Chapter 402

Margaret Blackwood lost all reason. "Get that woman out of here! I won't allow this relationship to continue!"

Nathan Blackwood's voice turned glacial. "My personal affairs are none of your concern."

Margaret's teeth ground together violently. "How dare you defy your own mother?"

Nathan's gaze remained impassive.

Since being sent abroad for special training at age five, Nathan would call Margaret whenever homesickness struck. Yet his mother, preoccupied with shopping sprees, would dismiss him impatiently - telling him to endure it and grow stronger.

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Margaret would then inform Old Master Blackwood about these secret calls, ensuring Nathan received brutal punishments as consequence.

"Now that I'm grown, she believes she can control me?" Nathan's lips twisted into a bitter smile. "How utterly absurd."

"If you're expelled from the Blackwood family, consider our mother-son relationship terminated."

Margaret's entire body convulsed violently, her complexion draining to ghostly white.

Never in her wildest nightmares had Margaret imagined hearing such words from her son.

Nathan schooled his features into neutrality, his brow smoothing as his gaze softened upon Evelyn Sinclair's retreating figure.

The naked longing in his eyes was impossible to miss.

Margaret felt her sanity crumbling. "My daughter's gone. My son rejects me as his mother. And now that wretched Evelyn dares look down on me? Me - the matriarch of the Blackwood dynasty!"

Tremors of rage wracked her body.

"This is all Evelyn's fault! Without her interference, everything would remain unchanged."

A single obsessive thought consumed her - Evelyn must disappear.

Margaret's wild eyes landed on the fruit knife resting in the bowl. Decision crystallized.

She seized the blade recklessly and charged forward.

Nathan jolted upright, but searing pain in his right leg immobilized him. "Evelyn! Behind you!"

Evelyn had just begun turning when Marcus yanked her sideways with lightning reflexes.

"Die, you bitch!"

Margaret's shriek pierced the air as she lunged with bloodshot eyes. Evelyn barely dodged the glinting steel.

The deranged woman swung wildly before tripping catastrophically.

The knife plunged deep into her own abdomen.

Crimson bloomed instantly across her designer blouse.

Evelyn stared, momentarily stunned, as the light rapidly faded from Margaret's eyes.

Beatrice rushed over hysterically. "Madam! Speak to me!"

Nathan's expression oscillated between shock and fury.

Marcus wordlessly opened the car door for Evelyn. "Watch your head, Miss Sinclair."

Evelyn lowered her gaze and slid inside silently.

Marcus turned back toward the chaos. "The dashcam captured Mrs. Blackwood's attempted assault. Regardless of her injuries, Miss Sinclair retains full legal rights to pursue charges."

This single statement preempted countless future complications.

Kneeling beside Margaret, Beatrice gaped at them in horror.

Margaret's grotesque expression contorted, but she lacked strength for further venom.

The engine roared to life.

Evelyn leaned back, eyes closed in the plush seat.

Marcus broke his usual silence. "Shall I arrange your return to Sterling Manor?"

Evelyn's nose wrinkled. "Not yet. Fleeing would imply guilt. They're the ones at fault here."

She wanted no part of this drama. Margaret had chosen this confrontation deliberately.

The abdominal wound wasn't fatal - just excruciating with significant blood loss.

"Serves her right," Evelyn thought without an ounce of remorse.