Rejected Heiress, Reigning Queen novel Chapter 40

Emma ultimately went to the Lockwood Manor. When she arrived, the villa was still an absolute disaster zone.

Gillian lounged on the sofa, scrolling through her phone, looking entirely unbothered by the chaos around her.

Tristan stood beside Beatrice, his eyes equally filled with deep-seated resentment.

"Violet, if you hadn't forced Emma to go abroad back then, there's no way she'd be capable enough to land Charles in a holding cell today."

Two glaring red handprints stained Violet's face. Her eyes were swollen from sobbing, and she sat hunched in her chair, trembling with subservience.

"How did our family ever end up with a curse like you? Charles and Bernard are both locked up now, and you still have the nerve to sit there crying! Why don't you just die?"

Beatrice spat the venomous insults, yet out of a room full of people, not a single one stood up to say a word.

Emma let out a cold laugh from the doorway, heralding her presence to the room.

"Emma, you actually have the nerve to show your face here?!"

Upon seeing her, Gillian finally tossed her phone aside and glared furiously.

With the house packed with people, she had zero fear that Emma would dare lay a hand on her.

Wearing a radiant smile, Emma waded right into the crowd, pulled Violet to her feet, and unapologetically seated herself on the sofa directly opposite Gillian.

"Weren't you all dying to see me?"

Emma surveyed the room with effortless poise before locking eyes with Tristan.

"Tristan, even if Violet had never sent me abroad, my life would only be even better right now. After all, you've all witnessed my track record."

She had been an elite student her entire life. By middle school, she was already teaching herself the high school curriculum.

Even if the Lockwoods hadn't shipped her overseas, completing her university studies domestically wouldn't have been an issue given her abilities. Plus, studying in the country would have been infinitely less stressful.

"You only achieved any of that by coasting on the Lockwood family's resources! What do you have to be so smug about?" Gillian narrowed her eyes and hissed, "Without the Lockwoods, you wouldn't be where you are today. And yet you actually threw Charles and Bernard in a police cell. You're utterly venomous."

"I'm venomous?"

Emma offered a playful smirk, then nodded in agreement. "I suppose you're not entirely wrong."

Under the collective stare of the room, she subtly arched a brow and pulled out a settlement agreement.

"Charles's situation is an easy fix. All I have to do is sign this settlement, and he walks."

Violet instantly froze in her tracks. She had absolutely no idea that had happened.

Tristan frowned slightly, though his eyes remained largely indifferent. This had nothing to do with him anyway. It was Bernard who was going to jail, and Charles would be out after a few days in lockup.

Beatrice and Audrey, however, shot Emma looks of pure venom.

"Since Charles already came up with a solution, why didn't you just follow through? The Lockwoods raised you all these years. Do you have absolutely zero gratitude?"

Emma tilted her head, gazing past Violet to the old woman standing behind her.

She was exactly as vicious as Emma remembered.

Releasing Violet's hand, Emma took slow, measured steps, advancing toward Beatrice with an overwhelming, absolute dominance.

"Back then, the Lockwoods were nothing but a mediocre family. Charles married Violet, and you only skyrocketed to wealth by exploiting the pharmaceutical company."

She looked at the handprints scarring Violet's face, letting out a low, deeply sinister laugh.

"None of you ever showed a shred of gratitude for what you were given. So where the hell was I supposed to learn it?"

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