Chapter 567
Chapter 567
Evadne watched as Thaddeus‘ face darkened, like a bright moon plummeting into a chilly, secluded
pond.
Beneath his crisp suit, his broad shoulders trembled ever so slightly, his eyes reddened with
suppressed rage. He seemed like a volcano on the verge of eruption, his fierce emotions ready to spill
over at any moment.
Evadne squeezed his hand, silently urging him to keep his cool.
It wasn’t that she fancied herself a saint or wanted to see some trite, happy–family drama unfold. If the
timing was right, she’d dly step in and give Frederic a piece of her mind on behalf of her partner.
But having a spat in a graveyard, especially in front of Thaddeus‘te mother, was not only undignified
but also somewhat disrespectful to the departed.
It would only upset Cynthia more.
“I sure didn’t expect you to visit your mother today. You should’ve told me earlier; we could’vee
together.”
Frederic’s voice carried the weight of paternal authority, his tone rtively mild. “I think that’s a sight
your mother would’ve wanted to see.”
“A sight my mother wanted to see?”
Thaddeus stared at him coldly, his voiceced with scorn and resentment. “Are you joking with me,
Frederic?”
“Thaddeus, what are you saying?” Frederic’s brows knitted in disapproval.-
“As her husband, you neglected her when she was alive and suffering from severe depression. After
she passed, you didn’t even bother to send someone to clean her grave. In twenty years, you’ve visited
her less than the groundskeepers here. And now you have the audacity to say she wanted to see you?”
Thaddeus shook his head in disbelief, hisughter tinged with fury. “Frederic, even if my mother was
once your wife, even if she loved you, your shamelessness should have a limit!”
Evadne’s heart raced with anxiety. Were they going toe to blows?
Should she intervene?
But Thaddeus was voicing her own thoughts, and she didn’t want to stop him. She thought he should
lay into his father even more, to wake up the arrogant, shameless old man!
Let them fight. She could take on the bodyguards with a single punch!
Frederic, seething with rage, his face reddening visibly, had his dignity hanging by a thread.
Dennis and the bodyguards stood silent, sweating bullets for Thaddeus.
“Dennis, hand me the flowers.” With outsiders present, Frederic tried to maintain decorum, suppressing
his rage with an icymand.
“Yes, Mr. Abernathy.” Dennis quickly handed over a bunch of white chrysanthemums with due
reverence.
Frederic took them, his expression somber, and moved toward Cynthia’s tombstone.
But before he could take a few steps, Thaddeus‘ imposing form blocked his path, snatching the
bouquet and hurling it to the ground!
Everyone shuddered.
Frederic’s eyes bulged with fury. “Thaddeus! What are you doing?”
“Neither I nor my mother wee you here.”
Thaddeus‘ gaze was icy as it locked onto the stunned man’s face, each word deliberate. “She doesn’t
need your hollow sympathies, and you have no right to stand before her!”
With that, he stepped forward and crushed the chrysanthemums under his foot.
“Hollow sympathies? You think I’m hollow?” Frederic was almost choking with indignation, pointing at
his son’s cold, handsome face, his nobleposure crumbling. “Thaddeus! You ungrateful wretch! If I
were truly insincere, then why did I go against everyone’s advice and bring you and your mother from
the slums back to the Abernathy family under tremendous pressure? If it weren’t for me, you both
would have perished in that filthy ce! Have you forgotten how sick your mother was? She couldn’t
afford medical treatment, couldn’t even feed you! If not for me, how could she have recovered? How
would you be living this life of luxury and power now?”
Evadne, as an observer, felt her heart seared by these words, her blood boiling in her veins, her fists
clenching.
Even now, Frederic wasn’t speaking as a husband or a father to his son.
He was acting like a condescending phnthropist, a self–righteous capitalist!
His words seemed reasonable, but they implied one thing – “you and I are not from the same world. It
was I who mercifully pulled you from the squalid slums; it was I who allowed you the fortune of entering
my world.”
That innate arrogance and sense of superiority was even more infuriating and humiliating than outright
insults.
“Anyway, I’ve done you the favor of raising you! Without me, where would you be? How dare you be so
disrespectful, so rebellious in my presence?” Frederic ranted, his eyes red, as he berated Thaddeus.
“If I hadn’t been a boy, if I’d been a girl, would you have gone to such lengths to bring me back to the
Abernathy family? If not for that, would you even remember that a poor woman carrying your child was
wandering without a name or status, living in destitution? Would you?”
Thaddeus‘ lips curled in a chilling sneer, his mocking tone cutting deep. “I owe my sess to my
grandfather’s nurturing and to my mother.”
“You insolent.” Frederic lost all pretense of control, his arm swinging towards Thaddeus‘ face in a fit of
rage.
