The Flower That Grew from Ashes novel Chapter 106

Boom!

If Elias's sudden arrival was a boulder crashing into a tranquil lake, that single, casual question was a depth charge detonating right in the center of the hall.

The momentary silence shattered as the crowd erupted into a roar of gossip ten times louder than before.

"What... what did he just say?!"

"He didn't know he had a kid?! What does that mean?!"

"Oh my god! He's saying the boy in her arms and the baby in her belly aren't his?!"

"Then whose are they?! Hasn't she been playing the grieving widow?!"

"This... this is the biggest scandal of the decade! Get your cameras out!"

Several wealthy socialites, normally obsessed with maintaining their poise, completely abandoned their dignity. They whipped out their phones, hitting record and zooming straight in on the pale, horrified faces on the stage.

Camera flashes exploded across the dimly lit room like manic lightning.

Clarissa felt exactly like a criminal stripped naked and paraded through the town square.

In mere seconds, her complexion violently shifted from bone-white, to a sickly gray, to a livid, suffocated purple.

She opened her mouth, but her throat felt as though someone had poured molten lead down it. She couldn't force a single sound out.

She desperately wanted to explain.

She wanted to scream that the child belonged to Hackett.

No, she couldn't say that.

She wanted to claim it was an IVF baby.

No, Elias was standing right in front of her. He would instantly dismantle that lie.

"Elias! Just calm down! This isn't the place to talk. Let's go home and figure this out!"

He kept his voice low, a pathetic mix of begging and hollow intimidation.

Elias didn't even flinch.

He simply lowered his eyes and stared icily at his younger brother.

The pure, arctic lethality in that single look pinned Hackett's feet to the floor like iron stakes.

"Not the place to talk?"

The cold smirk on Elias's lips deepened.

His tone was still casual, yet laced with the suffocating, undeniable authority of an absolute predator.

"You invited three hundred of Cresthaven's elite to witness her little 'wedding.'"