Shattered Then Healed By His Love (by Haley Blanton) novel Chapter 86

Chapter 86 At the Dinner Table

Chapter 86 At the Dinner Table

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Victoria’s voice carried a trace of grievance, and as it fell into everyone’s ears, all eyes turned to her.

Marcus glanced back at Natalie, his voice deep with doubt. “You hit her?”

Natalie lifted her gaze to meet his.

Without the slightest hesitation, she nodded. “Yes.”

The answer was crisp, clean, with no excuses attached.

Victoria’s lips twitched upward.

Marcus was known for his uprightness-surely he would take her side.

But just as she waited for him to scold Natalie, the man turned abruptly to face her instead.

Her smile froze before she could even hide it, colliding with the icy sharpness of his stare.

“Mr. Collins, Jackson,” she stammered, “you heard her admit it yourself. You owe me an explanation, don’t you? After all, I’m still a guest of the Collins family…”

“Or perhaps Ms. Hayes said something she shouldn’t have, provoking Ms. Foster?” Marcus’s voice was cold. “Otherwise why would Ms. Foster strike you at all?”

The words hit like a stone dropped into still water. Natalie blinked, a faint ripple of surprise stirring in her eyes-softness hidden in their depths.

Jackson caught the look and his face darkened further. “Even so, hitting someone is out of line.”

“Funny,” Marcus shot back instantly, “you know it’s wrong to raise a hand, yet just now you raised yours against her.”

The blunt defense left Jackson no room for dignity.

He opened his mouth, but before he could retort, Stella’s voice drifted in from behind. “Dinner’s ready.”

Marcus’s eyes lingered briefly on Jackson and Victoria, then he took Natalie by the arm and guided her toward the dining room.

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Chapter 86 At the Dinner Table

Stella froze where she stood.

Her gaze dropped to their joined hands, her brows furrowing tightly.

When she looked back at Jackson, his eyes were filled with frost.

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At the table, Jackson’s father, Jordan Collins, had returned as well. He sat opposite Jackson and Natalic, trying to lighten the mood with casual conversation.

But when it came to their personal situation, neither said a word.

Jordan had been managing projects overseas in recent years. He’d heard rumors of his son and

daughter-in-law divorcing, but he hadn’t expected things to be this tense.

His gaze drifted, almost unconsciously, toward Victoria seated beside Aiden.

With the child between them, the scene looked almost like a family portrait.

Natalie, by contrast, seemed out of place-like an outsider.

“Here, eat more.”

In the strained atmosphere, Jackson placed food into Victoria’s and Aiden’s bowls.

But not into Natalie’s.

The favoritism was plain to see.

Natalie’s eyes fell on the food in their bowls, her face darkening.

He knew exactly how to humiliate her.

It wasn’t enough to flaunt this woman in public-he had to shame her in front of his family

too.

Just then, across the table, Marcus picked up his fork and placed a rib into her bowl.

“This is your favorite.”

The words dropped like a stone in still water.

All eyes turned at once to Marcus and Natalie.

Stella and Jordan wore identical looks of shock.

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Chapter 86 At the Dinner Table

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Natalie felt their stares burning into her, and she instinctively lowered her eyes to the rib in her bowl, suddenly at a loss.

She even wondered if Marcus had done it on purpose.

To embarrass Jackson. To slap him across the face in her defense.

Across from her, Marcus’s lips curved faintly. Ignoring the astonished gazes around him, he raised his wineglass and took a slow sip.

That smile lingered on his face, impossible to hide.

“Jackson, look at you,” Gabriel said, pointing at his grandson with a firm hand. “You don’t take care of your own wife, and your uncle has to step in for you… shameful!”

Jackson’s brows knotted under the weight of the rebuke.

Sensing the tension, Natalie quickly tried to ease it. “Thank you, Uncle. Thank you, Grandpa. There’s no need to take special care of me. I can manage on my own.”

Uncle.

The word landed softly in Marcus’s ears.

The hand holding his wineglass stilled ever so slightly.

It was the first time Natalie had called him that in front of everyone.