Where Petals of Vengeance Bloom

Chapter 217

Adah gazed at the shattered pill bottles scattered across the floor, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. Her voice trembled with emotion. "Ethan, how could you say something like that?"

"You know Claire's fiery temperament," Ethan retorted, trying to keep his own frustration in check. "In prison, she must have provoked someone for them to lash out. Otherwise, why would those inmates pick on her specifically and leave others alone?"

"Her broken leg has nothing to do with us. Why do you insist on blaming her suffering on your father and me? Is Claire the only one you care about? Are we not your real parents anymore?"

As Adah spoke, her composure crumbled. She buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking with sobs that echoed through the hospital room, tugging painfully at Ethan's heart.

Seeing his mother so distraught, Ethan's resolve wavered. He wanted to offer comfort, but the image of Claire's cold, distant stare flashed in his mind, extinguishing any warmth he felt in an instant.

His heart tightened, and his voice turned icy. "Claire wants nothing to do with us anymore. Is this what you wanted?"

Nathan, who was leaning back in the hospital bed, struggled to sit up. His face twisted with anger and the searing pain in his leg. "You ungrateful son!" he shouted. "And now you blame us? Claire's trouble is her own doing; she's been nothing but a curse to this family!"

Ethan's eyes blazed with fury. "Shut up! You forced Claire to take the fall for Vanessa back then. Have you lost all sense of decency?"

with a resounding crash. Items scattered to the floor, echoing

flinched at Ethan's sudden display of anger, instinctively retreating, yet he forced himself to stand his ground. "Don't forget, it was you who testified against Claire in court. Now you want to pin it all

the weight of those words hit him like a sledgehammer. The memories haunted him, each moment a relentless

teeth, his words deliberate and

health had deteriorated. He understood it

couldn't stand Ethan bringing up Claire at every turn. To him, she was just

a trembling finger at Ethan. "Get

stood his ground, his gaze icy and unyielding as

with anger and veins bulging, exacerbated

in such agony, a part of

desperate to defuse the situation, tried to reason with Ethan despite her own pain. "Ethan, don't let Claire come between you

wrong about Claire," she continued. "She's an ungrateful daughter, leaving us all worried while

the sake of having a son and a daughter. Who knew we'd end up