Chapter 56 The one pointing the finger
CHAPTER 56: The one pointing the finger
Vera
The name ‘Sam’ hung in the air like a guillotine blade, heavy and cold, severing the last thread of forced normalcy at the table.
Beside me, Silas stilled a fraction of a second, his cup of coffee midair, but he recovered like nothing had happened.
I watched, surprised, as Chauncey went deathly still beside Claudia, his fork hovering over his plate. A muscle ticked rhythmically in his jaw. The sharp look of suppressed emotion made him look suddenly, terrifyingly too much like Silas.
Just who was Sam?
My gaze dared flicker to Silas, expecting an explosion of rage. But for a fleeting, heart-stopping second, I saw something else.
As he looked at Chauncey, a quick flash of something akin to softness…a haunted, rare empathy, flickered in his eyes. But it was gone before I could even be sure it was ever there, replaced by that familiar mask of cold granite.
“I don't think I have to report my decisions to anyone, much less Sam,” he replied, his voice icy and dark with warning.
I had learned a lot to know that it was better to softpedal or back away at this point.
Claudia didn’t flinch.
If anything, she leaned into the discomfort, her eyes glittering with a reckless defiance.
“Come on, brother. You should inform Simone’s family if you’ve decided to remarry. It’s the proper thing to do.”
Chauncey sighed, irritatedly. “Jesus Christ,” he muttered under his breath, dropping his fork.
Claudia gave him a stink eye and continued.
“Regardless of the fact that your first wife is dead, her family deserves to know who is occupying her seat at this table,” she added, her gaze briefly flickering to me. “It's about respect and doing the proper thing, isn't it? Or have you forgotten what that word means?”
I stiffened.
Sam must be a relative of Simone. And Claudia seemed to like her.
But that wasn't the issue now. Silas was about to explode.
“The proper thing?” he snapped, the sound of his palm hitting the table echoing like a gunshot through the room.
Claudia blinked, slightly shaken.
Silas leaned forward, his eyes boring into hers with a lethal intensity.
“How rich that is, coming from you. Don't you think so, sister?” He sneered.
Claudia held his gaze, but didn't say anything, her composure cracking a bit.
But Silas was not done.
“Tell me, Claudia, was informing your own family before you ran off with that lowlife scoundrel also the proper thing to do? Or does that particular rule only apply when you're the one pointing the finger?”
Chauncey intervened. “Silas that's —”
He cut him off, still addressing Claudia.
“Don't you dare talk to me about propriety when your own life is a masterclass in betrayal.”
Claudia went silent, the color draining from her face as his words landed with the force of a physical blow.
Her lips pressed into a thin, trembling line, her eyes glassing over with a hurt she seemed too proud to voice.
“Silas, enough. Calm down,” Chauncey intervened, his voice low and weary—the voice of a man exhausted by a lifetime of watching his siblings bicker. “There’s no need to drag that back up. Not today,” he added.
Silas didn’t look at him. His predatory focus remained on his sister.
“If you plan to stay in this house, you will learn to behave. I will not have you creating chaos just to satisfy your boredom. You want to live here? You play by my rules. Not more. And certainly not a little less.”
Surprising, the feisty brunette had recovered and was about to bite back.
The sudden, sharp trill of a phone shattered the standoff. I saw the name on the screen.
Natalie.
Something grew cold in my stomach.
I felt Claudia's hawk-like gaze on me, her eyes slightly narrowed.
“Natalie,” Silas said as soon as he picked the call.
Now it was my turn to watch Claudia’s mood grow dark.
Her eyes narrowed into slits of pure, unadulterated loathing as Silas answered the call with a curt, “Speak.”
He listened for a moment, his expression tightening into a grim line.
I pretended to be focused on my breakfast, but I had not had an appetite since I walked into the room.
Finally Silas ended the call.
“I have to go. There’s an emergency at the office,” he announced, standing up and smoothing his jacket.
“Some things never change, do they?” Claudia sneered, her voice dripping with venom. “I see the witch still works for you, brother. I’m almost sure she still cooks up excuses to pull you away from your... domestic bliss.”
Silas didn’t afford her a parting glance.
He simply turned and strode out of the room, his presence leaving a vacuum of cold air in his wake.
Left in the fallout, Claudia pushed her plate away, clearly upset.
“He is still so unbelievable,” she muttered, her mood completely soured. She stood up, her eyes flashing at me for a brief second before she looked away. “I can't be in here right now,” she threw in Chauncey’s direction.
Without another word, she excused herself and stormed out of the dining room, leaving me alone with Chauncey who hadn't said a word for a long time.
I felt a wave of crushing awkwardness wash over me, left alone with him. He hadn’t moved, but I could feel his gaze on me…strange, heavy, piercing…different.
He felt so much like Silas at the moment that I almost squirmed in my seat.
There was a weird intensity to his gaze, a scrutiny that felt like he was searching for something beneath my skin.
Tension prickling at my neck, I stood up, desperate to escape.
“I... I think I'll go lie down. I’m not feeling very well,” I murmured, my voice barely audible.
“Vera,” his voice stopped me mid-step.
I looked back to see him leaning back in his chair, his eyes fixed on mine with a gravity that made my stomach flip.
“Stay. I want to speak with you.”