I Was His Wife, Then His Widow, Then No One's But My Own novel Chapter 273

The moment Cassie got home, she locked herself in her room. Down in the kitchen, Martha Gable heard the muffled sounds of things being violently thrown around upstairs. Her heart lurched, and she quickly wiped her hands before rushing up the steps.

Pushing the door open, she froze in her tracks. Several ruined, stretched-out princess dresses were scattered across the floor, along with a lavender sundress Nora had just bought her last month.

Cassie was standing in front of her closet, tightly gripping the hem of a fluffy pink tutu, her small face flushed crimson.

Martha hurried forward to stop her. "Cassie, what on earth are you doing? Your mother picked these out for you one by one. Even if you don't want them, you can't just ruin them like this."

Cassie hurled the dress to the floor and whirled around to glare at Martha. Her eyes were red, her tone fiercely aggressive. "I don't need these ugly clothes! I only want the ones Seraphina buys me—the cool, black ones that make the other kids jealous! These pink things are disgusting, and I'm never wearing them again!"

Martha knelt to pick up the dress, trying to soothe her. "If you don't want them, you can donate them to kids in need. These are perfectly good clothes; it's a shame to throw them away. When your mother bought these for you before, didn't you love wearing them?"

Cassie whipped her head around and leveled such a vicious glare at her that a chill ran down Martha's spine.

"If I don't want something, nobody else can have it! Just like my mom! Even if I don't want to talk to her sometimes, it doesn't mean she's allowed to go talk to other kids! She's my mom. What gives her the right to smile at anyone else, hold anyone else's hand, or take anyone else shopping?!"

Snatching the dress back from Martha, she shoved it into the trash can. Then, grabbing her tablet, she plopped onto her bed in a huff.

Without a second thought, she blocked Nora's phone number, shoved the tablet under her pillow, and crossed her arms as she leaned back against the headboard.

Her mom was bound to notice. And when she did, she would definitely come crawling back to apologize. Only then would Cassie decide if she wanted to forgive her.

Martha let out a silent sigh. She discreetly retrieved the semi-ruined dress from the trash, folded it, and tucked it into a corner of the storage room.

She really didn't have any other plans today, and running the clinical trial data could easily wait until tomorrow.

Reaching out to tuck a stray wisp of hair behind Bonnie's ear, she smiled and agreed. She then asked the driver to change their destination to Xander Harrison's estate.

When they arrived, Nora held Bonnie's hand and rang the doorbell.

To her surprise, Xander answered the door himself. He had already swapped his usual sharp, tailored suit for a dark gray loungewear set, completely softening his usual intense aura.

The corner of his mouth curved up slightly at the sight of her. "Ms. Newman is here too."