Chapter 16

The car sped away from Curtis's villa like it couldn't get out of there fast enough. Inside the vehicle, the air was thick with tension. The aggressive confidence they'd walked in with was long gone-replaced by nothing but frustration and bitterness. Vanessa clutched her aching cheek, sobbing softly with a wounded expression. She leaned into Craig, voice trembling. "That Delia... she's just a pitiful orphan with no one in the world, and now, just because she married Curtis, she thinks she can walk all over me? She even had the nerve to slap me! And Curtis-he just stood there, watching that woman humiliate us!" As she wept, Vanessa kept stealing glances at Craig's reaction. Craig was already seething, and her sob-streaked complaints only made his frustration boil over. He suddenly shoved her away and snapped, "Crying? What's the point of that? Useless! Can't even put a younger woman in her place!" His chest rose and fell heavily, anger building at the memory of Delia's sharp tongue and