My Unchosen Ex Chases Reborn Me (Soren and Fiona) novel Chapter 63

Chapter 63 Lines Are Drawn

Chapter 63 Lines Are Drawn

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By naming Meryl blameless, Fiona pulled her mother clear of the storm. A granddaughter could be branded headstrong; a wife branded disloyal would be destroyed.

She had also laid Joanna’s plan bare. Fiona could not reveal the full size of the deficit, but the hint was enough–Joanna would understand. If Joanna wished to keep Hannah from learning the books were short by fifty thousand, she would have to bargain privately with Meryl.

Meryl’s eyes glistened, scarlet at the rims as she looked at her daughter.

“Find them–every last gossiping tongue,” Hannah roared. “I will see who dares chew on my family’s name.”

Fiona found the command bitterly ironic. She knew her grandmother’s rage had little to do with idle chatter and everything to do with the scheme Hannah nursed in secret. The old woman hoped Meryl’s private savings might shore up the Niven family coffers.

They must learn their limits, Fiona told herself. Mother’s dowry is hers alone.

Only her father could draw that boundary. Zachary’s gentle nature left him blind to the line between a man’s own household and his birth family. Because he always sided with Hannah. and his elder brother, they no longer recognized the edge of their authority.

A son’s devotion to his mother was natural, but devotion without discernment would, sooner or later, tear a marriage apart.

Today, Fiona meant to harden his resolve. She needed him to stand with Meryl–nothing mattered more, not even the missing silver.

“Pearl, take my mother home,” she said softly, eyes lowered.

Meryl hesitated, unwilling to leave her child to suffer alone, but Fiona’s steady gaze warned that this chance must not be wasted. Swallowing her heartache, Meryl let Pearl guide her away.

Fiona knelt in perfect form for two full hours. There was no cushion beneath her knees, only cold stone, yet she did not utter a single sound.

Hannah wavered between anguish and anger. She muttered that the girl had been ruined by Meryl’s indulgence and decided to let the lesson run its course, refusing to look back.

When Zachary returned to the estate, an uneasy stillness greeted him, setting his nerves on edge.

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10:22 Sat, Oct 11

Chapter 63 Lines Are Drawn

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Lily Garden lay unnaturally quict. He pushed through the door and found his wife seated alone, tears streaming down her face.

In nearly twenty years of marriage, he had seen her weep only once before–the day Fiona fell

into the lake..

He brushed a thumb over her wet check. “What has happened?”

Meryl slapped his hand away. Resentment burned behind her swollen eyes. Had he not been so accommodating all those years ago, Joanna would never have seized the household keys, and today’s turmoil might have been avoided.

“Mr. Zachary, Pearl choked out, “Ms. Fiona is in the courtyard on her knees. Please–please go save her.”

Zachary felt a jolt of dread slice through his chest. Questions clamored at the back of his mind, but there was no time to ask them. He lengthened his stride and hurried toward Ambrosial Garden, boots striking the flagstones in urgent rhythm.

Just inside the moon–lit gate, he saw a slender figure kneeling on the frost–whitened path. Fiona swayed like a spent reed, then crumpled forward and hit the ground before he could

even call her name.

“Fiona!” Zachary’s shout tore from his throat as his heart cinched tight. He lunged across the gravel and dropped to his knees. Her face was ashen, her lips drained of all color, and consciousness had already slipped away.

Cradling her with aching gentleness, he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to the bedchamber. His voice shook as he ordered the servants to fetch the physician at once.

“Mother,” Zachary asked, struggling to keep the tremor out of his voice, “why in the world did you see fit to punish Fiona today?”

“It was her own wrongdoing, of course,” Hannah replied, her tone as chill as marble..

“What wrongdoing?” he pressed, refusing to be turned back without a reason.

Hannah merely tightened her lips and refused to speak another syllable.

“Fiona has always been obedient and considerate. What possible offense could warrant such treatment from her own grandmother?”

Finding no answer, Zachary shifted his gaze to Ruby, the maid standing nearby. “Then you tell

me, he said.

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10 22 Sat Oct 11

Chapter 64 Lines Are Drawn

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