Encore of the Avenging Muse (Sylvia and Rupert) novel Chapter 600

Rupert kept peeling the apple, the blade moving slowly, almost lazily, but there was a chill about him that made it impossible to come too close.

“So, you want Edwin to marry a girlfriend who gifts women to her boyfriend’s father? Then what, just stand by while she keeps sending you women to curry favor?”

Tristan stared at Rupert in disbelief, his fists clenched tightly.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Rupert didn’t look up. His tone was calm, almost indifferent. “That woman—did she stop seeing you after a while? Because Edwin took care of it himself. You probably don’t remember, do you? To you, women like that are just like clothes—out with the old, in with the new.”

Tristan’s lips trembled, but he said nothing.

“You came into the Garcia family when you were three. But Edwin? He was sent to the Garcias right after he was born. My mom raised him, day and night, like he was her own. To him, she was his real mother. After seeing his girlfriend betray him with his own father, he couldn’t face my mom anymore.”

Rupert’s gaze sharpened, cold and direct. “Why do you hate Naomi so much? Besides her lack of family background and her daughter with a mysterious father, what else is it?”

Tristan’s face drained of color, inch by inch.

He was breathing hard, glaring at Rupert, warning him not to say another word.

But Rupert continued, pronouncing every word with care. “When you fell off your horse that time, Naomi was the first to help you. Afterwards, you started despising her even more. Not because she wasn’t a good nurse, but because she saw someone she shouldn’t have.”

“Who was the woman riding with you that day?”

“Enough!” Tristan broke into a coughing fit, his body shaking as he leaned back into the pillows.

The butler rushed over to steady him, patting his back gently.

“I didn’t even know I had a daughter, or how she and her mother are doing in New Zealand. If Naomi weren’t so naïve, she could’ve used that secret to cement her place in the Garcia family ages ago.”

Tristan paused, a flicker of guilt in his eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

Rupert held up the apple, staring at the marks left by the blade.

Tristan watched him in silence, thinking Rupert was finally agreeing with him. He even managed a fatherly smile.

“As long as you do what I ask, all of it—everything—will be yours.”

Rupert didn’t answer, his expression unchanged. He’d heard this speech from Tristan too many times.

His mother died when he was just a child. Everything she left him ended up under Tristan’s control as his legal guardian.

Since taking over the Garcia Group, Rupert had fought tooth and nail to secure his place, all for one reason: to get back what belonged to his mother.

He set the apple down on the plate in front of Tristan and said quietly, “Do you even know why I want it back so badly?”