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.

leaving a vivid welt on Claire's arm. The pain was sharp, like a knife slicing through her skin,

couldn't suppress a pained grunt as her body instinctively curled up,

Nathan, blinded by rage, struck with unrestrained force, each lash landing heavily on

from the side, her eyes flickering with a mix of pity

hand involuntarily rose, as if to stop Nathan. But when her gaze fell on Vanessa's pitiful figure in her arms, the fleeting empathy was crushed by cold

pleaded, "Sir, please stop! Miss Claire is already injured. If you keep going,

was like a wild beast, his strikes not only unrelenting but

through the air with a terrifying

layering over old

drained of color, her body trembling uncontrollably from the pain, struggling to evade, but her broken leg

against Nathan's towering male strength, she

Claire finally succumbed, tears of

cry, May's eyes welled with

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

clenched her teeth, throwing caution aside as she