Cold husband burning regret

Regret Novel 40

She truly hadn’t expected Evander to be so ruthless.

For Tricia’s sake, he was willing to do anything.

“Charlotte, watch your tone!” Xavier wasn’t siding with his daughter; instead, he scolded her for speaking too harshly, then turned to Evander with a forced smile. “Evander, don’t mind her. She’s just a bit hot–tempered, that’s all.”

Charlotte said nothing, holding Evander’s gaze.

Evander leaned back in his chair, his eyes meeting hers. “Hiram assaulted someone. The Fontaines refuse to settle and are determined to see him behind bars. So what now? Does the Sterling family think that just because they’ve gotten close to the Howard family, they can ignore the law?”

Mr. and Mrs. Sterling flinched, their faces drained of color.

Charlotte clenched her fists. “He seriously injured someone, so yes, the sentence might be justified. But have you even looked into what actually happened?”

Evander frowned.

She pressed on, “I spoke to the lawyer that day and reviewed the case. Hiram didn’t throw the first punch. It was self–defense–he just went too far.”

“I’m not a lawyer.”

Charlotte felt her heart drop, teetering on the edge of breaking down. She braced her hands against the table. “Evander, what do you want from me?”

It was the first time she’d lost control–lost her temper–in front of him.

After six years of playing the perfect wife, she couldn’t keep up the act anymore.

many times, but her impression was always of someone mild

Too mild, in fact.

thought she was easy

his fingers idly on the table, offering no response. Everyone expected

But he didn’t.

Chapter 40

of his mouth curled almost imperceptibly. “Either Hiram goes to jail, or you swallow your pride and apologize to Tricia. The

stunned, her breath catching in

“You know full well-”

to reason with her. “Isn’t your brother’s

turned to Xavier in disbelief, her

say parents are a

all she had

one to

lip before finally steeling herself. “Lottie, please… help your

had always been obedient, always the one she

hurt, but marriage always meant

let out a brittle laugh, tipping her head back to swallow her tears. She ran through every funny thing she could remember in her life

the corner of her eye with her palm and looked

right through her forced composure and felt a strange pang

crossed a

She’d ignored his words,