Chapter 738
Chapter 737:
“Arthur, how can you show such cruelty?” she choked out, tears cascading down her cheeks. “If you never saw me as your wife, then why permit me to live by your side all these years? Why allow me to oversee this entire household p>
“You truly wish to know?” Arthur’s sneer twisted his features.
Eva fixed her gaze on him, her breath trapped in her throat. She needed the truth.
Arthur’s stare turned arctic, and within those depths, a threatening gleam sparked to life. “Have you forgotten,” he asked, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper, “why my father suddenly ordered the death of Milton’s mother p>
The question hit Eva like a crushing blow, and she staggered backward one step, then another. She had never encountered this version of Arthur before—this frigid, terrifying stranger whose gaze seemed to burn straight through her soul. Did he know the bargain she had struck with Paul? Was that the reason he regarded her with such murderous intent?
After two decades of absolute devotion, she had not merely failed to secure his love—she had cultivated his hatred. A loathing so deep that he wanted her dead. No. She refused to accept it.
“Arthur, you cannot place the responsibility on my shoulders!” she said, her words spilling forth in desperate haste. “You understood your father’s nature better than anyone! If he lacked the p>
“Murderous intent already, how could I have possibly swayed him? He issued the command! He ensured its completion! It bore no connection to me p>
Bang! Milton’s fist crashed against the desk, the explosive sound shattering the suffocating tension. His eyes, burning with fury that mirrored his father’s icy rage, locked onto Eva. “No connection to you?” he growled.
“Milton, you…” Eva started, but the words withered on her lips. The raw power of his anger filled the room like a living force, and she instinctively retreated two more steps, craving distance from his consuming wrath. “Milton, throughout all these years, I have cherished you as my own flesh and blood. Do you not feel even the faintest stirring of gratitude p>
Let your imagination soar with gαℓησν𝒆𝓁s．çο𝗺
“What a ridiculous notion!” Milton scoffed, releasing a harsh, cutting laugh that echoed through the room. “I have my mother. I never required you to perform that disgusting charade. Every smile you bestowed upon me, every manufactured word of concern, every suffocating gesture of ‘devotion’—it all revolts me completely p>
“You!” Eva’s body quaked with rage, her hands forming tight fists at her sides. For countless years, she had exhausted every effort to capture Arthur’s heart and cement her position within this family. She had genuinely embraced Milton as her own child, practically begging for his acceptance. But now, this cruel rejection was her reward. To be viewed as something utterly loathsome. “How can you possess such a heartless soul?” Eva accused, tears flowing freely down her face. “I surrendered my chance at bearing children to become a devoted stepmother to you! I simply adopted Wanda! Can you not recognize any of my sacrifices p>
“Have you no shame?” Milton fired back with venom. “You wanted a child of your own desperately but denied the chance. The fact that you never bore a child has nothing to do with me and everything to do with you p>
A scorching wave of humiliation crashed over Eva. The brutal truth struck home. Indeed, her childless state bore no relation to Milton’s presence. It existed because, across more than twenty years, Arthur had never once shared her bed.
Milton continued his relentless assault. “You crept behind everyone’s backs to approach my grandfather,” he seethed with burning intensity. “You wielded your family name, your connections, to persuade him to eliminate my mother. You are a toxic, manipulative creature. How dare you demand gratitude from me? If I harbored even the smallest fragment of gratitude for you, how could I ever honor my real mother’s memory p>