A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 399

As soon as the topic turned to the tiny size of Susanna's house, Xenia couldn't stop complaining. "Mom, what have you been thinking all these years? Is Susanna even your real daughter?"

"What nonsense are you spouting now? Of course she's my real daughter."

"If she's your daughter, then why have you treated her so poorly all these years? I've certainly never seen you give her much of an allowance."

It was true. Susanna had never held much of a position in the Yelchin family. Darleen rarely gave her pocket money, and Susanna seldom asked for it, especially after graduating. Once she was on her own, she never took a dime from the family. They didn't offer, and she didn't ask.

"It's not that I wouldn't give it to her," Darleen retorted. "She just never asked for it. Not like you, who's always asking me for money."

"What a thing to say! If you had just bought Susanna a bigger house sooner, we wouldn't be stuck with nowhere to go. I also don't understand how she could possibly get along with Starla. She’s the only one in the entire Yelchin family who does."

Xenia genuinely couldn't wrap her head around it.

Darleen shot her a look. "Do you think Starla really hates me that much?"

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you noticed? Her personality changed overnight."

Xenia was silent, considering. Had it been that sudden?

"Before, she couldn't stand my temper and was constantly pushing for a divorce," Darleen continued. "But now she's come back, not to divorce, but to get revenge. Is it really just because of how I treated her in the past?"

Darleen's words gave Xenia pause. She was right. When Starla couldn't take it anymore, her only solution was divorce. Fairfax had finally agreed to it, but then, just like that, she changed her mind.

"Then what are you suggesting?"

"Something must have happened. Something that changed her attitude completely."

"But what could have happened recently?" Xenia asked.

"I don't know, but I'm certain something happened to make her change her mind," Darleen insisted. If nothing had changed, Starla and Fairfax would have been divorced by now, instead of her making all this trouble.

Darleen whispered to herself, "Something definitely happened. But what was it?"

She desperately wanted to know the real reason Starla was staying in the Yelchin estate. That reason was the root of her revenge. Darleen admitted she had been cruel to Starla, but she didn't believe it was enough to fuel this level of vengeance. In the short two days since Starla's return, they had witnessed a ruthlessness in her that was truly chilling. It was shocking. And Darleen would never believe that such ferocity wasn't hiding a deep, profound hatred.