A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 38

Starla had been an orphan her whole life, forced to fight her own battles. She had never been the type to turn the other cheek. She hadn't retaliated against Brinley's past schemes because she lacked concrete proof, but now that she had it, she wouldn't back down. And Fairfax wanted her to let it go? What truly baffled her was that he would drag Herbert into their mess.

"Leave Mr. Farley's office now," she ordered, her voice laced with ice.

Fairfax scoffed. "Why, are you protecting him? Starla, we're not divorced yet."

The seed of suspicion, once planted, was now sprouting wildly in his mind. He was convinced there was something going on between them. The timing was too perfect: the relentless media storm driven by foreign accounts, and Starla disappearing with a man from Yoran Country. Herbert had the resources for both.

"Oh, you're aware we're not divorced?" she retorted. "Weren't you the one trying to use our marital assets to bail Brinley out of trouble right in front of me? So tell me, can you honestly say there's nothing between you and Brinley?"

Fairfax felt as if the air had been punched out of his lungs. The veins on his forehead throbbed. "We're talking about you and Herbert. Why are you bringing Brinley into this?" He needed her to explain her connection to Herbert, now.

"Because I'm not as shameless as you!" Starla snapped.

"You…" Before he could respond, she had already hung up.

The only call she had made to him in days was to defend Herbert. And now she had hung up on him for Herbert.

In a fit of rage, Fairfax hurled his phone at the carpeted floor. It bounced with a dull thud and rolled to a stop at Herbert's feet. Herbert looked at him, the brotherly warmth in his eyes completely gone.

"Herbert, you'd better explain yourself! You…"

"We are not as shameless as you," Herbert interrupted, his voice dangerously low, echoing Starla's words.

"What did you just say?" Fairfax demanded.

Herbert's gaze was cold and sharp. "She is not capable of the kind of boundary-less behavior that Brinley exhibits."

Fairfax was speechless. So this was their tactic? When their own actions were questioned, they just attacked him about Brinley? He was about to explode.

The phone on the floor began to vibrate. Herbert glanced down at the screen. "It's your mother. Brinley must be threatening suicide again."

Fairfax’s face contorted with fury. Calls, calls, always the wrong ones. The one person he wanted to hear from was silent, while the others never stopped.

"And from now on, you will not call me about Brinley's problems," he bit out. "My wife is not happy about it, as you've all clearly seen."

Darleen was stunned. His wife? "Aren't you two getting divorced?" The divorce papers were public knowledge, initiated by Starla herself.

The word 'divorce' scraped across Fairfax's raw nerves. His voice dropped to a dangerously low growl. "Who said I'm divorcing her?"

After two days of Starla's fury, his own tightly controlled composure finally snapped in front of his mother.

"You…"

"I know what you're all thinking, so give it up. My wife is Starla," he declared. "And from now on, do not call her. If you can't treat her with the same tenderness you show Brinley, then just pretend you don't have a daughter-in-law. And if that's too difficult for you, then you can pretend you don't have me as a son, either."

Darleen trembled with rage. "You… you…"

But Fairfax had already turned and walked away without giving Brinley's room a single glance.