Blizzard, First Love and a Wife Who Finally Snaps novel Chapter 167

Catherine turned to her brother. "It's just routine questioning, Adrian. They won't harm her."

She had no affection for Isabel, but she disliked Selena even more. Just as men understood men, women understood women. The Blackwell family didn't insist on their children marrying into wealth and status, but they expected them to choose a partner who was at least sensible and had a clean reputation. Isabel was brilliant, but calculating. Selena was far worse. If you wanted to play the femme fatale, you needed the talent to back it up. Did she honestly believe her transparent little tricks could wrap all these powerful men around her finger?

Catherine had a feeling Adrian had his own motives. She didn't for a second believe he was hopelessly in love with Selena.

"Adrian, don't make my job any harder than it has to be. I give you my word, if she's innocent, I will personally escort her back to you."

Adrian still refused. "Today's explosion had nothing to do with her."

Catherine struggled to keep her temper in check. "You know perfectly well why Mr. Holt wants to talk to her, don't you?"

She moved closer, lowering her voice. "Or… are you admitting that you know she's not innocent?"

Adrian remained silent. Catherine took his silence as an admission, and her patience snapped.

"Adrian, I let it slide when you protected her before, but this situation is far more serious. You can't just shield her from the consequences this time. The entire Blackwell family, myself included, will be dragged down with her. And the fallout from this will be infinitely worse than the bad press you got for marrying a plagiarist."

It wasn't just about the people who had died. There were countless others suffering from debilitating side effects. These were people who were already at the end of their rope, who had been given a false glimmer of hope, only to be plunged into even greater misery. People with nothing left to lose were dangerous, and they would undoubtedly try to tear the Blackwell family to shreds. But if Selena took responsibility for her own actions, the family could weather the storm.

"Keep an eye on him," Catherine ordered her security detail, then turned to leave with Mrs. Holt, heading for Halcyon Hills to arrest Selena.

Adrian, who had been sitting silently, clutching the DNA report, suddenly sprang into action. He moved with a swift, decisive grace. Catherine's men, hesitant to truly engage with him, were easily bypassed.

Oliver rubbed his eyes. He had fallen asleep waiting for Selena to come and read to him. He was surprised to wake up and see his aunt.

"I'm going to take you to see Grandma, okay?"

As he was carried out of the room, Oliver looked around, but he didn't see Selena. "Aunt Catherine, are Dad and Mom sleeping?"

Catherine couldn't bring herself to explain the situation to a small child. "Yes, they are. I’ve some business to take care of with them, and there's no one here to look after you. You're going to go to the estate and sleep with Grandma. She'll read you stories."

He really wanted his mom to read him a story, but only he knew which 'mom' he was truly thinking of.