The Coldest Man in the Room Melted Only for Me novel Chapter 60

She sighed quietly and followed him to the car, deciding they needed to have a real conversation once they got back from dinner.

She owed it to Alora, and to the love she had once blindly believed in.

The drive was agonizingly silent.

After dinner at the estate, Arthur called Pierce up to his study.

Riley had the maid prepare a bottle and sat on the couch to feed Alora.

Beatrice sipped her tea, glancing at the baby with absolute disdain rather than a shred of grandmotherly affection. "Are you and Pierce fighting?"

From the moment they walked in, the couple hadn't exchanged a single word. It was unprecedented.

Riley was smiling tenderly as she watched her daughter eagerly gulp down her milk. At her mother-in-law's invasive question, her smile vanished. "Yes."

A flicker of surprise crossed Beatrice's face.

Back then, Beatrice had fiercely opposed the marriage, even threatening to disown him, but Pierce hadn't flinched. Arthur had threatened to strip his inheritance away, and even that hadn't worked.

Pierce had been dead set on marrying Riley, nearly giving his mother an aneurysm in the process.

While Beatrice despised Riley's low-class background, what truly enraged her was that the son she had poured her life into was willing to abandon his own mother for some random woman.

To make matters worse, Riley refused to act like a grateful, submissive peasant. She walked around the Landon estate with unyielding dignity.

Riley could tolerate the insults aimed at herself, but she drew a hard line at her daughter.

Instead of firing back, she reached into Alora's collar and pulled out the jade pendant she had tucked in before they left.

Beatrice was an avid collector of precious stones. The moment she saw the breathtakingly flawless jade pendant gleaming in Riley's hand, her eyes went wide.

A second later, her face twisted in rage. "How could Pierce waste something so priceless on that little girl?"

Riley slowly turned the pendant, letting the exquisite craftsmanship catch the light. "This is a one-month celebration gift from Sebastian."

"What?" Beatrice gasped, utterly floored. "Sebastian gave her that? That's impossible!"