Larissa Judson and Haskell Palmer novel Chapter 143

Larissa laughed, pulling a sterile needle from her kit.

“Alright, enough flirting. Let’s get to your treatment. If we don’t get you back on your feet soon, who knows what the rumors will say next. Today you can’t get into your own company, tomorrow you’ll be barred from your own home.”

With that, she knelt, swiftly rolled up his pant leg, and inserted the needle into a specific point around his knee with practiced precision.

Haskell’s treatment took two hours. As it happened, that was exactly how long it took Draven to finally arrive at Aqua Estate.

He found the front door wide open and frowned, stepping inside. The first thing he saw was Valeria, crumpled on the floor by the wine cabinet. Her eyes were closed, her breathing shallow, and her knees were a mangled, bloody mess in a pool of her own blood.

Draven’s eyes widened in horror.

“Valeria…”

He started to kneel to check on her when a powerful kick sent him sprawling. He landed face-first on the hard floor before a heavy boot pressed down on his back, pinning him in place.

Struggling to lift his head, Draven’s eyes met the cold, unforgiving gaze of his older brother.

“Haskell… what are you doing?” Draven’s voice was laced with disbelief. “Valeria… did you do this to her?”

In the three years since they’d been brought to the Palmer family, Haskell had always doted on them. He had almost never even raised his voice at them, let alone laid a hand on them.

Haskell slowly wheeled himself forward. “I told you to come get her immediately. You took two hours. Did you assume I wouldn’t dare touch her?”

Only when Draven’s face was a disfigured ruin did Crispin finally lift his foot.

The panic and fear had vanished from Draven’s expression, replaced by sheer, unadulterated shock. He stared, wide-eyed, at the man who had once been his loving older brother, unable to comprehend how Haskell could be so ruthless to his own flesh and blood.

Seeing the look on his face, Haskell asked, “Shocked that I would be so cruel to you? Do you really have no idea why you’re being punished?”

Draven’s mind was reeling. “If this is because I didn’t pick you up from the meeting this morning, I truly couldn’t get away…”

“It seems,” Haskell sighed wearily, “the lesson was too gentle.”

Just then, the two bodyguards Draven had posted to protect Valeria rushed into the room. Without a word, they descended upon their former employer, launching into a chaotic flurry of kicks and punches.