Chapter 34 - The Garden ConfrontationThe opportunity for a private confrontation arrived sooner than Emily expected.
Later that afternoon, a sleek black town car pulled into the estate’s circular driveway. Josephine Blackwood stepped out, completely unannounced, wearing a dark trench coat and oversized sunglasses.
Evelyn was in the front garden, kneeling in the dirt, carefully pruning a row of white roses.
Josephine walked up the gravel path, stopping a few feet away, her nose crinkled in obvious disdain.
“Evelyn,” Josephine said, her voice sharp. “Still playing in the dirt, I see. Some habits are truly impossible to break.”
Evelyn did not stand up immediately. She calmly finished clipping a dead stem, placed her shears in her basket, and then rose to her feet, brushing the soil from her gardening gloves.
“The dirt is where things grow, Josephine,” Evelyn replied calmly. “You should try it. It builds character.”
Josephine scoffed, pulling off her sunglasses.
“I am not here to discuss horticulture with former domestic staff. I am here to give you a warning. As a mother to a mother.”
Evelyn’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I’m listening.”
“Alexander is blinded by infatuation,” Josephine stated, her tone dripping with venom. “He sees Emily as a tragic hero. But I see her for what she is: an opportunistic girl who manipulated a dying woman’s will to steal an eighty-million-dollar empire.”
“Margaret stole the empire,” Evelyn corrected, her voice dangerously quiet. “Emily took it back.”
“Semantics,” Josephine waved her hand dismissively. “The point is, Emily does not belong in our world. She lacks the refinement, the connections, and the emotional stability to manage the Blackwood legacy. If she insists on marrying my son, she will sign a prenuptial agreement surrendering all fiduciary control of the foundation to my estate.”
Evelyn stared at the aristocratic woman. She saw right through the bravado. She saw the same desperate, clawing hunger that had destroyed Margaret.
“You have no power here, Josephine,” Evelyn said, stepping closer. “You are a guest on my property. And if you ever threaten my daughter again, I will have security escort you out by your designer collar.”
Josephine’s face flushed with absolute rage.
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“You will regret this, Evelyn. I will break her.”
“Try,” Evelyn challenged softly.
