A Widow's Poison, A Wife's Rebellion novel Chapter 553

Silence hung on the line for a long moment.

Then, Harley’s voice erupted with fury. “Her conditions? You’re just giving her whatever she wants? Can’t you do anything to control her?”

He was absolutely livid. He had been against the marriage from the start, right when Fairfax first announced his intention to marry Starla. A family like the Yelchins was supposed to marry someone of equal standing, and Starla was a complete mismatch in every conceivable way.

For his entire life, he and Darleen had maintained a superficial peace, never truly aligning on anything. But on the matter of Starla, they had, for the first time, found common ground. Now, his dissatisfaction with her had reached its breaking point.

“No, I can’t do anything about her. Can you?” Fairfax shot back, not bothering to hide the shame in his voice, even from his own father.

Harley was speechless.

“If you had a solution, you wouldn’t be calling to yell at me,” Fairfax said bitterly before his father could respond.

The line went quiet again, but this time, Harley’s breathing grew heavy and ragged. Fairfax’s words had struck a nerve. It was true; if he had any way of handling the situation, he wouldn’t have called Fairfax in the first place.

“Forget about my side of things for a moment,” Harley said, his breath coming in short, sharp gasps. “You have to deal with your grandmother. Starla is only this brazen because you’ve let her get away with everything!”

Harley was seething. He believed Fairfax had spoiled Starla rotten, indulging her every whim. In their family, the expectation was that a new wife would move into the main house and play along with the family hierarchy. But what did Fairfax do? Not long after their wedding, he moved out with Starla into their own home, making it clear without saying a word that he couldn’t stand Darleen’s meddling.

“I can’t handle it!” Fairfax’s voice was strained. The pressure was driving him insane. He was already overwhelmed with the problems at Yelchin Group, and now he couldn’t manage these family matters either.

Fairfax was cracking under the pressure, teetering on the edge of a breakdown. Brinley’s supposed depression was nothing compared to this. He was the one who genuinely wanted to die.

Furious, Harley slammed the phone down. Fairfax’s world fell silent once more, but his mind was a raging storm. In a fit of fury, he swept everything off his desk before storming out of his office.

Gabriel, waiting just outside, saw him emerge and quickly, respectfully, fell into step behind him.

…

Back at the Yelchin family estate, Herbert had come for a visit. Previously, he had always sent Tanya Mercer to deliver things for him, but today, he had come in person.