“No.” My father cut him off sharply. “It’s time for some honesty here. Not only has she chosen to reject everything this family stands for—our values, our career paths, even our geographic location—that’s her choice. But choices have consequences.”

He turned his cold gaze back to me. “If you insist on pursuing this path, investigating corporations and undermining the business world, then you do so completely on your own. Not with my support, not with my connections, and not with my name.”

The restaurant had grown so quiet I could hear the clink of glassware from the bar across the room.

“Are you seriously disowning me at my graduation dinner?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

“I’m simply clarifying the terms of our relationship moving forward,” he replied as if discussing a business contract. “You’ve made it abundantly clear you don’t respect what I’ve built or the wisdom I’ve tried to impart. So be it. Consider yourself independent in all respects.”

My mother gasped. “Matthew, please—”

“Stay out of this, Diana,” he snapped without looking at her.

“You can’t be serious,” Tyler interjected. “Dad, this is insane. It’s her graduation day.”

“Which makes it the perfect time to establish clear boundaries before she embarks on her chosen path,” my father replied coolly. “Not only does she want independence, now she has it completely.”

The humiliation burned through me like acid. All around us, other families were witnessing what should have been a private family matter, if it should have happened at all. My graduation day, which I’d worked so hard for, was being deliberately destroyed by the man who should have been proudest of me.