Chapter 73
The room went silent in an instant. It was Edward who had spoken.
I looked at him in shock. He was here, too?
If even he got involved, this had clearly blown up far bigger than I thought. Edward barely ever left home, spending most of his time gardening and fussing over his garden. And now he was here… for Alicia?
“Elise, come over here and apologize,” he suddenly ordered, cutting through the crowd. His eyes locked directly onto me, his face stern.
“Why should I apologize?” I stared back, completely baffled.
Before he could respond, Aria shot up from her kneeling position. “What does this have to do with her? I already said–I lost it because I couldn’t stand Alicia pretending to be all sweet while wearing my mom’s heirloom jewelry! She makes me sick!”
She wasn’t holding back. “Alicia bumped into my brother’s wine bottle and hurt herself–why should he have to apologize for that? I did this for Frederick. Elise? Please. Like I’d go through all this trouble for her.”
Okay… that stung a little.
Sure, she technically cleared me of all blame, but did she have to say it like I was totally beneath her?
Then she turned and shot me a glare. “And what’s with that touched expression on your face? I told you already, I didn’t do this for you, so don’t flatter yourself.”
Touched? I looked at her with a blank face. If anything, I was giving her a speechless look. Where was she getting “touched” from?
I turned to face Edward and said firmly, “I’m not apologizing.”
Then I glanced at Aria. “And whether or not she deserves punishment, I think Alicia knows the
real answer.”
Alicia pressed her lips together before speaking with carefully measured sadness. “I don’t want to make a big deal out of it, but… My face everyone saw what happened. If I don’t do something, how will people see the Zimmer family?”
Classic Alicia. Acting like she was being generous while pushing the knife in. She always wanted to have it both ways.
I said, “As far as I know, Aria doesn’t have any history of mania or mental il‘ ss, so her just randomly attacking you doesn’t make much sense. I’m more curious what happened between you two that pushed her to do it.”
Aria’s face turned red with frustration. She glared at me again.
I just shrugged. “What? You’re giving me that touched‘ look again? I’m only speaking up for you because it’s no trouble for me. No need to get emotional.”
threw her earlier words right back at her. Her expression twisted into something complicated, lips twitching as if she had more to say but when Frederick gave her a sharp look, she shut up and dropped her head in frustration.
Then I turned back to Edward. “I get that you want to protect Alicia. But the Guzman family is also a respected name in Harthville. Making a move against their daughter without even figuring out what actually happened–don’t you think that’s going to spark backlash?”
He clearly hadn’t expected me to talk back. His face darkened instantly.
“Elise, are you trying to defy me now?”
There it was–pulling rank to pressure me into submission. All just to stand up for Alicia.
But I wasn’t having it. “Why would I defy you if you were being fair? I’m sure you wouldn’t stoop to playing favorites. Right?”
I was also good at pulling the guilt–tripping game.
Edward looked livid, his face stormy as he stared at me, clearly reassessing something.
I didn’t care what was going on in his head. I turned to Aria instead. “Well? Do you want to tell us what really happened that made you go off on Alicia like that?”
