“This is because of her,” she said softly. “You think this is some grand love story? She’ll do to you exactly what her mother did to your father.”
My stomach dropped.
“Mrs. Standish—” Jeremy warned.
“She’ll get bored,” Muriel continued, eyes locked on mine now. “Or she’ll getpregnant. Or she’ll decide someone else is shinier. That’s what they do.”
Heat flooded my face.
Archie moved instantly, placing himself fully in front of me this time. “Enough.”
But Muriel didn’t stop. “You think you’re different?” she pressed, voice sharpening. “You’re not. You’re just the next man in a very long line of bad decisions.”
Maddy made a strangled sound.
“Don’t you dare talk about her like that,” Archie said, and this time the steel in his voice was unmistakable.
“She’s trash,” Muriel snapped. “Just like?—”
“Finish that sentence,” Archie said quietly.
The air crackled.
Maddy stepped forward again, fury blazing. “You don’t get to call my daughter?—”
“Oh, I absolutely do,” Muriel shot back. “When all she has for an example isyou.”
Jeremy physically stepped between them now, hands braced out. “Mrs. Standish. Ms. Curtis. This has escalated beyond reason.”
“Get out of my way,” Maddy hissed.
Muriel lunged again.
Jeremy caught her arm this time, firm but careful.
Another glass figurine went sailing — I didn’t even see which one of them threw it — and it smashed against the wall behind us.
I flinched.
Archie pulled me tighter against his side.
And then?—
“What the hell is going on?”
Edward’s voice thundered through the foyer.
All motion stopped.
He stood in the doorway, suit jacket half unbuttoned, expression thunderous.
For a split second, no one spoke.
He took in the shattered glass. The overturned table. Muriel in Jeremy’s restrained grip. Maddy flushed and shaking.
Then his eyes landed on us.
On Archie.
