A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 397

Fairfax shot to his feet, his cold gaze fixed on Starla. "We need to talk."

"Your own mother tried to poison me, and you want to talk to me?" Starla shot back, every word a razor's edge. "What is there to talk about?"

She didn't let up. "If you need to talk to anyone, it should be your mother. She's the one who can't live by the rules she created. And now she blames me for enforcing them? Isn't that hilarious?"

Fairfax was speechless. Hilarious? Did she think any of this was funny? He grabbed her wrist, intending to drag her upstairs.

"Let go!"

"We. Need. To. Talk," he repeated through clenched teeth.

"Then we'll talk right here!" she snapped, yanking her arm free.

No more private conversations. No more closed doors. She had given him countless opportunities for that in the past. Every time he left because of Brinley, every time they returned to Petal Villa, she had tried to talk to him alone. And what was his response? A single ‘I'm tired.’

How many chances had she given him? Too many. Now, there were no more to give.

Fairfax glared down at her, his eyes growing colder by the second, but he said nothing.

"Have you forgotten?" Starla's voice was low, laced with bitterness. "I gave you so many chances to talk to me in private. What were you thinking back then? Were you placating me? Avoiding me? Or did you just think I wasn't worthy of your time?"

"All of you, get out," Fairfax snarled, glancing at Darleen and the others.

Darleen didn't need to be told twice. She scrambled to her feet and fled. Under Fairfax's icy stare, Xenia didn't dare say a word and quickly helped her mother leave. Brinley cast a tearful look at Fairfax, but he wasn't looking at her, so she quietly followed them out.

There it was again. The word 'divorce.' He never thought it would be him saying it. But ironically, he was now desperate for it.

"You were so against the divorce before. I'm just giving you what you wanted. Why are you so unhappy?" she taunted.

Seeing his desperation now was a bitter kind of satisfaction. Men like him never bothered to see things from another's perspective, did they? So, what happened when his own position was threatened? He couldn't handle it.

Fairfax took a long, hard drag from his cigarette. "Tell me what you want," he bit out.

"The entire Yelchin Group," she said calmly, "and this estate."

Silence descended upon the room.