Where Petals of Vengeance Bloom

Chapter 83

Claire's slap was unrelenting.

From a young age, she had been accustomed to hard, grueling work, and the strength in her hands was incomparable to that of Vanessa, who had been pampered all her life.

The force of the slap split Vanessa's lip, causing blood to trickle down her chin and stain her carefully chosen white dress.

Vanessa stood there, her mind blank, eyes wide with disbelief as she stared at Claire.

When she finally registered what had happened, a tidal wave of hatred threatened to drown her. She wanted nothing more than to make Claire pay.

"You wretch, how dare you hit me? I'll make sure you pay dearly for this," she screamed, running out of the storage room.

In the living room, Mrs. Linwood was sipping her tea leisurely when Vanessa's shriek startled her to her feet.

rushing toward her, face

as if she had suffered a

trembling

red handprint

her eyes

went to call her for dinner, and she hit me without a word. What did I do wrong? Why is she targeting me like

with fury. "Claire,

shout. She had anticipated this reaction the moment she slapped

she stepped out to face Mrs. Linwood's

you hit Vanessa?

she could hit Vanessa, not why she did. It was clear Mrs. Linwood didn't care about Claire's reasons; she was only concerned

typical of Mrs. Linwood-blaming

looked at her, a smile playing on her lips. "Mrs. Linwood, aren't you going