With his bloody hand, he touched his cheek and said, “No woman has ever struck me before. You’re the first.”
Cade lifted his head, voice like breaking ice. “Since your hands aren’t clean, they should be made useless.” He gathered Margaret and started to leave.
As he passed the guards, his step faltered. “Those who betrayed our family, take them out too,” he ordered.
Yet the guards didn’t move. They still looked to me for orders.
Cade had been careless. He assumed those men were loyal to him, that he had control over everything here.
Later, the eldest servant, Elmer Hersey, approached me with a respectful bow and asked, “Miss, that punk Cade laid a hand on you hard. Want to show him some real power so he learns his place?”
Phoebe's POV
I was trimming a potted plant when I flatly answered, “No need.”
“This is just getting good, Cade,” I muttered.
Ever since he took everything from Renzo three years ago, I intended to make him pay back piece by piece.
“As for this child, remove it,” I said to Elmer.
Before they pushed me into the operating room, Elmer hesitated, trying to find the right words. “Miss, are you sure you want to terminate the pregnancy? If Cade finds out the child’s gone, he might fly into a rage and do something extreme.”
I only smiled, colder than before. “Are you afraid of him? Elmer, with our family’s power, even ten Cades aren’t worth mentioning.”
As I spoke, I let my gaze linger on Renzo’s photo with a strange tenderness. “If it weren’t for him looking like Renzo, he wouldn’t have lived this long.”
As such, Elmer fell silent and arranged for me to be taken into surgery.
When I opened my eyes again, a miserable bellow tore through the air. “Phoebe, how dare you!” Cade’s voice was raw with fury. “How could you terminate the baby without my permission?!”
The abortion left my body lighter, though my face was still pale and exhausted. I managed a small, haggard smile. “What, you’re not going to go look after your foster sister? Looks like her fall wasn’t that serious. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have time to shout at me.”
Cade went mad. He thought I was powerless here, nothing more than a lamb bound for slaughter.
“Phoebe, why are they listening to you? What are you, really?” he demanded, eyes hard on me.
I turned my ring on my finger and said, “You’ll know in time.”
He stared at the ring, his face turning grim. “Is that the ring Renzo was going to propose with?”