جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 37

MELANIEHow do I know she’s about to piss me the fuck off? Easy. Her voice is dipped in absolute frost despite the Pennywise-like smile on her face. Right now, she has an uncanny resemblance to the cursed clown. Penelope seems to notice it as well, because shrinks instantly against my side. She can completely feel the coldness radiating off this beautiful, terrifying stranger. She peeks out from beside me, her little fingers nervously twisting the hem of her plain shirt. This is the first time she is meeting her grandmother, and the fairy-tale image in her head is rapidly crashing into reality.“Hi… Hi, Grandma,” Penelope whispers. She offers a tiny, hesitant wave, her big beautiful eyes wide with shy hope.Evangeline casually picks up her cloth napkin, shakes it out, and rests it on her lap.“Grandma?” She scoffs. “Oh wow, I didn’t see that coming,” Evangeline murmurs to Lucas. Her words are designed to slice right through me. They always have been, and I have a feeling they

VALENTIN ALISTAIR When I find Evangeline, she is in the greenhouse garden. I stand silently in the arched glass doorway and simply watch her. How quickly did she manage to shed her pristine designer dress and slip into a canvas gardening apron, denim suspenders, and a wide-brimmed straw hat? She hums a quiet, classical tune, picking up ripe tomatoes from the green vine and placing them gently into a woven basket resting on her hip. This is one of the many things that drove my father absolutely crazy about her. “She grows her own vegetables, can you imagine?! She’s an angel, this one.” Yeah, right. She is so angelic that she managed to crawl perfectly into a married man’s bed without a second thought. “Are you going to speak, or are you going to keep staring at me?” Evangeline’s voice cuts sharply through the humid air of the greenhouse. I watch her rise to her full height, taking note of the dark soil carefully rubbed onto the knuckles of her expensive gard

MELANIE Guests of honor, what does that even mean?I grab the phone from the bed and stare at it, my wide eyes reading through the bold font on the screen. “In an interview with Pearl magazine, Evangeline Alistair states that the ceremony, although for her stepson and his lovely bride-to-be…” I hear Cassian scoff, but I continue. “...will be held in honor of her daughter and granddaughter who have both returned healthy and happy after several years out of the city. She says it will also be to celebrate her daughter’s escape from an abusive man and marriage, and show that while love is something to be celebrated, it is important for women to be strong enough to back down when situations become toxic. The billionaire and business mogul praised…”I can’t do this shit anymore. “Is she fucking serious? When did she even do all this? And Pearl magazine? Hasn’t she been in this house all day?” I lament, looking to the Alistair brothers for a response. Xavier shrugs, but I see the cautio