The Don Tore Up Our Divorce (Gemma and Cassian) novel Chapter 358

Chapter 358(revised)

Gemma’s POV

The cold steel of the doorknob bites into my palm. “You are trespassing,” I say, my voice devoid of any warmth. I stop trying to force the door shut and instead fix them with a level, dispassionate stare. “This is my private residence.”

Lydia flinches at the legal term, her bravado cracking. She withdraws her hand from the doorframe, but her feet, and Kitty’s beside her, remain planted like stubborn weeds. “If you won’t help, we won’t leave,” she declares, her voice trembling with a mix of threat and desperation. “Gemma, Kitty is so young! How can she pay such a sum? You might as well kill us both!”

I feel nothing. No pity, no familial pull. Their plight is a fire of their own making. They showed my mother nothing but cruelty in her final days. They deserve every consequence.

Seeing my stony resolve, Lydia’s expression shifts, her eyes narrowing with a new, vicious strategy. “Why are you acting so high and mighty?” she spits. “If you hadn’t been running around with other men while you were married, would Kitty have ever been a target for Cassian? This is all your fault! Don’t you dare deny it!”

The twisted logic is almost impressive. In their minds.

Cassian’s disdain for Kitty stems from my supposed

“promiscuity,” tainting anyone associated with me. It’s a pathetic, self–serving narrative.

The accusation, however, gives me the perfect opening. “Since you’ve brought it up,” I say, my tone turning icy and precise, “let’s discuss the other matter. The false information you spread about me online. I have all the evidence. Compiled, documented, ready for court. Consider this your informal notice—you’ll be receiving a summons for defamation and inciting public harassment.”

Lydia puffs up, a scoff of disbelief on her lips. “You’re bluffing! When did we ever slander you? Everything online is true! And we have nothing to do with those netizens. That’s ridiculous!”

Her willful ignorance of the law is staggering. “What you think doesn’t matter. Only the evidence and the judge’s opinion count. This conversation is over. Leave. Now.”

Seeing her verbal assaults fail, Kitty, who has been simmering in silent panic, finally snaps. The weight of her debt seems to crush her last shred of restraint. “This is all your fault!” she shrieks, her voice raw. “If you don’t call Cassian right now and make him cancel what I owe, I swear I won’t let you go!” She takes a threatening step forward, Lydia right beside her, their desperation morphing into aggression.

Just as the situation threatens to turn physical, a door clicks open behind me. Jace steps out from the apartment across the hall, his presence immediate and solid. “What’s going on here?” His voice is calm but carries an underlying steel.

Lydia whirls around, her disdain immediate. “What’s it to you? This is a family matter!”

“You’re disturbing the peace,” Jace states flatly, not moving an inch. “I’ve already called building security.”

Her eyes bulge with outrage. Before she can form another retort, the rapid tread of boots sounds on the stairwell. Two security guards appear, their postures professional and alert.

“Ladies, we need to see some identification and verify your purpose for being here,” the lead guard says, his gaze moving between the furious women and me.

“We don’t have to show you anything!” Lydia blusters. “I’m her aunt! She lives here, can’t I visit my own niece?”

The guard looks to me for confirmation, his demeanor respectful. “Ms. Marino? Are these women relatives of yours?”

 go with you,” he offers instantly, the words out almost before I finish mine.

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