A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 642

Darleen spat the words venomously.

"I know," Xenia agreed. "Yet we're the only ones bearing the brunt of Starla's wrath."

It wasn't just them; the whole Yelchin family was at fault. But they were the ones paying the price.

"No, it's finally hitting them too," Darleen corrected bitterly. "Everyone is suffering now."

She had been resentful when Harley managed to stay away from the fallout initially. Everyone hated Starla, so why should only she and Xenia suffer? But then, Starla had dragged their overseas lives into the fire as well.

Right on cue, Harley's name lit up on Darleen's phone.

His screaming was even more vicious than his mother's. "I must have been blind to marry a piece of trash like you! You've ruined this family!"

Harley had been left practically homeless for days. He was a pressure cooker of rage with nowhere to vent, and learning that Darleen was the root cause of this disaster finally gave him a target. He tore into her without mercy.

Darleen's face drained of color. She could take it from Annika, but what right did Harley have to play the victim?

Her breath hitched. "Have you forgotten?" she snapped back. "If I hadn't done those things for you back then, do you really think you would have climbed the ranks at Yelchin Group so quickly?"

It would have been impossible. Did he honestly believe he could have secured those massive land deals and lucrative projects on his own to take over the company?

"You have no right to curse at me! Did you object when I was pulling those strings? If you had a problem with it, you should have said so! You were perfectly silent when it benefited you!"

Darleen had swallowed her pride with Annika, but she wasn't about to be Harley's punching bag. She unleashed all her pent-up fury, leaving him practically sputtering with homicidal rage.

"You... you..."

"I might be the villain here, but so are you!" Darleen screamed.

She accepted her guilt. Starla was tearing their lives apart because of her mother. And it was true—Darleen had watched the woman die. She was the one who pushed her. But she wasn't going down alone.

Harley had blood on his hands too. After all, he had been right there when it happened.

"There's no fixing this," Darleen said, her voice hollow with despair.

Ignorance had allowed them to hope. Now, the truth revealed just how impossibly doomed they were.

The words hit Xenia like a physical blow. Her face paled. "Then what do we do? Are we just supposed to suffer for the rest of our lives? So she lost her mother—does that give her the right to torture our entire family forever?"

"She can't hold us hostage eternally for revenge! And what about Herbert Farley..."

Mentioning Herbert twisted the knife in Xenia's heart. Given her social standing, she had assumed marrying him was a guaranteed reality. Who could have foreseen Starla swooping in to steal him?

Back then, they couldn't fathom how Starla could be so shameless—already married to Fairfax, yet seducing Herbert. Now the terrifying truth was clear: it was all part of her calculated, merciless revenge against their entire family.

Darleen squeezed her eyes shut. "It won't be forever."

As Xenia said, it was just one life lost. If their entire family had to spend the rest of their days paying for it, it would be far too unfair!