dad waved his hand. "No. Vivian has worked so hard for this business. I'm not going to let her feel like she's been treated unfairly."

Seeing Dad stand firmly with me gave me some comfort.

Mom stepped forward, speaking with finality. "I know this is unfair to Vivian, but Ian's right. The business has to be split."

Dad sighed heavily, looking like he wanted to say more, but Mom stopped him with a look.

They both turned to me, waiting for my response.

Ian's eyes were full of expectation, while Dad's showed concern.

I stayed silent for a long while before agreeing to the plan.

Ian, filled with excitement, said he'd go out to share the good news with Louisa right away.

That night, Ian didn't come home.

In the middle of the night, I was unable to sleep, so I got up to get some water. As I passed by my parents' room, I noticed they were still awake. Their voices were faintly audible.

Mom's tone was serious. "Today, you raised a huge fuss and even hit Ian. But that was just for show, right? You wanted to show Vivian that you're on her side.

"You know Ian is far too proud and isn't capable of succeeding on his own. Now, he's even blinded by Louisa and will probably amount to nothing in the future.

"You don't want them to have separate businesses because you want to make sure Vivian always backs Ian. With her support, even if he fails at everything, he'll always have a safety net and won't have to worry about going hungry."

Her voice was low, but each word hit me like a thunderclap.

My heart shattered.

I held my breath, covered my mouth, and peeked inside.

Dad was sitting on the edge of the bed with his head bowed. "You asked the two of them to run separate businesses. It looks like you're helping Ian, but in reality, you're just looking out for Vivian. You don't want Ian to become a burden to her, do you?"

I finally understood. If Ian and I kept running the same cafe, I would always be the one working hard, while Ian could do nothing and still have everything, because I'd never want to take his share, just like what I had done all these years.

My efforts hadn't gone unnoticed by my parents, but they had quietly accepted that I would always be Ian's safety net.

However, Louisa had made Mom change her mind. After all, Ian and I were both her children. How could an outsider take advantage of us?

The next morning, I sent a message in the family group chat.

"Good morning, everyone! Ian has decided to run his business with his girlfriend, so he will no longer be working with me. Thus, I'll be opening a separate branch. You're welcome to visit the new branch for a free tasting when it opens!"

I sent this message to explain why I was opening a new branch and to inform everyone about Ian and Louisa's plans.

I had to do this because if things went south with Ian later, he might turn on me. He could claim that I had made it big and didn't want to take him along—then I would be the one facing the backlash.

I needed to preemptively defend myself and let everyone see the type of people Ian and Louisa really were.

Moreover, it was better to have a witness with me during the inventory review, just in case things took a bad turn.

As soon as I sent the message, the group chat blew up.

One of Dad's younger brothers, Nathan Kingston, asked, "Why split up now when your business is booming? Sibling rivalry is bad for business."

Susan Ryder, the wife of Dad's older brother, Arthur Kingston, also said, "Wow, who is that girl? How bold of her to kick Vivian out before she even marries into the family!"

My cousin, Jennifer Leeds, piped up, "Vivian's been running the business all these years, while Ian has done nothing. Now that the business is doing well, he wants to take it all for himself and leave Vivian to start from scratch. What a classic case of sexism!"

Dad's other younger brother, Connor Kingston, said, "He's willing to ditch his own sister for some outsider? It's a huge mistake…"

My relatives all chimed in one after another with their opinions, and I was feeling pretty good reading them.

But then, Mom and Dad barged into my room.

Dad looked like he was about to explode.

"Arthur just called and gave me an earful, saying I didn't raise Ian properly and that he's now been seduced by some vixen and is now fighting with you. How could you embarrass us like this and post our family matter in the group chat?"

I secretly pinched myself, causing tears to fall from my eyes.

"Dad, I've worked my butt off for this cafe all these years. I've been the one grinding day in and day out. But look at Ian. After getting involved with Louisa, he wants to take everything I've worked for.

"I didn't want to make things harder for you and Mom, so I kept stepping aside. Ian's young, and it's natural that he's not seeing things clearly and getting influenced by others. But Dad, you understand my suffering, don't you?"

I cried, my voice breaking as I subtly made sure Dad knew that this whole mess was because of Ian and Louisa. It wasn't my fault.

Dad stood there speechless for a while, and then finally waved his hand in resignation.

"Whatever. I don't know what to say anymore."

The messages in the group chat were still pouring in, with more relatives discussing Ian and Louisa's actions, especially when Louisa wasn't even part of the family yet.

After all, though Ian had always been a bit of a slacker, he'd never made any weird demands like this before.

Louisa was already stirring the pot, causing chaos before even officially joining the family.

People were trying to get Ian to reconsider, but he wasn't having any of it. He shot back in the group chat, "Stop acting like you know better than me."

"You can talk about me, but don't you dare talk about Louisa like that."

"She just wants to work with me and build a good life for us. What's wrong with that? Why do you all have to mock her?"

"I never thought my family would be full of people who don't know right from wrong. If you keep talking badly about Louisa, I'm gonna cut ties with all of you!"

That night, to prove his loyalty to Louisa, Ian left the family group chat.