Chapter 499
[ 534 words ]
Chapter 499:
Harper seized the opening like a shark sensing blood. She set her wine glass down with a delicate, deliberate click. “Well, well, look what the cat dragged in,” she said, her voice dripping with condescending sweetness. “We were beginning to think you mistook the Romero estate for a cheap motel where you can sleep until noon.”
Caroline ignored her. Her gaze remained locked on the General, her expression a mixture of profound apology and a desperate plea for understanding. “I promised you stew. I’m so sorry I let you down.”
Cornelia dabbed her lips with her napkin, a cruel smirk playing on her face. “One can’t expect a girl of her background to understand the importance of family customs,” she added, her voice a silken dagger. “Respect for one’s elders is clearly not something they teach in public schools.”
Agnes, who had been standing silently by the wall, took a half-step forward. Her face was impassive, but her voice was firm and clear. “It was the General’s direct order, madam. I was instructed to unplug the alarm clock in Mrs. Romero’s room last night.”
The revelation sucked the air out of the room. Harper’s smirk froze on her face.
The General’s expression, which had been one of concern for Caroline, hardened into something dark and dangerous. He lifted his heavy mahogany cane and brought it down, hard, against the polished hardwood floor.
THUMP.
The sound was like a gunshot, echoing in the dead silence.
𝖲h𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝘆𝘰u𝗋 f𝘢vо𝘳i𝘵𝗲𝗌 𝖿𝗿𝗼𝗆 𝗀a𝗹𝗇o𝗏еl𝘴.𝗰о𝘮
Caroline took a shaky breath, finding her voice. She wasn’t just a girl who had overslept. She was a professional who had been pushed to her limit. “I worked a forty-eight-hour continuous shift in the triage center before we boarded the train,” she said, her voice quiet but steady. “My body simply gave out.”
The General didn’t look at her. His eyes, narrowed and glacial, were locked on Harper. He was looking at his granddaughter as if she were a complete stranger, a venomous insect he had just discovered in his home.
Caroline straightened her shoulders, the last of her panic replaced by a cool resolve. “I respect this family, and I respect its traditions,” she said, her voice gaining strength. “But I will never apologize for being exhausted after saving lives.” She then turned her gaze back to the General, and a small, genuine smile touched her lips, breaking the tension. “I may have missed lunch, but a promise is a promise. That beef stew is still on the menu for dinner.”
The ice in the General’s eyes melted instantly as he looked at her. He gestured to the empty chair beside him. “Sit,” he said, his voice gruff but gentle. “Eat something now.”
The blatant, instantaneous shift in his demeanor, from terrifying patriarch to doting grandfather, was too much for Harper. Her mind raced. This was the moment she had feared: the General siding with Caroline, openly, in front of everyone. If he was willing to publicly humiliate his own granddaughter for this outsider, then the station announcement hadn’t been a mere formality. It had been a warning. Caroline was not just Jarrod’s wife; she was becoming the General’s favorite. And a favorite could influence inheritances, alliances, everything. The fear curdled into reckless, desperate rage.
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