Chapter 23
Zachary’s outstretched hand froze mid–air at her words. His expression shifted to one of complexity as he looked past Doris at Hannah.
Hannah stood amidst the chaos, her face etched with sarcasm. Yolanda, red–faced and flustered by the whispers around her, pointed accusingly at Hannah.
“It’s all your fault! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been shipped off!*
With her family’s wealth, Yolanda had expected a life of ease down under. But Zachary, determined to teach her a lesson, had cut her off financially, leaving her to scrape by on the meager allowance from Cecília.
“My fault? Who was it that looked down on me, mocked me, and who sent you overseas? You haven’t even figured that out and you’re blaming me? Hannah’s voice was cold. “Yolanda, did you leave something behind
abroad?”
The veiled insult about leaving her common sense behind stung, and Yolanda was about to spring up in fury.
“That’s enough!” Zachary interjected, looking sternly back at Yolanda, his voice laced with warning. “Haven’t you had enough of it?”
“Zachary! Why are you speaking to me like that for Hannah? What is it so good about her? She’s short, without nice looks or stature. And, she’s an orphan.*
Hannah suddenly stepped forward, delivering a sharp slap to Yolanda. “I’m an orphan, so what? Unlike you, who apparently lacks manners!”
She turned to Zachary, “Zachary, keep tabs on your family!”
Zachary clenched his fists, his expression steely as he directed his secretary. “Sam, take Yolanda to the hospital.”
Sam didn’t hesitate, quickly covering Yolanda’s mouth and dragging her out.
“Hannah,” Zachary said with a heavy guilt, “I apologize for today.”
“Mr. Cole, I believe your apologies are misdirected,” Hannah replied coolly, glancing at Cameron, who had been hastily summoned by the butler. “Tonight is a West family affair.”
On his way over, Cameron had already been briefed on the situation by the butler. He approached without so much as a glance at the apologetic Zachary, his concern solely for his wife and sister. “Are you two alright?”
Seeing them nod, Cameron finally turned to Zachary. “This fiasco will be handled by my assistant. Mr. Cole, you will be hearing about compensations.”
With that, he instructed the butler to escort the women upstairs to rest.
The evening’s gathering wasn’t derailed by the earlier incident. It continued well into the night. Only when the negotiations over the mess were concluded did Zachary return to the Cole estate, where every light was still aglow.
A servant rushed to him as he entered. “Mr. Zachary Cole, please, speak to Mr. Cedric Cole and Mrs. Cecilia Cole. Ms. Cole, she’s still young.”
Zachary walked through the doorway, and the scene before him stopped him cold. Yolanda was kneeling on the floor, her face marked by fresh slaps.
On the couch sat Cecilia, silently weeping, while Cedric glared at Yolanda, a riding crop in hand, seething with
anger.
“I see you’ve been spoiled rotten! Do you have any idea who Hannah is? Or the standing of the West family? And you dared to cause trouble!”
Much of the Cole family business was international, keeping Cedric abroad for work, with Cecilia managing
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Chapter 23
domestic affairs. Only this year did Cedric shift his focus back home.
Hearing from the butler about their antics of recent years, Cedric was seeing red.
“If you can’t learn your place, then stay abroad. Don’t ever come back!”
“Dad!” Yolanda shrieked from where she knelt, while Zachary quickly interceded.
“Dad, she’s still young.”
“Young? She’s in her twenties, but still acts without thinking! And you! Is your brain only filled with romance?”
Cecilia couldn’t bear her kids getting lashed out, stepping in to defend. “Cedric.”
Cecilia’s voice reminded Cedric of her existence. “And you! A doting mother spoils the child!”
His fury flared again as he heard his son, who Cedric had pulled efforts into his upbringing, had ended up in hospital two times all because of one woman, making relentless antics.
“It’s one thing that they two aren’t sensible, but why did you too pull stunts? Your son claims not having the desire to live, then let him die! The Cole family doesn’t lack heirs! Must you ruin a girl’s future and her five years for that? And your daughter, what does she learn at this age? Bad habits, disrespecting her sister–in–law, bullying her elders! What have you been teaching them?”
Zachary felt a pang of sympathy hearing his mother and sister berated, but Cedric’s steely look kept him docile. “You and your sister, to the study! I’ll deal with you both later!”
