A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 446

But no. Starla was not that kind.

In the next instant, she hurled the bowl, and it shattered at Brinley’s feet. Hot soup splashed onto her ankles.

“Ah!” Brinley shrieked, stumbling backward, nearly falling to the floor. She stared at Starla, her eyes wide with fury. “You… you’re a lunatic!”

The word had barely left her lips when a maid stepped forward and slapped Brinley hard across the face, twice.

Brinley froze in shock. In that moment, she understood exactly how Darleen must have felt.

So this was how things were now in the Yelchin estate? Anyone who dared to speak ill of Starla would be punished?

Having never been subjected to such humiliation in her life, Brinley felt the sting on her cheek as if it were a brand.

“You… you’ve gone too far…” she stammered, disbelief warring with pain.

“Smack!”

Another slap from the maid standing before her.

“What are you doing?” Brinley finally erupted, the rage in her chest breaking free.

“Nothing,” a voice from the side cut in coolly—one of Starla's people. “Just teaching you how to keep your mouth clean.”

It was the quickest way to handle insubordination.

“Was the Yelchin family running out of soup back then? Why did you have to have mine?”

Starla's calm, measured words felt like a hand tightening around Brinley's heart.

“No, I was wrong,” Starla mused aloud. “You never wanted my soup. You just wanted to put me in my place, to remind me of your status in the Yelchin family, of your place in Fairfax's heart.”

Brinley’s already pale face became a ghastly shade of white.

“Back then, you refused every soup the family made for you,” Starla went on. “You were too busy threatening to jump off buildings, throw yourself into the sea, claiming you were depressed. You clearly didn’t want soup during your postpartum recovery. So why on earth would you need to build up your strength now that it’s over?”

Each word was a slow, deliberate cut, tearing Brinley’s soul to shreds.