Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath (Stella) novel Chapter 1086

A sharp pain lanced through Uriah’s chest. Tegan, meanwhile, stood frozen, her entire body rigid. She had never witnessed a scene like this before.

While Leslie had certainly caused her share of trouble over the years, those incidents were mere child's play compared to this. Helena, completely terrified, collapsed onto the floor in a heap. Finley took Tegan's hand. "Let's go."

His face was a cold mask, but his voice softened considerably when he spoke to her. Tegan allowed him to lead her away, her movements still stiff.

As they passed Uriah, he clutched his injured shoulder and gritted his teeth. "Tegan, is this why you were so hell-bent on leaving me? Just so you could throw yourself at trash like this?"

Hearing his words, Tegan stopped.

The gaze she turned on him was as cold as it had once been passionate.

Her voice was strained, almost breathless. "For the first time, you're the one bleeding because of me."

"And now you're glaring at me with such animosity, as if I'm some kind of monster. But what about me? All those years I spent by your side..."

Her voice trailed off.

She looked at Uriah, tears welling in her eyes—tears of grief, anger, and hatred for him.

She couldn't be as calm and detached as Stella was with Yorick Quarry, because unlike Stella, she had truly loved Uriah.

He had personally brought her into his home, raising her with what she thought was care.

She never cared that he treated her differently from Leslie.

What she couldn't tolerate was how, after Leslie hurt her, he could still say, "Leslie wouldn't do something like that!"

Looking at Tegan, Uriah felt as if he were seeing a stranger. "You're defending him? You're worried I'll do something to him? You..."

Tegan cut him off. "Isn't that what you used to tell me whenever Leslie was involved?" In that moment, she was simply throwing back at him the same words he had used to excuse Leslie's behavior.

The look on his face now? A sudden, liberating satisfaction washed over Tegan.

For years, Uriah had shattered her peace. Now, she was tearing down his lifelong, self-righteous certainty. "Uriah, the Horner family may have raised me, but I don't owe you a thing. My father gave his life for your family!"

"So you can tell your mother to watch her mouth. If we're going to dig up old debts, it's your family that owes mine!" She was tired of being treated like some ungrateful stray. Her father had been the one to save a family of ingrates.

With that, Tegan turned and walked away with Finley, her back radiating a coldness Uriah had never seen before.