Awakened Housewife Ignore Betrayer's Begs (Scarlett) novel Chapter 496

Chapter 496 A Broken Bowl

With Xavier’s words, Amanda had no choice but to stay in the living room.

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She shot a sharp look at Scarlett, still standing awkwardly in the middle of the floor. “What are you standing there for? You think you’re too good to sit down?”

Scarlett didn’t respond. She just moved to the far end of the room and sat.

In the end, the staff handled the cooking.

Dinner wasn’t ready until almost seven.

When the table was set, Amanda noticed Vincent still hadn’t come downstairs. She turned to Scarlett. “Go call Vincent down.”

Scarlett opened her mouth to refuse, but before she could get a word out, Lucy jumped in. “Mom, I’ll go. Let her rest.”

Amanda gave Lucy a dry look. “You enjoy being ordered around?”

Lucy smiled sweetly. “I only like being ordered around by you.”

Amanda huffed, the corner of her mouth twitching into something like a smirk. She didn’t push it.

Lucy was about to head upstairs when Vincent appeared.

His face was cold. He didn’t say a word. The moment he reached the bottom of the stairs, he walked straight toward the door.

Xavier called out. “Vincent. Dinner’s about to start. You’re going out?”

Vincent grabbed his keys. “You all go ahead. I’m picking up Vanessa. Lily said her stomach hurts. I’m taking her to the ER.”

Xavier’s expression tightened. “Go, then. Call us when you get there.”

Vincent said, “Yeah.”

From start to finish, he didn’t meet Scarlett’s eyes.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that he avoided her gaze because he knew what he was doing.

Before he left, Vincent stopped at the entryway to change his shoes. He kept his head down. “Scarlett. Stay here and have Christmas Eve dinner with Mom, Dad, and Grandpa. Afterward,

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Chapter 496 A Broken Bowl

you can watch the specials, hang out.”

Scarlett didn’t answer.

:

Her silence said enough. Her face was carved with quiet resignation.

He had forced her to come to Stewart Manor.

And now he was leaving.

She could guess exactly why.

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Something had happened at Sabrina’s place. There was no way Vincent would sit through a family dinner tonight.

When Vincent realized she wasn’t going to respond, he didn’t push. He grabbed his coat and keys and walked out.

He disappeared into the dark. Scarlett stared at the empty doorway and let out a breath–soft, cold, almost a laugh.

Lucy drifted over and gently touched her hand. “Hey. Don’t worry about him. Let’s go eat.”

Lucy had gone with Vanessa to the Christmas program earlier.

Vanessa had been bouncing off the walls all afternoon. There was no way she’d suddenly fallen sick a few hours later.

Lucy suspected Vincent was lying.

She just didn’t know why.

Scarlett turned to look at her and managed a faint smile. “Okay.”

The family sat down to dinner.

Scarlett ate slowly, but steadily,

Watching her eat with such composure, Amanda couldn’t help herself. “Your husband’s gone. Your daughter’s sick. And you still have an appetite. If it were me, I’d be beside myself.”

Scarlett set down her fork. She turned to Amanda, her gaze flat, “So if Vincent dies, I should die with him?”

It was the first time Scarlett had ever spoken to them like this.

The Stewarts weren’t prepared for it. The whole table went still.

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Amanda, sitting closest, actually flinched.

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But once she recovered, she slammed her bowl down and snapped, “Of course. If something happened to Vincent, what reason would you have to live? You think you’d deserve to?”

Scarlett didn’t flinch. She met Amanda’s stare calmly.

Then, slowly, her mouth curved into a cold smile. “Then there’s no reason for me to stay.”

She stood and walked toward the door.

Lucy’s face tightened with worry. She’d been hoping the night wouldn’t implode.

But the moment Scarlett got up, Lucy knew it was over.

All she’d wanted was for everyone to get along tonight. One quiet dinner. That was all.

She hadn’t expected it to end like this.

Before Amanda could speak, Richard reacted. He grabbed a bowl and hurled it at Scarlett’s feet.

Ceramic shattered against the floor. Oil splattered across her pants.

Scarlett stopped. She stood in front of the wreckage.