Crowned In Revenge :The Diamond Boss

Chapter 3: Daddy’s Cold Eyes

🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮

The massive chandelier of the Deparker estate’s dining hall cast a golden glow across the long mahogany table. Silver cutlery gleamed, crystal glasses sparkled, and expensive roses adorned the center. It should have been a warm family dinner, the kind Charmaine once dreamed of as a little girl—her mother’s gentle laughter, her father’s approving smile, the soft sounds of unity.

But those memories had died the day her mother was lowered into the ground.

Now, seated at the far end of the table, Charmaine Deparker sat tensely, her hands folded neatly in her lap, while her father’s sharp gaze bore into her like a blade.

Douglas Deparker—powerful, imposing, yet colder than the pillars around him—leaned back in his chair, his expression unreadable. At his side sat Lily Wills, the woman who had slipped into the household like a bad news dressed in silk, and beside Lily was Rowan, her daughter, who wore triumph on her face as naturally as other girls wore blush.

Charmaine kept her chin lifted. She had learned early that lowering her eyes meant surrender, and she would never give Rowan that satisfaction.

“Charmaine,” Douglas said at last, his tone clipped, “I heard what happened at the party. Your behavior was… questionable.”

The words sliced through her. He didn’t even ask how she was. Didn’t care that she had stumbled, that she had felt dizzy and out of control. No, he only saw the shadow of losing face she might bring to the Deparker name.

“I didn’t misbehave,” Charmaine replied evenly, her voice calm though her heart pounded. “Someone spiked my drink.”

Rowan gave a soft, mocking laugh. “Really, sister, that’s such a lousy excuse. Maybe you just can’t handle champagne. Not everyone is born with grace.”

Charmaine’s jaw tightened, but she refused to look Rowan’s way.

Douglas slammed his hand against the table, the crystal glasses shivering at the impact. “Enough, Charmaine! Always with the excuses. Always finding someone else to blame. If Rowan can hold herself with dignity, why can’t you?”

The words struck harder than any slap. Charmaine’s breath caught, but she forced her shoulders not to tremble.

Lily placed a flirty hand on Douglas’s arm, her painted lips curling into a sympathetic smile. “Darling, don’t be too harsh. Charmaine is… delicate. She takes after her mother.”

The mention of her mother’s name in Lily’s mouth felt like sacrilege. Charmaine’s nails dug into her palm beneath the table, but she kept her face expressionless.

Douglas, however, softened. Not for her—never for her—but at Lily’s flirty touch. “Rowan,” he said, turning with a rare smile, “you’ve always been more composed. More suitable to stand beside me in society. Unlike your sister.”

Rowan’s eyes glimmered with triumph as she leaned forward. “Thank you, father. I only want to make you proud.”

Proud. The word twisted in Charmaine’s chest. Once, she had been the pride of her father. Once, he had carried her on his shoulders, laughed when she tugged his tie, and promised she would inherit not only his fortune but his love.

Now, she was nothing but a disappointment in his eyes.

“Father,” Charmaine said restraint, “Mother would never want you to compare us like this.”

The air in the room shifted, chilling like an open ice cellar. Douglas’s eyes narrowed dangerously, his eyes narrowed dangerously, his fork clattering against his plate as he set it down. “Don’t you dare bring your mother into this. She was weak. Sentimental. That’s why she couldn’t handle life in this family.”

Charmaine’s breath faltered. Weak? Her mother? Leith Gonaz, the woman with power in her veins, who had given up everything for him?

For a moment, grief threatened to spill from her like an ocean. But she swallowed it down, turning the pain into steel in her spine.

Rowan, sensing victory, added sweetly, “It’s okay, father. Some people aren’t made to carry the Deparker legacy. It’s too heavy for them.”

Douglas’s lips twitched into the faintest approval at Rowan’s words. “Exactly. Rowan understands. She’s ready to take her rightful place. She won’t embarrass me in public or act like a child who needs coddling.”

Charmaine wanted to scream. To hurl the truth across the table—that Rowan was the illegitimate one, that she was the impostor in their lives, that Lily was nothing more than a mistress wrapped in expensive gowns. But her throat burned with silence. Her mother had once whispered to her before she died: “Charmaine, hold your dignity. The truth always finds its way back, even if it takes years.”

So she bit down on her fury and kept her face calm, though her heart was bleeding.

“Very well,” Charmaine said softly, her words quiet but laced with defiance. “If I am a disappointment, so be it. But I will not bow to lies.”

Douglas’s eyes flashed. “Enough!” His voice thundered, echoing across the hall. “From this moment forward, you will obey my word without question. No arguments. No resistance. Do you understand me".

Her luscious pink lips pressed together, trembling. Slowly, she nodded.

Lily leaned back in satisfaction, her eyes glittering like a snake basking in the sun. Rowan smirked, satisfaction evident from her posture as she sipped her wine.

But inside Charmaine’s chest, something grew. A vow that no humiliation, no betrayal, no cold eyes could ever kill.

She would endure.

She would wait.

And one day, they would regret ever treating her badly .

The dinner ended in silence, the clinking of cutlery was the only sound. Charmaine rose, excusing herself, her steps quiet but steady. She walked through the grand halls of the mansion, her reflection casting a lonely shadow against the polished marble floors.

She paused at her mother’s portrait, hanging lonely in the corridor. Leith’s eyes—gentle yet powerful —seemed to watch her, offering silent comfort.

“I’ll make them remember you, Mother,” Charmaine whispered, her throat tightened with unshed tears. “And I’ll make them regret every cruel word.”

Behind her, the laughter of Rowan and Lily drifted faintly from the dining hall. The sound cut into her like shards of glass.

But Charmaine did not falter. She walked away, her back straight, her chin high, though every step carried the weight of heartbreak.

Because even in her father’s cold eyes, even in the shadows of betrayal, Charmaine carried something they could never take from her—her mother’s blood, her mother’s power, and a dignity that would one day rise like a blade against them all.

👣👣👣👣👣👣👣👣