Chapter 188 057
THE minute the door clicked shut behind her mother, Hazel stood frozen for a few seconds, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Her hands curled into fists at her sides, short nails digging into her palms as anger, hurt, and betrayal crashed over her all at once. Her jaw tightened, teeth grinding against each other as she replayed Amelia’s calm, unyielding voice in her head.
‘This decision has already been made.’
Hazel let out a sharp breath, blinking back tears that refused to stay put. With a frustrated growl, she spun around, marched the little distance between her and her desk, and grabbed her phone. Her fingers trembled slightly as she scrolled, then pressed a familiar name.
Dad.
The phone rang twice before the call connected.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Adrian’s voice came through, warm but slightly distracted, the low hum of an office in the background. “What is wrong?”
Hazel’s voice broke instantly.
“Dad…”
Adrian straightened in his chair the moment he heard the distress in her tone.
“Hazel? What happened?”
“She… she wants to send me away,” Hazel blurted out, words tumbling over each other. “Mom. She just came into my room and told me I’m going to the boarding school.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line.
“Boarding school?” Adrian repeated, his voice sharpening. “What do you mean boarding school?”
“She said it is ‘weekly boarding,’” Hazel said, mockingly imitating Amelia’s calm tone through tears. “That I will come home on weekends. Dad, I don’t want to go. I don’t want to leave my brothers.”
Adrian exhaled slowly, rubbing his temple.
“Since when did she decide this?”
“Just now,” Hazel replied bitterly. “She said it has already been decided, like my opinion doesn’t even matter.”
“That is not okay,” Adrian said firmly. “She should have talked to me first.”
Hazel sniffed, clutching the phone tighter.
“She said I can tell you if I want. Like she doesn’t even care.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“I’m not happy about this, Hazel. Not at all.”
Her heart leapt at his words.
“You are not right?”
“No,” he said. “Decisions like this shouldn’t be made without both parents agreeing.”
Hazel hurried on, fear lacing her words.
“Dad, she thinks I’m the problem. She said my behaviour is bad. She is only doing this because of Charles. Ever since he came into our lives, everything has changed.”
Adrian hesitated. “Hazel…”
“I’m serious,” she pressed. “She is choosing him over me. Over us.”
“Now honey, that is a big accusation,” Adrian said carefully.
“But it is true!” Hazel cried. “She didn’t do things like this before. Now suddenly I’m being shipped off so he can be comfortable in our house.”
Adrian leaned back in his chair, eyes closing briefly as he processed everything. The timing. The tension. The growing distance he had sensed.
“I don’t like the sound of this,” he said. “And I don’t like that you are this upset.”
“So you will stop her?” Hazel asked quickly. “You won’t let her send me away?”
“I didn’t say that yet,” Adrian replied, his tone measured. “But I will talk to your mother.”
Hazel let out a shaky breath.
“Promise?”
“Yes,” he said. “I will call her.”
Relief flooded Hazel’s chest, but fear still lingered.
“Dad, please do. Call her, please. I don’t want to leave my brothers.”
“I hear you,” Adrian said gently. “And I understand.”
“I swear I will try harder,” Hazel added hurriedly. “I will be nicer. I will do whatever she wants. Just tell her not to send me away.”
“Calm down, sweetheart,” Adrian said softly. “You are not being sent to prison. Let’s take this one step at a time.”
“But she walked out on me,” Hazel whispered. “She didn’t even listen.”
“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t care,” Adrian said, though a trace of uncertainty crept into his voice. “Your mom can be… very firm once she makes up her mind.”
Hazel scoffed through tears.
“Firm? She was cold.”
Adrian frowned, glancing at the files spread across his desk, completely forgotten now.
“I was in the middle of something when you called, but that doesn’t matter. You are my priority.”
“Thank you,” Hazel murmured.
“I need you to do something for me,” Adrian continued. “Take a deep breath.”
Hazel inhaled shakily.
“Good,” he said. “Now try to calm down. Crying and panicking won’t help your case.”
“But what if she doesn’t listen to you?” Hazel asked anxiously.
“She will listen,” Adrian replied, though he wasn’t entirely sure. “At least, she will hear me out.”
Hazel swallowed.
“You will really call her?”
“Yes,” Adrian said again. “I will call her.”
She nodded even though he couldn’t see her.
“Okay.”
“In the meantime,” he added, “don’t argue with her anymore today. Give her space.”
Hazel frowned.
“That is it?”
“For now,” Adrian said. “Trust me.”
Silence stretched between them for a moment, filled only by Hazel’s quiet sniffles and the distant sound of office chatter on Adrian’s end.
“I love you, Dad,” Hazel said softly.
“I love you too, sweetheart,” Adrian replied. “Everything is going to be fine.”
Hazel wasn’t convinced, but hearing his voice, knowing he was on her side, gave her just enough comfort to hang on.
She ended the call still seated at her desk, phone clutched tightly in her hand, eyes burning with unshed tears and a growing resolve not to let this go without a fight.
Meanwhile, Amelia’s heart was anything but calm. It raged like a storm trapped beneath a serene sky, thunder rolling silently within her chest while her face betrayed nothing. The decision she had just taken sat heavily on her conscience, pressing down on her ribs until breathing felt like work. Sending Hazel away, no matter how carefully she had explained it, no matter how reasonable it sounded, was against every maternal instinct she possessed.
She paced her bedroom slowly, arms folded tightly across her chest as though she could physically hold herself together. Each step she took across the plush carpet echoed with doubt. Hazel’s face replayed in her mind, those angry eyes swimming with tears, that wounded defiance that cut deeper than outright rebellion. Amelia squeezed her eyes shut briefly, swallowing the lump that rose in her throat.
‘I didn’t want this,’ she admitted silently.
But want had nothing to do with it anymore.
She stopped in front of the window, staring out at the manicured lawn below without really seeing it. She needed clarity. She needed truth. And to get to the roots of everything festering beneath the surface of her once-peaceful home, Hazel had to be out of the way. It was cruel, perhaps. Painful, definitely, but it was necessary.
Because Hazel, without meaning to, was standing directly in the line of fire.
Amelia exhaled shakily and turned away from the window, resuming her slow pacing. Every road her thoughts traveled led back to the same name. Charles. For good and for bad, everything circled him. His presence, his past, his influence, things were shifting, colliding, revealing cracks Amelia had pretended not to see for too long.
Or perhaps she had seen them.
Perhaps she had always seen them.
Her lips pressed into a thin line as she reached the vanity and rested her palms on its smooth surface, grounding herself. The reflection staring back at her was composed, elegant, unbroken. Anyone looking at her would see a woman fully in control, decisive and unwavering. No one would see the cost of that control, the sacrifices made in silence.
Hazel would hate her for this, that she knew. Adrian would oppose it. That she knew too. But hatred could be healed. Anger could be weathered. What she couldn’t afford was ignorance. What she couldn’t survive was being blindsided again.
She straightened, shoulders squaring as resolve slowly overtook guilt. She had made her choice. Now she would see it through, no matter how much it hurt.
Her phone lay quietly on the vanity, screen dark, almost innocent in its stillness. Amelia’s gaze drifted to it, lingering longer than necessary, as though she were daring it to come alive.
And then it did.
The sudden ring sliced through the room, sharp and insistent. Amelia froze mid-step. Her eyes locked on the vibrating phone, her breath catching for a split second. She didn’t need to check the screen. She already knew who it was.
She closed her eyes briefly, bracing herself, the storm in her heart swelling just a little more as the phone continued to ring.