Thaddeus remained unmoved, his stunning eyes shing with intense hatred.
Just as crowd gasped-
Frederic felt a sharp pain in his wrist, his face contorting with the shock.
Evadne, with her graceful agility, had swiftly stepped in front of Thaddeus, grabbing Frederic’s wrist and
tightening her grip as if to crush his bones!
“Mr. Aberna Dennis and bodyguards, pale with fear, rushed to intervene.
Content ? N?velDrama.Org 2024.
Evadne remained as impassive as the cool moonlight, not blinking an eye, much less loosening her
iron grip.
The delicate fragility often associated with the fairer sex was nowhere to be found on her, she was
bristling like a cornered cat, all for the love of her man.
“Touch Ms. Evadne, and you’ll answer to me!” Thaddeus stood behind her, an imposing figure, his gaze
sharp as a falcon’s.
A deep growl of warning left him, and it froze the challengers in their tracks, none daring to test the
mettle of this heir apparent. “Ms. Evadne, I’m disciplining my own son. What business is it of an
outsider like you?” Frederic, fighting through his pain, spat out his words like venom.
Evadne’s eyes were cool and distant, her lips curled slightly, “To you, I may be an outsider. But to
Thaddeus, I’m his family.” Family?
Thaddeus‘ eyes narrowed, his heart pounding wild like a horse galloping across the ins.
Surely she didn’t use that term just to be flippant?
She was learned and astute. She knew full well what “family” meant, didn’t she?
“So, if you’re about to raise a hand to Thaddeus, I’ll be the first to stop you. If you won’t cherish him, I
will. And even if I weren’t here,”
Evadne’s eyes, filled with sorrow, flickered toward the gravestone of Thaddeus‘ mother, “Wouldn’t the
late Mrs. Winter feel pain? To witness such violence in her presence, it’s unbing for someone who
prides themselves as a leader of the Abernathy Group, a paragon of the aristocracy. Don’t you think it’s
a bit unrefined?”
With her light, dismissive tone, she struck at the heart of the matter.
Frederic’s jaw clenched so tight it seemed as if it might crack.
“Mr. Abernathy, it seems today is not the day for you to pay your respects to Mrs. Winter. We
appreciate your intentions, and surely she does too. But perhaps it’s time for you to leave.” Evadne
slowly released her grip, allowing Dennis and the bodyguards to breathe a sigh of relief.
Frederic’s face turned an ashen white with embarrassment, but his stubbornness wouldn’t let him back
down, “I cleared my schedule today just to see her. I’ll just look, stay a moment, and then leave.”
“Not on my watch!”
Thaddeus yanked Evadne back protectively, the father and son locked in a bitter standoff, “If it weren’t
for your phndering ways, bringing Elspeth into our home, and turning a blind eye while that evil
woman tormented my mother, none of this would have happened! My mother would still be alive!”
Frederic began, his vision darkening with rage.
“Her most painful five years weren’t spent in the slums, cold and starving, ill unto death, but at your
side, treated like a dirty little secret! It was yourplicity that killed her!”
–“Nonsense!”
Frederic trembled with fury, gasping for breath, “Cynthia’s death was because she suffered from
depression! She couldn’t bear the pain and chose to free herself with suicide! I didn’t cause her death!”
Free herself?
Frederic actually thought of it as freedom.
Evadne’s brows furrowed, her expression a mix of anger and helplessness as she shook her head.
Even now, Frederic was oblivious to both Elspeth’s actions and the feelings of Thaddeus‘ mother.
Perhaps he had loved Cynthia once.
But that love paled inparison to his self–interest.
“My mother was never one to seek escape in death. She died because of Elspeth.”
“Thaddeus, enough!”
Evadne grabbed his arm, her timely intervention snapping him back to his senses, his lips pressed
tightly together.
Dennis watched, astonished.
Thaddeus, who wouldn’t give a second thought to defying Frederic, turned as docile as a house pet at
Evadne’smand.
This Ashbourne family heiress was remarkable.
She had Thaddeus wrapped around her finger.
“Elspeth? What does she have to do with Cynthia’s death? Thaddeus, you better make yourself clear!”
Frederic’s curiosity was piqued by the half–finished usation, his eyes zing.
Feeling the conversation veering off course, Evadne quickly pulled Thaddeus away, hurrying from the
cemetery.
Dennis approached cautiously, “Mr. Abernathy, shall I prepare a fresh bouquet for Mrs. Winter?”
“What did Thaddeus mean by that? Are you telling me Elspeth is responsible for Cynthia’s death?”
Frederic grabbed Dennis by the cor, his rage barely contained, “Is he speaking out of turn, or does
he have evidence? On what grounds does he make such a im?”