One could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed Alexander’s announcement.
But the first to recover was his stepmother.
She rose slowly from her seat like a queen at court. Elegant, commanding, yet seething beneath her well-maintained exterior. Her raven-black hair, streaked with a whisper of grey, was swept into a sleek chignon, but no amount of sophistication could disguise the venom in her blur eyes as they raked over me.
Her voice dripped with disdain.
“If this is some kind of joke, Alex, I suggest you end it immediately.”
Then her gaze sliced back to me cold and dissecting.
“We all know Beatrice left you long ago. What did you do this time? Blackmail her into coming back? Threaten her?”
I stiffened, my heartbeat thudding against my ribs.
“And let’s not pretend,” sh
