Chapter 51 Hurt Her, Lose Me
VINCE’S POV
Just as I expected, my mother hadn't gone quietly into the night. She had run straight to the patriarch, well aware it won’t shift a hair in me.
I saw this from afar. That was why, I decided to indulge in mine and made it mesmerizing. Composed and satisfied, I was ready.
“Hmm? What do you want to say now?” I asked coldly.
The upcoming event demanded a harsh confrontation where I might end up risking what I owned for my selfish redemption but I couldn’t care less about it.
I calculated the risks long ago.
“Don’t act so casually after throwing your mother out, Vince!” Mama snapped.
I stood in the center of the room, Alyssa’s small, trembling hand anchored in mine, trying to hide but my grip on her hand signaled her to stay strong.
“Is this true, Vince?” My father’s voice boomed, cutting through the silence.
I didn't flinch and remained nonchalant. Leaning against the pillar, I shrugged my shoulders.
“Depends on what you guys have heard, Dad.”
My eyes darted to Mama who stood with fake tears, “Because the last time I checked, the people I was told to trust blindly had begun to lie to my face.”
“Vince, don’t be dramatic,” Mother snapped, her eyes red-rimmed from staged tears.
She was glaring at our locked hands. She was just like the rest of the world too. She was blaming Alyssa too.
And it was truly disheartening.
“The girl is a master of performance.” Mama scoffed, folding her arms at her chest.
My jaw clenched, straightening my back, I stepped closer, glaring at her to not spout nonsense when it was her who was ‘performing’.
“You don’t say a word about her.” When I warned her strictly, the air shifted.
“Vince, there must be a misunderstanding,”
Draven tried to convince me but placing my hand in the air dominantly, I stopped him.
“I wish it was but it wasn’t.” I growled, not removing my eyes from Mama who flinched by the intensity.
“Stop glaring at your mother, Vince,” Father hissed, stepping in between to block my sight and focus on the conversation.
“If Alyssa is telling the truth then tell her to prove it before everyone.” He demanded sternly.
When all of them turned to Alyssa, she shivered. The two-second of being distrusted, like I foolishly didn’t, flickered.
Despite telling the truth, Alyssa was frightened of opening her mouth, causing her to shift eyes from me to everyone else.
The second her lips parted to justify, I cut the sharp and heavy silence with my strong enunciation.
“None of us has to prove anything,”
My voice dropped to a dangerous, low hum but my grip on her hand was soft and reassuring. Indicating- ‘there was nothing to worry,’
Though a string of wrath evoked from me when my wife had to prove her innocence when ‘I’ was present.
“You trust your bride, Dad. I trust mine. Alyssa has nothing to prove anything to anyone but me.”
“We still need to know the facts, Vince,” My father countered, his features hardening.
“The staff are confused. Your mother is humiliated-”
“I saw the bruise.” I cut him off, the words tasting like ash, hating the fact I discarded them too.
“Not only that- how could she lock the kitchen just to starve my woman? Under my roof?”
My voice went lower, furious but also disappointed, glancing at Father and Draven with one simple question.
“Would you accept that if it were your wife?”
They went silent. Gaze shifted to Mother with complete disbelief that she would do something like this which pierced my heart too.
“I-I did this to teach her a lesson!” Mother burst out, her composure finally fracturing, spilling the truth mindlessly.
“She needs to earn her place in this family! She is unrefined, toying with my son’s heart. She doesn’t deserve him. It was a lesson-”
“Hear that?”
I looked at my father, my eyebrows raised in a mocking challenge, trying to hide the wrath of my failure with dominance.
“What lesson?” My father asked, his gaze shifting to his wife with a flicker of doubt and rage.
“Exactly,” I snarled, taking a step closer.
“What lesson could possibly demand being stripped of basic human decency? What lesson requires her to go to sleep with an empty stomach and a bruised arm?” I growled.
The air in the hall became thickened. Mother gasped when she was exposed, receiving nothing but a disappointed look from everyone.
I could see my mother’s chest heaving, her face twisting as she realized her ‘lesson’ had cost her her son’s respect.
Father was at a loss of words, he didn’t have the strength to defend his wife. He was simply… frozen.
“How could you do that, Mama?” Draven asked instead, refusing to believe our mother could be this cruel to Alyssa.
“She is a stain on our reputation!” she shrieked, pointing her finger contemptuously at Alyssa who flinched in return.
“If you choose her over us, you are choosing a shadow!”
I took a long, slow step forward, my hand shifted to her shoulder, pressing her into my protective chest with a piercing gaze, holding my chin up.
“Then I will live in the dark,” I enunciated, the finality of my words echoing off the high ceilings.
“Listen to me carefully, because I will only say this once. I turned my gaze to the entire room, ensuring every hidden staff member and every family member felt the weight of what I was about to say.
“Alyssa is the woman who carries my name. Her respect is my respect. If she isn't welcome at this table, so am I. If you hurt her, you lose me.”
My mother gasped, reaching for the back of a chair for support. My father looked as though I had just declared war.
I paused, letting the silence settle, worrying everyone.
“And those who find it hard to follow?” I leaned in, my eyes stone-cold and unforgiving.
“Consider it a farewell from me, too.”