Chapter 190
“Your grandmother didn’t just collapse,” she whispered, her voice tight with barely contained fury. “I was at the station the entire time. That blonde girl was not talking nicely. She was whispering things to her — about a fake marriage, about no heirs. I watched your grandmother’s heart rate spike on the monitor right after. And when the girl walked out, right before she started screaming for help…” Nurse Betty paused. “She was smiling.”
The blood roared in Jocelyn’s ears. The world tilted.
Aspen had not simply visited. She had poisoned her grandmother with words — used deliberate lies to stop an old woman’s heart.
Jocelyn turned slowly.
Across the room, Aspen was checking her phone, looking faintly bored now that the audience had dissolved.
A cold, dark fury settled over Jocelyn. Not hot rage — nothing so impulsive as that. It was the quiet, deadly calm of a storm that has already decided where it will land.
Jocelyn walked back to Gaston. Her face was stone. Her eyes were dry.
“I need to go to the Schneider Estate,” she said calmly.
Gaston frowned. He touched her cheek. “Jocelyn, you’re in shock. Let me take you home.”
𝘈сt𝘪𝘃е co𝘮𝘮𝘶𝗻і𝘁y 𝗈𝘯 𝗀𝗮l𝗇𝗈v𝖾𝗹𝗌.𝗰𝘰𝘮
“No.” She moved his hand away gently. “I need to go there. Now. Alone.”
Gaston looked into her eyes. He had seen that look in the mirror before. It was war.
“What did the nurse say?” he asked, his voice dropping low.
“Aspen killed her,” Jocelyn said. “She whispered lies to her until her heart stopped.”
Gaston’s jaw tightened. A muscle ticked in his cheek. “I’m coming with you.”
“No.” Jocelyn shook her head. “Stay with Grandma. Make sure she lives. Please, Gaston. I need to know she’s safe with someone I trust.”
Gaston hesitated. Every instinct told him to go tear Aspen apart himself. But Jocelyn needed him here. He studied the terrifying calm on her face.
“You are not going alone,” he said, in a tone that left no room for argument. He pulled out his phone and made a call. “Vance will take you. He will wait outside the estate and will not interfere. That is my only condition.” He paused, then spoke into the phone again. “And Vance — in the back of my town car, under the floor mat, there’s a compartment. Bring what’s inside.”
Jocelyn exhaled and nodded. She did not have the energy to fight him on this.
Downstairs, a black SUV was already idling at the curb. Vance stood by the open rear door. Jocelyn slid inside.
On the plush leather seat beside her lay her old riding crop — black leather, weighted silver handle, flexible and cruel. She picked it up. The leather creaked in her fist.
The Schneider Estate in Greenwich was lit warmly for dinner.
In the dining room, Robert Schneider sat at the head of the table, looking grim. Elouise worked through her wine. Kieran Douglas sat beside Aspen, who had her head resting on his shoulder.
“It was so traumatic, Kieran,” Aspen sighed. “I held her hand as she slipped away.”
Kieran stroked her hair. “You’re brave, Aspen. You did your best.”
Outside, headlights swept across the gravel drive.
The SUV screeched to a halt. The back door flew open.
Jocelyn stepped out. The wind caught her coat, sending it billowing behind her. She held the crop in her right hand, tapping it steadily against her thigh.
.