Chapter 622 The Beast

"Do you really think dragging your ruined legs in front of me and playing the victim will make me soften? Blair, since when did you beg in such a pathetic way? Even if you jumped off a building right now, I wouldn't give you a glance. You're ruining my dinner with friends."

Ruined…

Cripple…

Those words hit Blair. Her face went white.

She had always tried to be strong and hopeful to face everything.

Blair always told herself that being alive and having her family was the greatest blessing.

But now she’d gone from healthy to someone with a crippled right leg. She didn’t know if she’d ever walk the same again.

It stung. A sharp, constant ache under her skin.

She pushed through tests and therapy. She sweated but still couldn’t feel her right leg.

She wanted to be independent and took care of herself with her own effort, but she still had to keep her husband and son close so they could look after her.

When she closed her eyes to rest, she realized she had become a burden, no longer the proud person she once was.

Hearing Tilda say those words so bluntly felt like someone snapped her wings.

It shattered every scrap of pride she had left.

It forced her to face the fact that she had become a burden.

“Enough, Blair. Don’t say another word. Let’s go.”

Russell felt as if his heart had been torn out.

Since Blair’s accident, how could he not notice the pain she carried as her husband?

Even though she always worked hard, stayed cooperative, and never complained, he knew what it cost her.

A healthy, proud woman had been reduced to this–how could her heart not be torn?

But Blair forced herself to stay rational, hold on to hope, and keep her family from worrying. She carried it all on her shoulders.

Now, hearing Tilda throw those words at her was worse than death–like grinding salt into an open wound.

“No! I have to ask!” Blair’s voice trembled, but she pressed on. “Tilda, why did you turn down Malcom’s offer? Tell me why!”

She had already braced herself to be humiliated. She could endure the pain, even if it cut her to pieces. What she couldn’t let go of was the need for an answer.

Tilda’s eyes were ice. “Because I’ve already found something more important than that deal. I found real family. The people around me now–my friends, my seniors, my mentor—they’re my true family. Not you. You people reek of greed. All you talk about is profit, and you use ‘family‘ like it means nothing.”

Her voice sharpened. “Blair, since your leg is broken, focus on your recovery. Stay in your lane being a cripple. Don’t drag yourself in front of me again. You’re nothing but an eyesore.”

More important…

Family?

Blair’s eyes turned glassy.

But she was Tilda’s real mother.

She was the one who carried Tilda for nine long months. She was the one who went through the pain and risk of childbirth.

There were many times Blair almost died giving birth because of her age.

Everyone told her not to have another child. “You already have seven sons,” they said. Isn’t that enough? At your age, the risk was too high.

Even Russell feared something would happen to her.

Blair had fought everyone’s opinion back then. No matter how dangerous it was, she insisted on giving birth to Tilda.

She wanted her daughter to have a chance at life.

It was Blair who carried the burden. Without her, Tilda would not even exist.

How could Tilda treat everyone else as more important than her mother?

Without realizing it, Tilda’s words struck the deepest wound in Blair’s heart.

Inside her, there was always a hidden madness, locked away like a caged beast.

Blair had controlled it well, helped by years of smooth sailing and a happy marriage.

She had never given that madness a chance to surface.

But now–after being humiliated, rejected, hurt by Tilda again and again–Blair felt herself slipping.

Tilda was driving her to the edge of insanity.

“Tilda!” Blair cried, her voice breaking. “The whole world can condemn me, but not you! I am your mother! I gave you life! Without me, you wouldn’t even exist!

“You hate me, I know. But look at me now. My right leg’s crippled. I don’t even know if I’ll ever stand again. If this is punishment, haven’t I suffered enough already? Seeing me like this–doesn’t your heart hurt at all?”

She clutched her chest, her eyes red and wild, her voice raw with hysteria.

“Blair?!”

Russell’s stomach dropped. A terrible sense of dread swept over him.

As the man who loved Blair most, he knew her better than anyone. He knew the madness that lived inside her, the “other side” she kept buried deep.

When Blair was pushed to the edge, she became like a porcupine–every spike out, hurting anyone who dared to come close.

And now Russell saw the signs. She was about to lose control.