Chapter 8

Winona gritted her teeth so hard that it was almost as if they would turn to dust.

Isabel said, "Remember what I said last night, Winona? I wasn't brushing you off. You'll only be truly victorious if you can convince Samuel to divorce me."

As she spoke, she surreptitiously approached Winona. Then, she grabbed the latter's right hand to prevent her from actually hurting herself.

For a split second, Winona almost bought her words. But it was only for a second. She suddenly laughed hysterically and exclaimed, "You're just afraid that I'll hurt myself and get you into trouble, aren't you?"

Isabel frowned. Unexpectedly, Winona loosened her hold on the knife and allowed it to fall to the floor. Then, she growled, "Slashing my wrist isn't the only way to hurt myself, you know."

An extremely bad feeling rose in Isabel. Her gut told her not to let Winona go, but the latter swooped down and chomped down hard on the back of Isabel's hand.

Isabel cried out in pain and loosened her hold. Then, Winona ran past her, ramming her head against the wall with a loud thud. At the same time, she screamed in pain.

Isabel was stunned by this plot twist. She'd completely underestimated how psychotic Winona was!

She was about to step forward when Sheila and everyone else arrived. At the sight of Winona's bloody forehead, Sheila cried shakily, "Winnie, my Winnie! What happened to you?"

Cameron first glanced at Winona before sweeping a thoughtful gaze over Isabel. Then, he turned to the butler and said, "Get a doctor!"

Winona's head spun, and she saw stars. Still, she looked at Isabel weakly and with grievance as she lay in Sheila's arms. That alone was enough to make everyone think Isabel had done something.

Sheila's eyes reddened with rage. "How dare you hurt my daughter, Isabel! How dare you!"

Richard and Samuel happened to hear that as they hurried over from the study. Samuel burst into the room and looked down at Winona, seeing the blood on her forehead. Then, he stood before Isabel without even stopping to think about what had happened. He asked in disbelief, "Did you do this, Izzy?"

Isabel would be lying if she said she wasn't hurt by his doubt. It was bad enough that he'd betrayed her. How could he suspect her when they'd known each other for 22 years? Anyone else could doubt her, but not him!

To Samuel, Isabel's silence was nothing but a quiet admission. His expression turned frosty as he snarled, "Izzy, no matter how much you hate Winnie, you shouldn't have done something like this. It's not like you at all."

"Sam…" Winona called his name tearfully.

He gave Isabel a warning look, but he didn't say anything else. Instead, he bent down and lifted Winona into his arms. "I'll carry Winnie back to her room."

As soon as he was out of the room, Sheila slapped Isabel hard across the face, catching the latter off guard. "I should've given you this slap ages ago when we were downstairs! You'd better pray Isabel is fine, or I'll kill you!"

"Mom, that's enough." Cameron stepped forward and shielded Isabel. "Go check on Winnie."

Sheila snorted and left.

Cameron turned and reached out to touch Isabel's cheek. "Does it hurt?"

She turned away so there was no contact. "She did that to herself."

He said, "It doesn't matter how it happened. You saw exactly how things went, didn't you?"

It didn't matter? Isabel glared at him. "You're a lunatic, too!"

Then, she shoved him aside and stormed out of the room. She ran out of the Shore residence, her expression icy. However, she couldn't stop her tears from flowing.

In truth, Winona's scheme was clumsy and poorly executed. But no matter how flawed her methods were, everyone would still believe her.

Why? Because she was sick. Because the Shores all knew about what was going on between her and Samuel. They were positive Isabel held a grudge against her for it, so it was perfectly normal that she would hurt Winona in the heat of the moment.

But how could Samuel think that of her?

Isabel felt like she'd been dunked in ice-cold water. Her heart had already gone numb from being frozen over. As she drove out of the neighborhood, her phone rang.

She wanted to ignore it, thinking that it was a call from the Shores or Sam. To her surprise, it was Dominic.