Where Petals of Vengeance Bloom

Chapter 52

Nathan was shaking with rage at Claire's words, his face turning from a steely gray to a deep, livid red.

"Shut up!" he bellowed.

"Did I hit a nerve, Mr. Linwood?" Claire shot back. "Five years ago, Vanessa pushed Irene down the stairs and framed me for it. Now, she's staged her own fall just to blame me again. You know how malicious she is, yet you still accuse me. You're not blind; you're just choosing to look the other way."

"Sometimes I wonder if I'm really your daughter or your enemy. You'd betray your own blood for an adopted child."

"Unless Vanessa is your child with some mistress? Is that why she means so much to you?"

Nathan flared up as if a hidden secret had been exposed, his anger boiling over.

"You ungrateful girl! If I don't teach you a lesson today, I'm not your father."

In his fury, Nathan unbuckled his belt, raising it high before bringing it down on Claire with a forceful swing.

air with a menacing hiss, leaving a vivid welt on Claire's arm. The pain was sharp, like a knife slicing through her skin, penetrating down to

body instinctively curled up, trying to shield herself from the relentless blows raining

each lash landing heavily on her back, shoulders,

eyes flickering

But when her gaze fell on Vanessa's pitiful figure in her arms, the fleeting empathy was crushed by cold rationality, her lips pressed into a thin line as she stayed

is already injured. If you keep going, you'll

wild beast, his strikes not only unrelenting but

whipped through the air with a terrifying sound, mercilessly striking

new wounds layering over old ones,

uncontrollably from the pain, struggling to evade, but her broken leg made escape

back, but against Nathan's towering male strength, she was

the agony, Claire finally

her cry, May's eyes

Vanessa. It was Vanessa, with her deceitful nature, who was more likely

as she