A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 400

"She doesn't just hate me, she hates the entire Yelchin family!" Darleen declared, her conviction growing with each word. "Yes, she moved back into this house filled with hatred!"

The more she spoke, the more certain she became. Starla had to hate all of them. Why else would she be causing such chaos?

"Even if she hates the whole family," Xenia ventured, "isn't it because of how we mistreated her before?" For the first time, under this immense pressure, Xenia was beginning to acknowledge how awful they had been to Starla.

But Darleen shook her head. "No, it can't be just about that. If it were, she would have started this vendetta back when we were being cruel to her. Why wait until now? This feels more like something suddenly happened to her, and this is the result."

"Then what do you think it is?" Xenia asked.

"How should I know? Stop asking me!" Darleen snapped, her patience worn thin.

Xenia recoiled, an innocent victim of her mother's outburst. If her mother was right, if everything Starla was doing was fueled by a deep-seated hatred, then their lives were about to get much, much harder. The thought made Xenia's breath catch in her throat as she looked at Darleen.

Darleen closed her eyes. "Damn it, what is she so hateful about? What is it?"

She felt an urgent need to uncover the source of this hatred, thinking that perhaps if she understood it, she could resolve it.

The idea of resolving Starla's hatred was a foreign one. In all her years with the Yelchin family, Darleen had never been one to solve problems. But with Starla, she felt a desperate need to try.

She was torn now. One moment, she wanted to sit down with Starla and get to the bottom of it. The next, she wished Starla would just drop dead from all the trouble she was causing.

"Why don't you just ask her?" Xenia suggested.

Darleen fell silent. Ask Starla? It was worth a shot.

...

"Don't be too merciful with them," Yardley advised.

"Did Garret tell you I was being merciful?"

"Not at all."

Mercy was not a word in Starla's vocabulary right now. This was only the beginning. Yet even these first steps had thrown the entire Yelchin family into chaos. Fairfax, unable to take it, was already begging for a divorce again. Too bad for him. He hadn't agreed when she wanted one, so now he would have to endure this a little longer.

"Come back soon," Yardley said softly. "Our dad misses you."

"I know. I miss you all, too. And I miss you more." A gentle smile graced Starla's lips.

As Darleen and Xenia made their way downstairs, they happened to overhear that last phrase—"I miss you more." Darleen immediately grabbed Xenia's arm, stopping her in her tracks.