Chapter 249
Chapter 249:
But there was no way she could say that in front of the whole family. No point in picking a fight with Ruben now. So, she smiled, nodded, and kept the performance going. “Of course.” Seeing her cooperate, Ruben let it go.
Irene, though, wasn’t finished. She pressed harder, her voice sharp. “Do you even understand how much damage your reckless behavior has caused this family p>
Elliana didn’t flinch. She arched a brow, giving Irene the floor to keep going.
With Jason back in the room, Irene leaned into her role like she was royalty. “Forget about how the whole family panicked over Cole’s safety because of you. Now we’re tangled up in a feud with the underground. You have any idea what kind of backlash could come from that? Do you even grasp how serious this mess is, Elliana?” Irene’s words struck a chord with the others. Sure, Merritt was gone and Cole came back in one piece, but that didn’t mean the storm had passed. Merritt had ties that stretched everywhere. His death, especially at Cole’s hands, might have already set a chain reaction in motion—and no one knew where it would end.
“You stepped into this family with a reputation as some awkward, unattractive nobody. That was already enough of a problem. But instead of staying quiet and blending in, you stirred the pot. You jumped into showbiz, picked a fight with Merritt, and now we’re all in the blast zone. You call that matriarch behavior? You’ve brought this family consequences we can’t undo. So if you want to carry the title, you’d better take the heat and show us what owning your mistakes looks like p>
Irene wasn’t holding anything back now. Her voice carried the weight of occupying the moral high ground.
Everyone else in the room stayed quiet, watching the scene unfold like a live performance.
Trinity, in particular, looked delighted. Her eyes sparkled with the kind of joy only someone who enjoyed seeing others fall could wear.
“What kind of twisted nonsense is that, Irene?” Cole finally snapped, his tone sharp and frosty, slicing through the tension in the room.
𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 gⲁ𝗅𝗇𝗈ν𝖊𝗅𝘀⫶ⅽ𝗈𝗺
Until now, Cole had kept quiet out of respect. Irene was still Jason’s mother, still one of the elders. But her rant had gone too far. She wasn’t speaking from concern anymore. She was piling blame on Elliana, and he wasn’t going to stand there and let it happen.
Irene had been gearing up for more when Cole’s voice shut her down on the spot. She hadn’t seen it coming. She figured with Ruben staying silent, she had full license to unload on Elliana. She didn’t expect Cole to be the one to stop her cold.
“Cole, I’m only doing this for the good of the family,” Irene retorted, scrambling to reframe her rant.
Cole let out a short, scornful laugh. “Is that so? Since when did you become the family’s noble protector? Today, you’re pretending to care, but all I see is someone trying to paint the rest of us as weak or looking for a reason to drag Elliana through the mud p>
Irene reeled from the unexpected rebuke, her mind spinning. She had always been intimidated by Cole, and now his commanding presence and razor-sharp words left her paralyzed, unable to formulate any response.
Cole’s cold glare pierced through Irene as he pressed his point further.
“Elliana was targeted by those criminals precisely because she’s the Evans matriarch. She endured undeserved torment. This family entangled her in this situation, not the reverse. So tell me, Irene, why are you distorting reality and playing these underhanded games?” He wasn’t finished. “Merritt had the audacity to abduct our matriarch in broad daylight. That demonstrates his complete disregard for the Evans name—he was already targeting us. We demolish vermin like that. So why, Irene, are you trembling at the thought of retribution, ready to surrender like a coward? If you were kidnapped someday, should we abandon you? Refuse to defend you, but instead berate you for venturing out without adequate protection? Should we condemn you for provoking trouble and insist you accept the consequences p>