[Third Person's PoV]
While Melissa finished giving her thanks to all her supporters, the phone in her lap started ringing.
She glanced at the screen and saw the caller ID: "Sponsor/Sugar Daddy."
Melissa's expression shifted to one of both disgust and disbelief. "Tony, who the hell do you have saved as Sugar Daddy in your contacts?"
Tony snorted. "Phttt, that's my dad. He's been funding my innovations and giving me money whenever I asked, so that's how I always had him saved." He chuckled, but his face turned unexpectedly serious. "Now, whatever you do, don't answer that call."
Melissa sighed, ignoring his warning, and swiped up to answer, projecting the hologram into the air.
Tony immediately glared at her. "I told you not to answer that! At least give me time to flee the country first!"
"Oh? So you were planning on running away, huh?" Maria asked, narrowing her eyes as she sat beside Howard.
Tony spun around with a nervous smile. "Mommy dearest! How are you? It's been so long since we last talked."
Maria raised an unimpressed brow. "Tony, it's been minutes."
Howard scoffed. "So, I take it from your reaction that you've made it home safely?"
"Yes, Father," Melissa answered with a smile. "We made it back in one piece."
Howard's face lit up at being addressed as such by his daughter-in-law.
Tony turned to her and gave her a discreet thumbs-up. 'Good! Butter that old sucker up!' he thought with glee. 'Now aim for the other one!'
Maria, however, saw right through their act and scoffed. "Melissa, there's no need to protect Tony."
"Whatever do you mean, Mother?" Melissa asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes with her hands behind her back.
Maria crossed her arms, her chest puffing up slightly with a smug expression. "No matter how much you try to get on our good side, we're not taking back the punishment Howard and I decided on for Tony."
'Say that without the smug look on your face,' Tony inwardly scoffed.
Melissa didn't back down. "I'm not asking you to take away the punishment—just to be lenient. After all, Tony isn't the only one at fault. I accompanied him."
Maria sighed but smiled softly. "Melissa, sweetie, I love that you're trying to protect Tony, but we all know you'd do anything he asks of you. The problem is that he's the one who's supposed to be looking out for you. That's why he's being punished."
Tony grunted and looked off to the side.
Melissa squared her shoulders. "Then punish me too! Tony and I are partners—if he's guilty of something, then I'm his accomplice!"
Howard let out an exasperated sigh and massaged his forehead. He and Maria exchanged a glance, silently communicating in the way only long-time partners could. After a moment, they both nodded and turned back toward Tony and Melissa.
"Very well," Howard said. "To make sure you don't just keep following Tony's reckless whims, we've decided that the punishment we had planned for him will apply to you as well."
Tony flinched, closing his eyes and holding his hands protectively over his face. "Alright, old man, lay it on me! I can take it! I've taken tougher hits before!"
Howard grinned wickedly. "Oh, really now?" He chuckled darkly before continuing. "At first, we thought about freezing your accounts, but you need money to survive on your own, so we scrapped that. Then we considered taking away your 'toys,' but since you need them for safety—both yours and others—we couldn't do that either."
Tony groaned in frustration. "Just get on with it, old man! The anticipation is killing us over here!"
"We're getting there," Maria said, shooting a glare at Tony. "So, since we couldn't take away your money or your suits, we decided to take away the thing you love most in the world."
Tony tilted his head in pure confusion. "What could I possibly love more than money and my suits?"
Melissa gave him a side-eye with a stoic expression, resisting the sudden urge to punch him in the face. Even Howard and Maria exchanged a look of pity before glancing at Melissa. She sighed, raising a hand as if to stop herself from reacting.
"Wait…" Melissa muttered as realization struck.
Howard and Maria grinned. "Tony, it's Melissa," Maria said. "We're taking Melissa away from you."
"WHAT?!" Tony and Melissa shouted in unison, completely astonished.
"Tony, we've realized how much you depend on Melissa," Howard explained. "She basically runs everything for you—like your personal secretary."
"So, from this moment forward, for the next three months, Melissa is banned from doing any work related to the company," Maria continued. "Your punishment is simple: you have to handle everything yourself. All the tasks Melissa used to do—you'll be doing them alone."
Tony's knees buckled as he slowly dropped to the floor, a look of pure despair etched across his face. "No…" he whispered. "You can't do this to me…"
Then, in a dramatic outburst, he slammed his fist against the ground. "NOOOOOOO!" he wailed, tears streaming down his face. "NOT MY CORPORATE SLAVE! ANYTHING BUT MY CORPORATE SLAVE!"
Melissa's face twitched in irritation, veins appearing on her forehead as she glared at him.
Howard and Maria exchanged another look—this time, filled with disappointment.
"Take my money! Take my armor! But don't take my slave!" Tony continued, ugly crying. "Her work is indispensable! Don't make me do what she does—it's torture! You'll ruin my company! I'll be a good boy, I swear!"
Melissa inched closer, dangerously close to strangling him.
"Oh? Your company?" Howard said, raising an eyebrow. "I don't remember retiring."
Tony's eyes widened. "So that's your endgame, isn't it?! This was your plan all along! You know I'll fail at all the boring, day-to-day tasks, so you're forcing me to do them—just to make my reputation plummet! You're jealous of my success! This is all one big ploy to sabotage me and reclaim your title as the top businessman because you can't stand that your son surpassed you!"
Maria turned away, covering her mouth to stifle a laugh.
Howard, completely unfazed, leaned back against the couch, casually throwing an arm over the backrest. "Four months."
"Eh?" Tony blinked.
"I'm extending the punishment from three months to four," Howard said, his expression daring Tony to argue.
Tony immediately switched tactics, rubbing his hands together like a cunning businessman. "Oh my, Father dearest, have you trimmed your mustache? I must say, you're looking rather dashing lately."
Howard smirked, his expression practically saying, 'That's right. All you can do now is grovel, you brat.'
"I know my venerable father is a generous man and would surely be open to discussing the terms of this punishment," Tony said, continuing to rub his hands together.
"Nope. You deserve it for being rude to your father," Howard shot back smugly. "Punishment extended to four months."
Tony clicked his tongue in irritation. "Your mustache is ugly anyway. I don't know what hairy worm crawled onto your upper lip and died."
Howard's mouth twitched. "Five months for clicking your tongue. Six for talking back."
Leaning forward with his hands clasped together, Howard smirked. "Go on, keep going. Let's see if we can make it a year."
Tony immediately shut up, his eyes welling with tears of injustice. He turned to his mother, giving her his best teary-eyed, pleading puppy-dog look.
Maria sighed. The pleading eyes of a child—especially her baby boy—were her greatest weakness.
"Howard, remember, this punishment affects Melissa too," she pointed out. "She hasn't done anything wrong."
Huzzah! Hip-hip for Mother! Tony cheered internally.
Howard grumbled. "You have a point… Fine. Just four months then. That is my final verdict."
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