The setting sun poured gold across the rose beds, the whole garden looking like something lifted straight out of an oil painting.
Then Rosalind’s shovel came down, knocking the stems sideways, scattering petals into the freshly turned dirt beauty reduced to wreckage in seconds.
She waited until Claire got close before slamming the shovel down again, flattening another row.
“Claire, you like stirring things up so much?
Here’s what that gets you.”
Claire’s voice stayed level.
“Sister-in-law, you’ve misunderstood.
Ethan had these transplanted specifically for tonight’s guests.
If you ruin them, he’ll be furious.”
Rosalind grabbed Claire’s wrist, eyes locking on the diamond bracelet for a long moment, jaw tightening.
“Trying to intimidate me with that?
Let me be clear, nothing you do will touch what Ethan and I have.
I could dig up the entire estate and he still wouldn’t be mad at me.
These roses are nothing.”
“Only a woman who’s never once been genuinely loved has to work this hard to please a man.
You know the saying, the one who isn’t loved is always the mistress.
And in this house, Claire, that’s you.”
Mrs.
Reed came running at the noise and caught every word of it clearly.
She wasn’t naive about women scheming their way up the social ladder she’d seen plenty in her time with Gerald.
But nothing set her off faster than watching one target someone directly in front of her.
She stepped in front of Claire, rounding on Rosalind.
“Your husband’s barely cold on the ground, and you’re already inserting yourself into someone else’s marriage showing up at their home to provoke them, no less?
Shameless doesn’t begin to cover it.”
Rosalind had spent years living abroad and had no idea who this woman was, assuming she was just some ordinary friend, another Naomi.
Someone from Claire’s background couldn’t possibly run in real circles.
She fired back without hesitation.
“It’s her own failure that she can’t hold onto her husband.
Don’t blame real love for that.
Ask her yourself, is this even her house anymore?”
“She moved out days ago.
Probably thought playing hard to get would bring Ethan running after her.
He didn’t even notice she was gone.”
“A missing dog gets searched for.
A missing wife apparently doesn’t even register.
Tell me again how wrong I am about her being unloved.”
Mrs.
Reed’s expression shifted between heartbreak and disbelief as she looked at Claire.
Claire had spent all day working herself to the bone helping secure this investment and this was the thanks she got?
Claire’s background wasn’t exactly a secret in these circles, and Mrs.
Reed had already sketched out the whole picture in her head a Cinderella story, forced humiliation, a woman coerced into playing along with her own erasure.
She gripped Claire’s hand, voice sharp.
“Loved or not, she’s still the legal wife here.
A mistress is a mistress, no matter how much gold leaf you slap over the rot.
Doesn’t change what’s underneath.”
“And given how you’ve entangled yourself with your own brother-in-law thirty years ago, women like you didn’t even get a proper burial when they were caught.”
Mrs.
Reed rarely spoke that harshly, but fury had a way of loosening her tongue.
Rosalind, already humiliated once by Naomi and now provoked further by Claire, wasn’t about to swallow this too.
She swung the shovel straight at Mrs.
Reed.
Claire yanked her out of the way just in time, taking the hit across her own arm instead.
“Claire!
Are you all right?”
Claire shook her head and Mrs.
Reed, temper fully unleashed, slapped Rosalind across the face at lightning speed.
Rosalind caught sight of Ethan approaching out of the corner of her eye and immediately crumpled into the rose bed, tears welling instantly.
“Claire, I never meant to ruin your flowers.
Isn’t an apology enough?”
Ethan rushed over, pulling her up.
“What happened?
Are you hurt?”
Rosalind opened her palm, pricked by thorns, and said with wounded dignity, “Ethan, Claire’s furious with me.
Her friend hit me.
I just took it.
Please don’t be angry with her over this.”
“Her friend?”
Ethan glanced around.
Aside from Mrs.
Reed, there was no one else here.
“You’re saying Mrs.
Reed hit you?”
Gerald, seeing his wife’s fury, rushed over.
“What’s going on?
Why is there fighting?
Are you hurt?”
Mrs.
Reed said sharply, “If Claire hadn’t pulled me back, that woman would’ve done serious damage.
So yes, I hit back.
Any objections?
Did I interrupt your precious business deal?”
Gerald soothed her instantly.
“Of course not.
None of that matters more than you.”
“Good.
Then I’ve made a decision on your behalf.
This deal is dead.
I don’t care if the Ashfords offer us triple the return down the line.
I won’t let you invest a single dollar with a man cheating on his own sister-in-law.”
Ethan’s face shifted.
“Mrs.
Reed, I think there’s a misunderstanding here.”
She scoffed.
“Misunderstanding?
I’m neither blind nor deaf.
I watched your precious sister-in-law tear up the flowers Claire worked all night to plant, and I heard her tell Claire, word for word, that the woman who isn’t loved is the mistress.”
“She keeps insisting her feelings for you are real, and meanwhile your actual wife gets treated worse than the family dog.
And that’s entirely on you, her husband for letting it happen.”
“You’re clearly ambitious and talented, Mr.
Ashford.
But your personal life is an absolute mess.
Even guests can’t step inside without walking into a scene like this.
How exactly are investors supposed to trust you’re a stable, responsible partner?”
Rosalind finally caught up to what was happening.
“Ethan, I never said anything like that.
This is Claire’s doing, she set this whole thing up”
Mrs.
Reed cut her off, furious.
“Miss Rosalind, I truly underestimated you.
Not only do you have the nerve to chase after your own brother-in-law, you can apparently produce tears on command too.
Have you considered acting professionally?”
“You’re saying Claire orchestrated this?
That she suddenly snapped mid-tea, ran into the garden, tore up every rose herself, and then hit her own right arm with a shovel using her left hand?
Is that the theory?”
Mrs.
Reed’s chest heaved, temper finally spent.
Gerald wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulders.
“Mr.
Ashford sort your household out first.
We’ll find someone else for this investment.”
As the couple turned to leave, Mrs.
Reed took Claire’s hand one more time.
“Don’t be afraid, dear.
Anything you need, you come find me.
We look out for each other.”
Word that Gerald had pulled out of the deal spread fast.
Within the hour, Margaret was standing in the living room of Ashford Manor.
Vera dragged Rosalind out of her room.
Margaret slapped her twice, then forced her to kneel in the wreckage of the rose bed.
Claire watched from the master bedroom window as Ethan sprinted to Rosalind’s side, pulled her up gently, wrapped his own coat around her trembling shoulders, and carried her back inside.
Claire thought back to every time Margaret had made her kneel like that.
Turns out, when Ethan actually wants to protect someone, it costs him nothing at all.
It was always just a question of whether he wanted to.
“Ma’am.
Mrs.
Ashford would like you and the master in the living room.”
“Understood.”
Claire passed Ethan’s door on the way and heard Rosalind sobbing inside.
“Ethan, she lured me out there on purpose.
Set the whole thing up with those roses.
Used my feelings for you to blow up your deal and get me punished by your mother.
She planned every second of this.
She’s terrifying, Ethan, she really is”
Ethan’s voice cut through, flat.
“Are you finished?”
Rosalind froze.
“You don’t believe me?”
He exhaled, tired.
“Rosalind.
We pulled the security footage.
You took that cardboard box out of the house yourself.
Care to explain that.”