Chapter 268
The café was quiet, sunlight spilling through the windows and painting soft patches of light across the table Patricia sat across from her grandmother, trying not to show how tense she felt. A server brought over a latte and set it down in front of her, the steam curling up in lazy spirals Patricia barely glanced at it, her gaze fixed on the old woman across from her.
I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while now,” her grandmother started, voice gentle, polite as always. “But somehow, I never found the right moment.”
Patricia gave a small, tight smile but didn’t say a word.
There it was–the same old routine. Grandma always opened with kindness, but she never forgot to bring her daggers.
Pattie. I’ve always seen you as my own granddaughter. I worry about you, you know?” Her grandmother’s voice softened, almost as if she could convince Patricia to believe her. “Three years ago, what happened–I really had no choice. If you were in my position, watching your family suffer, maybe you’d have done the same.”
If Patricia hadn’t pushed so hard back then, maybe things would have been different. At least, that’s what her grandmother seemed to think.
Patricia looked up, arching an eyebrow in disbelief. “So what, are you saying someone forced your hand? Held a knife to your throat and made you do it?”
She let the silence stretch, then added, “Are you actually admitting you started that fire three years ago?”
Her grandmother’s face stayed calm. She was ready for this–Patricia could see she wasn’t about to fall for any tricks.
“Patricia, what’s done is done. You’ve picked yourself up, haven’t you? Why not just look forward? Life has to go on.”
Patricia turned her coffee cup slowly in her hands, her voice cool and steady. “It’s easy to move on when you’re not the one who got hurt. The only reason you can say ‘let the past go‘ is because you weren’t the victim.”
She looked her grandmother dead in the eye. “The dead stay dead. That’s the whole point.”
Her grandmother went quiet, lips pressed tight. Patricia could see she was here to make peace, hoping Patricia would finally let things go.
But Patricia didn’t care for her gentle tone. She just watched as her grandmother lowered her voice, almost pleading. “Patricia, what do you want? Just tell me. Anything.”
Patricia let out a soft, bitter laugh. “I want justice to be real. I want the world to be fair. I want bad people to get what’s coming to them, and good people to live long, happy lives. Can you give me that?”
“If you can, I’ll stop fighting the Newton family.”
Her grandmother’s polite smile faltered, the words hitting harder than Patricia expected.
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19:26
Chapter 288
Justice for the wicked–Patricia might as well have said it straight out she wanted the Newtons held accountable. If the law really did punish her and Kelly, would her grandmother even be sitting here right now?
Her grandmother’s fingers tightened around her glass, knuckles turning white Her expression shifted, the warmth draining away “Patricia, you saved Theo’s life, yes, but marrying him was your decision. You know if you’d left Riverdale or refused to marry Theo, Emerson and Tina would’ve gone after you. You needed protection, so you married him.”
“A loveless marriage, grudges on both sides. Theo cheated first, and that’s on us–the Newton family owes you for that. I’ve never denied it. But are you honestly saying you never did anything wrong? If you’d ever tried to really make it work with Theo, do you think we’d be here now?”
Patricia just shook her head slightly. Innocent? Hardly. She’d always been sharp–too sharp. The moment her leg was shattered, she made the best choice she could: marry into the Newton family and force Emerson and the others to back off. She played the long game, kept her head down for three years, and never once acted like Theo’s real wife. Looking back, every step–from the wedding to the divorce–had been carefully planned.
Theo’s affair just made everything move faster. The Newtons, pushed to their limit, tried to burn her out of their lives. Maybe Patricia had seen all of it coming, even their desperate attempts to protect
their own.
Patricia’s mouth twisted in a cold smile. “You can talk about right and wrong all you want, but don’t pretend you never noticed how your daughter–in–law treated me–like I was nothing. If you really cared, you would have made sure I got at least a little respect.”
by verona’s ever even hilly with that try not
