A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 3

The air crackled with a sudden, tense silence.

Starla stared at Fairfax, then kicked over a nearby chair, sending another loud crash echoing through the room. Her voice was sharp, laced with menace. “Why don’t you tell your mother what kind of soup I can make? Brinley asking for my soup is such a blatant provocation. Are you really too stupid to see it? Or did you also forget that I can’t cook?”-

Every word was a dagger. Having just lost her child, Starla was a raw, exposed nerve. Anyone who poked her now would get burned.

Darleen was practically hopping with rage. “You… you insolent…”

Fairfax’s face was grim. "If you don't know how, have the staff make it. Is that any reason to cause such a scene?"

That same dismissive attitude again. It was as if nothing was ever a big deal to him. A chill settled deep in Starla’s heart.

Darleen, however, was just getting started. “What terrible luck did the Yelchin family have to end up with you? You can’t even produce a single heir, and now that someone has, you throw a fit…”

“That’s enough!” Fairfax cut her off, his voice low and dangerous.

This only infuriated Darleen more. “Go on, keep spoiling her!” she snapped, turning to leave in a huff.

Before she could take a step, Starla’s voice rang out again. “You’re wrong, Mrs. Yelchin. It’s not that I can’t have children. It’s that the baby I was carrying two years ago was lost when Brinley hit me with her car! So don't you dare play the wicked mother-in-law and try to pin the 'barren' label on me.”

Starla threw the accusation back in her face, the label Darleen had saddled her with for two years. Her use of “Mrs. Yelchin” was a clear and deliberate line in the sand.

Darleen nearly fainted from rage at being called “Mrs. Yelchin” and a “wicked mother-in-law.” “How dare you! You have gone too far!”

Fuming, Darleen rounded on her son. “This is the woman you married! You’d better get her under control!”

With that, she stormed out.

Fairfax’s gaze hardened at Starla’s use of the formal address, but he said nothing. He simply turned and followed his mother out the door.

Watching his retreating back, Starla felt a bitter, ironic laugh build in her chest. Even after all this, he was still leaving to be with Brinley. Was it truly out of obligation to his dead brother, or was this what he wanted all along?

With them gone, Molly approached cautiously. “Ma’am, you look terribly unwell. Should I call a doctor for you?”

“I had a miscarriage this afternoon,” Starla said, her voice hollow. “When you were calling, I was on the operating table.”

There was a stunned silence on the other end. When Tanya finally found her voice, she exploded. “You had a miscarriage while Fairfax was with his sister-in-law at the hospital? Is he crazy? Does he know?”

A man who would attend his sister-in-law’s delivery while his own wife was losing their child had to be sick in the head.

Starla’s eyes were cold and empty. “Can you come pick me up?”

She was exhausted, but she couldn’t stand to be in this house a moment longer. Every inch of it, even the air she breathed, felt contaminated.

After hanging up, Starla went upstairs and swiftly packed her personal belongings. She also gathered every gift Fairfax had ever given her, and everything she had ever bought for him. Downstairs, Molly watched in horror as she piled everything in front of the villa and set it ablaze.

“Ma’am, what are you doing?” Molly cried, rushing forward. “Please, you must stop! If Darleen finds out, she’ll say this is bad luck!”

After the scene with the dining table, Darleen was already furious. This would send her into a frenzy.