Where Petals of Vengeance Bloom novel Chapter 486

“Oh, right—she vanished eight years ago. No one’s heard a word since. So what if she was a genius? So what if she aced every class? It never brought her a good life, did it? She was doomed from the start. She’s probably dead already—a wretched little thing, gone before her time.”

Adah’s temper flared. She raised her hand, ready to slap him across the face.

Ethan, his face smeared with blood, stared back at her defiantly. He didn’t even flinch.

“Go on. Hit me. You could beat me to death and I wouldn’t care. Without Vanessa, there’s no reason for me to stay in this house. I’d be better off dead.”

“Your own daughter’s gone. If you finish me off too, you’ll have no one left. The family line ends with you.”

“You—” Adah was shaking, so furious her whole body trembled.

Just then, a soft, melodic female voice echoed through the living room.

“I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed, Mr. Ethan. I’m very much alive.”

Adah’s head snapped up. She saw Claire walking through the doorway.

The moment she saw Claire, tears streamed down her face—she simply couldn’t hold them back.

“Claire? Is it really you?”

Claire, at eighteen, looked exactly as Adah remembered—yet, somehow, like a stranger too.

Her features were a flawless blend of Adah’s and Nathan’s best traits, striking and beautiful.

But this Claire was nothing like the girl from the past.

Last time, Claire had been pretty, yes, but so painfully thin and small, her collarbones jutting out beneath her skin.

Now, she stood tall—at least five-foot-seven, with a healthy figure, every inch the result of a good life and proper care.

The contrast made it painfully obvious how little the Linwood family had ever cared for her before.

Adah rose from the sofa and walked toward her, step by hesitant step.