Chapter 79
“Mr. Blackwood! It’s all my fault! I take full responsibility!” Genevieve Delacroix decided it was wiser to confess immediately rather than wait for interrogation. She couldn’t let this jeopardize her daughter’s future—especially not when Vanessa was so close to securing her place among the elite.
With a dramatic flourish, she rushed forward, her face contorted in remorse, and dropped to her knees before Zachary Blackwood.
“The Delacroix family is in ruins. Our cash flow has collapsed, our factories are shutting down one after another. When the Blackwoods refused to help, the Holloways cornered us. We had no choice…”
“Vanessa’s father and I discussed it, and we agreed to sell some of our assets to save the family. But if I had known that necklace was your token of love for Vanessa—I swear, even if we starved, I would never have parted with it!”
Vanessa exhaled silently in relief before widening her eyes in feigned shock. Tears pooled instantly, her voice trembling. “Mother… How could you? That necklace meant everything to me!”
Zachary remained unmoved, his expression unreadable. “That’s not what I came to ask.”
The necklace was trivial compared to the false accusations against Evelyn. Though it stung to see his heartfelt gift discarded, he could have forgiven it if Vanessa had sold it out of desperation.
But lies? Manipulation? Framing an innocent woman? That, he couldn’t overlook.
“Did you hurt yourself? Or did Evelyn do it? Did the bracelet break by accident—or did you rip it from her wrist and snap it yourself?” His voice was calm, but his gaze was ice.
“Zachary, are you implying I’m some scheming villain who framed Evelyn?” Vanessa cried, pressing a hand to her chest. “You’d believe her over me? Your ex-wife, who betrayed you?”
Zachary’s jaw tightened. “Amelia doesn’t lie. She said she never saw Evelyn touch you.”
“Amelia isn’t right in the head, Zachary. You know that. And she was hiding—who knows what she actually saw?” Isabella Montclair interjected smoothly.
Zachary’s lips curled. “Is it normal for a mother to publicly discredit her own daughter? I wouldn’t know—I never had one.”
Isabella paled. Normally, Zachary was as expressive as a statue. But now? Every word cut like a blade.
“So, Vanessa,” Zachary continued, his voice low, “why provoke Evelyn? I chose you. I would never go back to her. So why start trouble?”
Beneath his controlled exterior, frustration coiled like chains around his heart, suffocating.
He still called her Vanessa—out of respect for their twenty years of friendship, for the light she’d once been in his bleak childhood. But now, he feared that light had dimmed… that he’d gambled everything on the wrong woman.
“I didn’t! It wasn’t me!” Vanessa shrieked, slamming her fists against the hospital bed. Her usually soft eyes burned with fury.
“She stole you from me first! And now she’s turning me into the villain? Cassandra told me Evelyn and Amelia were close during her time with the Blackwoods. They’re conspiring against me! Zachary, how can you believe them over me? Have you fallen for her again? Do you not want me anymore?!”
“I have always been yours,” Zachary said through gritted teeth, his fingers trembling. “Even during my marriage to Evelyn. I never touched her. My feelings for you never changed.”
But the memory of Evelyn’s swollen wrists, her tear-filled eyes filled with betrayal, haunted him.
Zachary exhaled sharply, a sharp pain lancing through his skull. “But Vanessa… I don’t understand your actions lately. Are you trying to push me back to her?”
“No! No, Zachary! Zachary!”
He turned away without another word. Panic seized her. She stumbled out of bed, lunging for the door—only for it to slam shut in her face.
Furious, Vanessa kicked the hospital door—then yelped in pain, hopping on one foot as agony shot through her toes.
