The Day Silence Spoke novel Chapter 78

The study door wasn’t fully closed. It swung open after two soft knocks.

Clifford was leaning against the window, one hand in his pocket, talking on the phone. Outside, the sky was a canvas of dark, heavy clouds. The stark contrast cast his face in a bleak, gray light.

“If you can’t handle the position, then resign.”

He ended the call and turned his head to look at Latisha. He didn't speak, his deep eyes just watching her, waiting for her to make her case.

Latisha struggled for a moment before signing, *Can Mrs. Dashiell stay?*

“Is that the only reason you came to me?”

She lowered her head, her hair falling to hide her expression. She continued signing, *Don’t you remember her?*

Clifford’s expression didn't change. “What if I do? What if I don’t? Am I expected to provide for every servant the Lambert family has ever employed until they die?”

His heartless words struck her like a physical blow. She slowly raised her head to meet his cold gaze. For the first time, she truly wondered if this man had a heart at all.

He walked toward her and leaned in close. “She can stay, on one condition. You cut off all contact with Nikita.”

Latisha froze.

A cruel smile touched Clifford’s lips. “Her, or Nikita. Choose.”

No wonder he had been so quiet on the drive home, so unnervingly calm. This was what he had been waiting for. He had presented her with an impossible choice, a game she couldn’t win.

Clifford stared into her clear eyes, waiting. They stood in a silent standoff as time ticked by.

Latisha’s eyes widened, and she tried to pull away. Her struggle only made him hold her tighter, his fingers digging painfully into her wrists. In her panic, she opened her mouth, trying to force a sound, but not even a whisper escaped.

A coldness entered Clifford’s eyes. He dragged her over to the desk, pressing her against the hard edge. The pressure on her waist made her arch her back, and a familiar pain shot through her abdomen. Her only defense was to bite him.

But in the next second, he seized her jaw, forcing her head back as he pushed her down onto the desk. He pinned both her wrists with one hand and hooked a leg over hers with the other, his full weight pressing down on her.

“Don’t want me to touch you anymore?” he murmured, their faces inches apart.

A sharp, twisting pain tore through her lower abdomen, as if her insides were being stretched to their breaking point. Cold sweat broke out on her forehead. She opened her mouth, forming a silent word.

*Don’t…*

But he either didn’t understand or didn’t care. His hand was already pulling down her pants.