Chapter 99
“At 8:50 a.m. a Miss Lane pulled surveillance; at 9:45 you arrived; at 9:58 Elena appeared, stayed less than a minute, and left. Is this your ‘ironclad proof‘?” Simon asked.
Julian stared, bewildered. “How–How could that be? You went after I’d already been there?”
Elena’s gaze remained icy.
“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Julian demanded.
Elena let out a brittle laugh. “I did. Did you believe me? I told you I didn’t erase anything–did you listen?”
Julian Bennett’s brow knit tight, his face clouded with tangled emotions as he stared at her.
Simon Whitmore looked over at him and said, “Mr. Bennett, you haven’t already forgotten the promise you just made, have you?”
Julian blinked, the daze clearing; an unmistakable flush of embarrassment crept across his features.
Adaline bustled forward with a placating smile. “Simon, Julian knows he wrongly blamed Elena, and he deeply regrets striking her so hard…”
Simon shot back, “Really? You can stomach seeing your own daughter beaten into the operating room, yet you can’t bear the sight of your precious son dropping to his knees?”
“I… I didn’t mean it that way.” Adaline managed an awkward laugh.
Finding Simon unmoved, Adaline had no choice but to turn pleading eyes on Elena.
“Elena, your brother was wrong. He should have checked the facts first. Let him apologize to you, all right?”
Elena stayed silent, not even granting her mother a glance.
“Elena, whatever else, he’s still your brother! Must you really make him kneel? How would that look? When has a brother ever knelt to his own sister?”
Elena’s heart went cold. “So it’s fine for a brother to beat his sister at will?”
“But he already knows he was wrong…”
“And what about the bruises covering me? Does his sudden enlightenment erase all this pain?”
Adaline’s expression hardened.
Sir Whitmore let out a frosty laugh. “Simon, you really have faith. At the press conference he thundered against domestic violence, yet he turned around and put his own sister in the hospital–and you still believe him?”
“You’re right, Dad; I was naïve,” Simon replied.
Julian’s face alternated between livid and crimson; the humiliation stung worse than a slap.
Adaline’s cheeks burned as well; she wanted to vanish.
Biting her lip, she said, “Elena! Very well–Mom will kneel! It’s my fault!”
1/2
Chapter 99
She started to bend her knees.
Julian caught her arm. “Mom! You can’t kneel to her!”
He leveled a frosty stare at Elena. “Since you insist, I’ll kneel and apologize–but only for not deleting today’s surveillance footage. It doesn’t mean you didn’t leak Annie’s video!”
With that, he dropped to the floor. “I’m sorry. I wrongly accused you and shouldn’t have hit you.”
He stood at once and strode for the door.
“Wait!” Simon called.
“If there’s no proof Elena posted the video, accusing her is slander. She could sue every one of you.”
“As for Annabelle Bennett’s indecent footage, here are four words: you brought it on yourselves. I’ve checked into that night- Annabelle was hardly innocent.”
“Adaline, you and your daughter drugged Elena, only to have fate punish your own child. Whom can you blame?”
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.