Chapter 833

"Marry him!"

A chorus of voices, a mix of young and old, erupted from the crowd, a wave of encouragement rolling through the hall.

"Marry him! Marry him! Marry him!"

The employees, especially the department heads, cheered enthusiastically, practically shouting loud enough to accept the ring on Mrs. Mercer's behalf.

Mrs. Mercer covered her mouth with her hands, tears streaming down her face. She took off her old ring, ready to replace it. The timeless words, "I do," were just about to escape her lips when a new, shocking scene unfolded.

"Mrs. Mercer, I wonder if you can even give Mr. Mercer a son. What exactly are you saying 'I do' to?"

From behind the cart of roses, a woman emerged, holding a five-month-old baby boy. She walked toward the stage.

When James saw the woman's face, he froze, utterly dumbfounded.

Mrs. Mercer's expression snapped from joy to fury in a single second. "James, what is the meaning of this?" she roared, her voice echoing through the massive hall.

James tried to explain, but the woman holding the baby strode forward relentlessly. She sneered at Mrs. Mercer. "Sallie Yeager, I gave James a son. Since you're incapable, it's time for you to give up your position as Mrs. Mercer."

Mrs. Mercer's feet, already struggling to support her heavy frame, now felt as though they were weighed down by a thousand pounds. She swayed, nearly collapsing.

James's face paled. "You-what are you doing? Why did you come here now?" He was panicking. It was true he had a son out of wedlock. Patti Yale's reputation was too toxic, so he wouldn't keep a child with her, but other women were a different story. Sallie had been his wife f for twenty years and had only given him a daughter. She wanted another child but could never conceive. Of course, James himself was partly to blame; he spent his nights carousing and rarely touched his wife, making pregnancy impossible.

"Why can't I be here?" the woman retorted. "I'm the one who gave you a son! Why does she get to enjoy all this glamour at the company while I have to hide like a rat in a sewer? Why? I'm holding the Mercer family's firstborn grandson!"

At that moment, the Mercer matriarch, who had long felt suffocated under the Yeager family's influence, sided with the mistress. "Sallie, dear, where we come from, it's a disgrace for a man to be without a son by the time he's forty. As his wife, you should be gracious and make room for the younger one. Today, James signed a huge deal, worth billions, I hear. He's already given you plenty of face. For my sake, you should accept this woman and the boy as part of the family."

The Mercer matriarch reached eagerly to take her grandson from the woman's arms. But Mrs. Mercer was no pushover. James was also stunned and pulled his mother aside, whispering, "What are you doing, stirring up trouble here?"

His mother was indignant. "How am I stirring up trouble? I've been telling you for years that the Mercer family needs a male heir! The

daughter-in-law must produce a son to be honored by our ancestors. She hasn't given you a son in twenty years of marriage so what's wrong with you finding a younger woman to have one? She's the elder sister here; she should act like one. Why fight with the younger one? If she can't have a son, does that mean no one else can have one for our family?"

The Mercer matriarch had completely taken charge, forgetting that her daughter-in- law was no ordinary woman. The Mercer family couldn't just climb on her back to reach the top and then kick her off.

Before Sallie's father could react,

Mrs. Mercer herself exploded. "What did you say? I'm the 'elder sister'? You think your son is some kind of king prince? You never disciplined him for his philandering, and now you have the audacity to let him bring his bastard son here to walk all over me? So what if I only have a daughter? Don't you forget that your saurs who he is today because my family built him up! Without the Yeagers, he'd be nothing! You old hag, you've had a few good meals and now you think you can fly before you can even walk steadily? You want me to accept this child as my own? Not in a million years!"

James was terrified, his face ashen. He had orchestrated this grand gesture to impress his father-in-law, hoping he would finally entrust the entire Yeager family fortune to him. If his father-in-law transferred the assets to his wife, and he himself proved competent, he would win the Yeagers' trust. Then, it would only be a matter of time before he could sideline Sallie, who couldn't produce an heir.