Too Late, Mr. Cooper: Your Bride Ran with Your Baby novel Chapter 30

There it was again. *Be good.*

Liliana didn't understand. She had been good, so very good, for years. How much more did he expect her to grovel before he was satisfied? The phrase had become a trigger. Hearing it from him now was like lighting a fuse.

“Let go of me!” she snapped, her emotions erupting. Her eyes blazed with a fresh wave of tears, her voice thick with anguish. “Why should I be good? You’re always telling me to be good, but can you ever listen to me? I told you to stay away from Isabella! Are you deaf?!”

She violently slapped his hand away. Red marks flared across the back of his hand, a stinging heat spreading across his skin. Her nails had grazed him, drawing tiny beads of blood.

Linton didn’t even flinch. As if he couldn't feel the pain, his sharp eyes narrowed, his thin lips pressing into a hard line. He, too, had reached his limit.

“Liliana Hart,” he said, his voice dangerously quiet, using her full name for the first time. It was calm, but carried a chilling pressure. “Isabella is the adopted daughter of the Cooper family. My sister, in name. Her parents did our family a great service. I was under the impression that when two people are together, they don’t have to cut ties with their families.”

“Oh, I see,” Liliana said, her voice dripping with exhaustion. “She’s family, and I’m the outsider. Is that it? Fine, I’ll leave then.”

He reached for her hand again. Despite the frustration churning inside him, he forced himself to placate her. “Alright, Liliana, stop it. When you’ve calmed down, we can talk properly.”

“I’m not making a scene.” Her voice was flat. She stood straight, breathing shallowly, her face pale and devoid of emotion. “Linton, if you think every emotion I have is just a tantrum, then you and I have nothing left to talk about. The two of us…”

She paused, her bloodless lips pulling into a smile that was equal parts relief and sorrow. “We’re on different paths. We can’t walk together anymore.”