"Those assets are just material things. If they can buy Antonia her life, it's worth it."
A laugh tore out of me, sharp and ugly enough to cut glass.
"You owe Isabel Henson a life? Then pay it back yourself."
"You want bone marrow extracted, roll up your own sleeve. Stop volunteering my body like it's yours to give."
My words hit a nerve. Maxwell shot to his feet, the chair scraping back behind him.
"My marrow wasn't a match. Yours is. That's fate."
"You're the lady of the Gilbert family. You've enjoyed years of wealth and luxury. Giving a little blood and bone is too much to ask?"
"Besides, if you hadn't insisted on marrying me back then, Isabel never would have left heartbroken, and she never would have been in that fire."
"This is your atonement, Amy."
My hand moved before my mind caught up. The slap connected with Maxwell's face so hard the crack echoed off the study walls.
"Maxwell Gilbert, if you've contracted rabies, go get a shot. Don't stand here frothing at me."
"You were the one who knelt in the rain begging me to marry you. Begging for my family's money to bail you out of bankruptcy."
"Now that the crisis is over, you want to play the devoted lover? Is that it?"
Maxwell cupped his cheek, staring at me like he couldn't process what just happened.
"You actually hit me."
"And I'll do it again if that's what it takes to knock some sense into that thick skull."
I couldn't stomach his face for another second. I turned on my heel and headed for the stairs.
The moment I reached the landing, a sound rose from below. My daughter Lily Abbott, screaming and sobbing like her heart was being ripped apart.
My chest seized. I flew down the steps, taking them two and three at a time.
In the living room, Antonia Henson sat perched on a sofa surrounded by wreckage.
Her burn-scarred face was twisted with malice, and she held a glass-handled feather duster in her grip.
A long, bloody gash ran down Lily's arm. The little girl was huddled in the corner, trembling.
Every drop of blood in my body surged straight to my skull.
"Antonia, you're dead."
I charged forward, ripped the duster from her hand, and swung it hard across her back.
Antonia let out a shriek like a slaughtered pig and crumpled onto the carpet.
"Amy, what are you doing? I was just teaching Lily some manners!"
"She broke the crystal glass my sister left me on purpose. What's wrong with disciplining her a little on your behalf?"