A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 349

He just wanted it to end.

Darleen stared at him. “You’ll pay me back? It’s all Yelchin family money! Your money is the family’s money!”

Starla picked up the fruit platter from the table and speared a piece of apple with a small fork, placing it in her mouth. The crisp crunch echoed in the tense silence, making everyone flinch. Brinley, in particular, felt a pang of hunger. She hadn't eaten all day. There was still leftover food from Starla’s dinner on the table, and the soup in the tureen looked especially delicious. She normally wasn’t one to fixate on food, but she was so hungry that everything looked appetizing.

Seeing Starla calmly eating while they were all in turmoil only fueled Darleen’s rage. “Fairfax, do you think this is just about the houses? She… after she moved back in today, she made it impossible for any of us to eat a single bite!”

“If you’re hungry, don’t blame it on me,” Starla said coolly.

Darleen, Brinley, and Xenia were floored. Her audacity was breathtaking. She was now claiming it was their fault they hadn’t eaten. God as their witness, they were starving!

“She has to get the hell out of this house!” Darleen insisted, done with arguing.

Starla finished her apple and stood up. Garret respectfully pulled her chair out for her. “You all can continue arguing. I’m going up to rest.”

With that, she turned and headed for the stairs.

Darleen took a few steps after her. “Where do you think you’re going? Get out of this house!”

“I am Fairfax’s wife, not some stranger,” Starla said without turning around. “That’s not a word you can use on me.”

“Fairfax is still protecting her,” Xenia said bitterly.

“He’s still protecting her, even now? That bitch…”

As the insult left Darleen’s lips, two of the maids in the kitchen shot Darleen a menacing glare. The unspoken threat was so palpable that she swallowed the rest of her words.

Instead, she yelled up the stairs in a fit of pique, “And what about her and Herbert? Does it not bother you at all that she’s messing around with him?”

At the mention of Herbert, Xenia’s expression darkened. Herbert was hers. That bitch Starla knew perfectly well that Xenia was supposed to marry him, yet she continued to get closer to him. She was doing it on purpose.