Chapter 39 Support
Sloane's POV
I shrugged indifferently, put the card back in my pocket, and glanced at her coolly. "Be my guest."
My completely unconcerned attitude totally set Keira off.
She probably never expected that even Isabelle could no longer make me feel the slightest bit intimidated.
"Sloane, you bitch!" she screamed, completely dropping her act. She raised her uninjured hand and swung it hard at my face!
I instinctively stepped back, bracing myself to take the slap.
The expected pain never came.
A well-maintained hand wearing an emerald ring shot out from the side, swiftly and firmly catching Keira's wrist mid-swing.
Then, a crisp slapping sound echoed throughout the entire store.
But this slap didn't land on my face—it landed squarely on Keira's.
Keira was completely stunned, five clear finger marks quickly appearing on her pale cheek.
"How dare you hit me?!" Keira's head snapped to the side from the impact. When she came to her senses, rage instantly blazed in her eyes, and without thinking, she was about to curse back.
But the moment she saw who had hit her, the curses died on her lips. Her face went white as a sheet, eyes widening in pure terror.
I followed her gaze and saw a woman in a perfectly tailored gray suit standing there coldly, radiating an air of elegant nobility.
She looked to be in her early fifties, with chestnut curls impeccably styled. Her features were refined, and her face bore a seventy percent resemblance to Jared's, except her eyes didn't have Jared's violence—instead, they held the authority and sharpness that comes with age.
She released Keira's wrist and, as if she'd touched something dirty, elegantly took out a silk handkerchief from her purse and carefully wiped her hands.
Then she tossed the handkerchief into a nearby trash can. Only then did her gaze finally fall on Keira, who still bore the handprint on her face and stood there like a statue. Her voice was cold as ice.
"When did trash like you get to lecture someone from the Montclair family?"
This woman who had suddenly appeared was Jared's mother, my mother-in-law, Annette Montclair. I'd only seen her once at the wedding. In my memory, she was always elegant and distant, but now she was like an unsheathed sword, sharp and imposing.
Keira was completely dumbfounded, covering her face, her earlier arrogance replaced by terror and panic.
She looked at Annette, her lips trembling for a long time before she could squeeze out a flattering, tearful greeting. "Mrs. Montclair, I, I didn't mean to, it was Sloane who..."
"I saw with my own eyes that you were about to hit someone." Annette coldly cut her off, her gaze so sharp it seemed to see right through her. "What, are my eyes just for decoration?"
She took a step forward, and that innate sense of pressure made Keira instinctively step back, nearly bumping into the shelf behind her.
"I... I just acted on impulse," Keira's tears came on cue, instantly filling her eyes. She put on that pitiful look again. "Sloane humiliated me first, and then flaunted the card Jared gave her. I got upset and... You know, Jared and I grew up together. I just didn't want to see him deceived by Sloane..."
While crying, she tried to throw dirt on me again, painting herself as a childhood friend standing up for Jared.
"Deceived?" Annette let out a cold, contemptuous laugh. "Are you saying my son is an idiot who can't tell right from wrong and needs an outsider like you to fight for justice on his behalf?"
She looked Keira up and down, her gaze precise and cutting. "Or do you think that with your pathetic little tricks, you can influence the Montclair family's affairs? You're this stupid and you still dare to gossip in front of me?"
These words were even harsher than the slap, directly trampling what little self-respect Keira had left and crushing it to pieces.
Keira's face went through a rainbow of emotions—red with rage, white with shock, then green around the gills. She'd probably never been put in her place so brutally before. She was trembling with fury but didn't dare breathe a word.
Seeing that reasoning didn't work and playing pitiful was useless, Keira pulled out her last trump card. With trembling hands, she took out her phone and called Jared, her crying voice shrill. "Jared, your mother, she hit me."
I don't know what was said on the other end, but Keira's crying got louder. "I didn't, I was just explaining to Sloane, and your mother rushed over saying I was lecturing your family... She even cursed at me, Jared, my face hurts so much..."
Her ability to twist the truth and cherry-pick facts was truly masterful.
Just when I thought we were in for another endless argument, Annette suddenly reached out and snatched the phone from Keira's hand.
"Jared Montclair." She spoke into the phone, using his full name, her voice cold and emotionless.
The other end of the line went silent immediately.
"I'm giving you three seconds to explain why you're still entangled with this crying woman," Annette's tone left no room for argument. "And when did she get to boss around my daughter-in-law?"
Annette didn't give Jared any chance to explain. Her voice grew even more severe. "I don't care what history you two have. Right now, Sloane is your wife! If you can't even protect your own wife and let trash like this play you for a fool, don't ever call yourself my son again! I can't afford this kind of embarrassment!"
With that, she hung up directly and casually tossed the phone back to Keira like throwing away garbage.
The entire store fell silent. The staff and Christian all watched the center of this drama with shocked and complicated expressions.
Keira stood there holding her phone, her face deathly pale, even forgetting to let her tears flow.
That devastated look no longer aroused anyone's sympathy.
Finally, as if unable to bear this crushing humiliation any longer, she covered her face, turned around, and ran out crying.
Annette didn't even glance at the fleeing figure. She turned around, her gaze falling on me, that imposing aura instantly softening considerably as she returned to elegance and composure.
"Sorry you had to see that," she said.
I looked at her, my heart filled with mixed emotions, but in the end, I spoke sincerely. "Thank you, Mother."
This was the first time I'd called her Mother with genuine feeling.
A faint smile appeared on her face. She nodded. "You're the lady of the Montclair family. From now on, you don't need to take anyone's crap."
She paused, then changed the subject, her gaze falling on my abdomen, asking casually, "You and Jared have been married for a year now. Do you have any plans about having children?"