The CEO's Midnight Remedy novel Chapter 200

Chapter 200

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Scarlett grabbed my arm, her fingers digging into my skin. “Why would you do this?”

I tried to pull away, my patience wearing thin. After years of watching her take everything that was mine–my father’s love, my mother’s house, even Ethan-

her touch felt like acid on my skin.

‘You’re just like your mother,” she spat. “A home–wrecker.”

The words hit me like a physical blow. My mother–kind, gentle Elizabeth Harper–had never broken anything in her life except her own heart loving a man

who forgot her the moment she was gone. White–hot rage flooded through me. The slap echoed through the foyer, leaving a perfect red imprint of my hand

on her left cheek.

Scarlett shrieked in outrage, and I delivered another slap to her right cheek, creating symmetrical marks. My hand stung, but the pain felt cleansing.

“Next time you want a face, don’t take mine,” I said, my voice unnervingly steady despite the anger coursing through me. “And if you ever mention my

mother again, what happens next will make this look like a gentle caress.”

Scarlett stepped back, genuine fear replacing the affected victim pose she usually adopted. Good. It was time she learned her place in this house.

Dinner that evening was a solitary affair. My father had locked himself in his study, and Scarlett was hiding in her room. The spacious dining room felt unusually peaceful as I savored each bite. For the first time in years, the air in the Harper mansion felt breathable.

Later that night, I spread the Harper Group business files across my desk. If I was going to take my rightful place in the company, I needed to understand its

inner workings completely.

The wall clock showed 2:30 AM when I finally sneezed–a sign my body was demanding rest. As I prepared for bed, my phone pinged with a message from Sophia. Curious about what would prompt my friend to text at this hour, I opened the attachment.

The moment the image loaded, I felt a strange tightness in my chest. On my screen was a photo of Devon Kane with a woman in a red dress. They were at what appeared to be a nightclub, the woman leaning toward him intimately, feeding him a drink. Most shocking of all was the rare smile playing at the corner of Devon’s lips–an expression I’d never seen him direct at anyone else. Had his gunshot wound healed? Why did he appear in a nightclub?

‘Are you and Kane over?” Sophia’s follow–up message read.

I stared at the image, unable to look away. My mouth went dry. The woman was beautiful–elegaht, confident, everything I tried to be. And Devon… Devon

was looking at her intently.

My fingers tightened around my phone until my knuckles turned white. I tried to swallow but couldn’t past the lump in my throat. Why did this bother me so much? Devon and I had an arrangement–a business transaction. Nothing more.

I tried to type a casual response to Sophia, but my fingers trembled over the keyboard, I deleted several attempts before giving up.

Setting the phone down, I pressed my palms against my eyes. The strange hollowness spreading through my chest caught me completely off guard. This uncomfortable feeling–was it jealousy? No, it couldn’t be. That would mean I cared about Devon beyond our arrangement.

I picked up my phone again, studying the woman’s face, trying to memorize every detail. The way she leaned toward him. The intimacy in her posture. The answering warmth in Devon’s expression.

“It doesn’t matter,” I whispered to the empty room, my voice sounding foreign to my own ears. ‘He can do whatever he wants. This isn’t real.”