Chapter 253
Beatrice gasped. “What did you say to me?”
“I said shut up!” Liam roared. He grabbed Beatrice’s arm. “Look at her! Look what your precious ally did! They hit her, Grandmother! They hit Skye!”
“She is a liability!” Beatrice shrieked.
“You are the liability!” Liam shouted back. “You brought Seraphina into our home! You pushed for this! Get out!”
He turned to his security detail. “Take her home. Lock the gates. If she leaves the Manor, you’re fired.”
“You can’t do this! I am the Matriarch!” Beatrice screamed as she was dragged out.
The room went silent.
Liam turned to me. He walked to the bed, his hands trembling. He reached out to touch my face, but stopped inches away.
“I’ll kill him,” Liam whispered. Tears streamed down his face. “I swear to God, Skye, I’ll kill Dominic.”
“You’ll do nothing,” a voice said from the doorway.
Alistair walked in.
He wasn’t running. He wasn’t shouting. He moved with a terrifying, controlled stillness—but the air around him felt like it had dropped twenty degrees.
He walked past Liam as if he didn’t exist. He sat on the edge of the bed and gently took the ice pack from my hand. He studied the bruise. His eyes were black pits of rage.
“Who?” Alistair asked softly.
“The guard on the left,” I said. “Dominic gave the order.”
Alistair nodded. “Felix is taking care of the guard as we speak. He won’t use that hand again.”
“And Dominic?”
“Dominic is mine.”
Liam stepped forward. “I want to help. Let me help.”
Alistair looked up at Liam. “You? You couldn’t even protect her from your own grandmother.”
“I love her!” Liam shouted.
“You broke her,” Alistair countered.
O𝘳𝘪𝗴𝗶𝘯𝗮𝘭 c𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝗻t 𝘧𝗿о𝘮 be𝗹𝗻𝗼𝘷е𝗹𝘴.𝖼𝗼𝘮
He stood and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his chest. “She’s mine, Kensington. Look at the bruise. That’s the price of your failure. If she had been with me, no one would have dared.”
Liam looked at us. He saw how I leaned into Alistair. He saw how Alistair’s hand rested protectively on my arm.
He realized, finally, that he was the outsider.
“I’m sorry,” Liam whispered. “Skye… I’m so sorry.”
He turned and walked out of the room. He looked like a man walking to his execution.
I looked up at Alistair. “What are you going to do?”
Alistair kissed my forehead, right above the bruise.
“I’m going to make a withdrawal,” he said.
Liam didn’t go home. He drove straight to Dominic Thorne’s penthouse.
He didn’t call. He didn’t buzz up. He drove his car through the security gate, smashing the barrier arm.
He took the elevator to the top floor. When the doors opened, Dominic was there, laughing with Seraphina.
Liam walked in.
“Kensington?” Dominic frowned. “You weren’t invited.”
Liam didn’t speak. He walked up to the guard—the one who hadn’t hit Skye—and punched him in the throat. The guard went down, gasping.
.