Stella Blackwell had a head full of nasty ideas and was just about to whisper to her mother about how to deal with Nina Blackwell.
Then she suddenly noticed something off about Tiffany Ashford’s expression.
She turned around, and her whole body froze.
Nina Blackwell was standing right behind her.
Stella got such a fright that she nearly jumped out of her skin.
“Ah!
Are you a ghost or what?
How do you walk around without making a sound?”
The arrogance she usually wore so proudly was gone in an instant.
Even her voice dropped several notches.
She had already suffered twice at Nina’s hands, so there was no way she still had the guts to go head-to-head with her in person.
Nina only shot them a sidelong glance, cool and indifferent, then brushed past them and walked straight toward Old Master Blackwell’s grave.
Vera Blackwell was so mad her face went red, then white.
She raised her voice on the spot.
“This is outrageous!
Seriously outrageous!”
“That wild girl from the orphanage already angered Mother so badly she fainted, and she still doesn’t feel one bit guilty.
She sees her elder and doesn’t even greet her, doesn’t even say hello, and just walks off like that?
No manners at all!”
Tiffany stepped in with a fake-soft voice, pretending to calm her down, but every word was pure fuel on the fire.
“Nina really did go too far.
Grandma, Dad, Eldest Uncle, Third Aunt, and Little Uncle are all still in the lounge getting ready.”
“Everyone’s been watching the time, waiting for the proper hour so they can go in order of seniority to pay respects at Grandpa’s grave.”
“She’s only a junior.
How dare she cut in front of everyone and worship Grandpa first?
Isn’t that just breaking the rules?”
Old Master Blackwell had only recently passed, and this year was the first time they were holding his death anniversary.
The entire Blackwell family took it extremely seriously.
From Andrea Blackwell, who was already past eighty, to her other three children, every branch of the family had shown up with spouses and kids in tow.
Even the second son of the Blackwell family—Ethan Blackwell’s father—who had suffered a stroke and was half-paralyzed, had been carried over in a shoulder chair.
“Exactly!
If she wants to ignore the rules, fine, but why drag us down with her?”
“Grandma’s always strict.
If she finds out, she’s definitely going to scold our branch again.
And Third Aunt and Little Uncle?
Who knows how much they’ll laugh at us behind our backs.”
Among Old Master Blackwell’s three sons and one daughter, Ethan Blackwell’s father’s side had always been the least valued.
Only now, because Ethan had become president, had their branch finally turned things around and become the pride of the Blackwell family.
Third Aunt and Little Uncle were crazy jealous of them.
Openly and secretly, they had said plenty of bad things about the second branch in front of Andrea Blackwell.
“That bitch!
She actually picked today to make us lose face?” Vera gritted out, nearly shaking with rage.
“What, is she not satisfied until she ruins our whole family?”
After just a few pointed remarks, Vera was fully worked up.
She clenched her fists and stormed forward, ready to go settle the score with Nina.
Tiffany and Stella hurried after her at once.
No way were they going to miss a show like this.
“Vera?” Andrea Blackwell’s stern, heavy voice suddenly dropped from behind them like a blade.
A second ago, Vera Blackwell had still been acting all high and mighty.
Now she froze on the spot, like a mouse caught in front of a cat.
Her mind went blank, and she almost forgot how to answer Andrea Blackwell.
Tiffany Ashford, though, had more nerve.
Calm as ever, she quickly explained what had happened.
With just a few smooth lines, she got Vera out of trouble and, at the same time, threw Nina Blackwell under the bus hard.
Compared to Vera’s cheap little tricks, Andrea Blackwell was the real boss when it came to crushing people.
Tiffany Ashford was practically waiting to see how Nina Blackwell was going to “die” today.
In front of Derek Blackwell’s grave, Nina Blackwell lit incense, bowed low, and paid her respects with quiet sincerity.
On the photo set into the tombstone, the old man still wore that gentle, kind smile.
Her chest tightened, and a wave of bitterness rose straight to her throat.
“I’m sorry, Grandpa Derek.
I couldn’t keep the promise I made to you.
Ethan Blackwell and I…
there’s no future for us.”
“You told me people’s hearts are made of flesh, that if I treated him sincerely, then even if he was a cold hard rock, one day I could warm him up…” She paused, her eyes turning red.
“But you never told me that trying to warm a stone with your heart would leave you ripped to pieces, full of holes, bleeding everywhere.”
Nina Blackwell let out a self-mocking laugh, thin and bitter.
“I’m tired.”
So tired that even the very last bit of strength she had left to love Ethan Blackwell had been worn down to nothing.
“So I came here to tell you this.
From now on, he is him, and I am me.
I won’t let anyone who hurt me get away with it ever again—”
Her gaze turned sharp and absolute, cold enough to cut.
“Even if they’re from the Blackwell family!”
A gust of wind suddenly swept through.
The smoke that had been rising straight from the incense burner was blown sideways at once, wobbling and scattering.
Nina Blackwell thought, Grandpa Derek must be feeling sorry for her, right?
She had given the Blackwell family everything, all heart, all soul, and in the end, things had still fallen apart like this.
But the wind passed quickly.
The incense she had offered for Derek Blackwell still stood firmly in the burner, and the smoke slowly returned to its steady, curling line into the air.
“Thank you.” Her voice softened.
She had always known it.
In the entire Blackwell family, only Grandpa Derek had ever been willing to understand how hard things had been for her, how much she had endured.
She bent again and gave three deep bows before finally turning to leave.
But after only a few steps, she ran straight into the Blackwell family procession coming toward her in force.
And walking at the very front was Andrea Blackwell.
The most ruthless woman in the Blackwell family.
An old monster who could destroy people without spilling a drop of blood.