I was only playing hard to get, putting on this act.
If he thought I had gone after Isabella, then it meant he still cared.
But since I had indeed hurt Isabella and her unborn child, he had to stand up for them.
So Alexander Hughes helped Isabella to her feet and turned to me.
“Claire Bennett, apologize.”
Before I could speak, a message lit up my phone.
“Enjoy the banquet if you wish. If not, Thomas Reed is already waiting outside.”
I recalled what Ethan Walker had said earlier—he might not be able to accompany me to the Hughes family banquet. He told me if I didn’t want to go, I didn’t have to.
What had I answered then?
I had been indifferent.
Since I had chosen to marry Ethan and live my life with him, I would never let the past trouble me.
But today, Alexander and Isabella had gone out of their way to provoke me.
The rest of the Hughes family watched eagerly, their desire for drama plain as day.
I had no intention of being their monkey, performing for their amusement.
Picking up my bag, I stood to leave.
Alexander blocked my path.
“I told you to apologize. Did you not hear me?”
His eyes burned with anger.
I yanked my hand free with no hesitation.
“Apologize? Does she deserve that from me?”
My words made Alexander laugh coldly.
“You think you’re in any position to talk about qualifications? What leverage do you have to challenge me?”
“Didn’t you come here today just to win me back?”
“Claire, if you want to play games, don’t overdo it.”
He was still the same arrogant man he had been years ago.
But I was no longer the woman I had been back then.
Even the Hughes family members around us grew restless.
His sister, Emily Hughes, stepped forward first.
“Claire, my brother’s already been generous by not throwing you out. That’s more face than you deserve. What are you pretending for?”
Emily had followed Isabella since childhood, hanging on her every word.
Three years ago, she had made trouble for me more times than I could count.
Now, Emily supported Isabella and sneered.
“Isabella carries the Hughes family’s eldest legitimate heir. He’s precious. And you, with your worthless bones, dare provoke her?”
Hearing this, Isabella’s face brightened with delight.
Back then, Alexander’s branch of the Hughes family had been insignificant.
If not for Alexander’s father working under Ethan, Alexander wouldn’t have even been qualified to attend the banquet.
But now, Emily thought their family could strut proudly through the Hughes estate.
And Isabella believed that once her child was born into the main Hughes line, she would rise to glory.
The other Hughes family members exchanged glances but stayed silent, turning their eyes toward me.
I gave a cold laugh.
“The eldest heir? From her?”
Alexander hadn’t expected my defiance.
“Watch your mouth. Isabella is pregnant, she carries a child. Don’t upset her.”
So he did remember that pregnant women shouldn’t be angered. He could still handle them with such care.
Yet when I had been pregnant, he had forced me to dance for three days and nights—just to make Isabella laugh.
When I bled out and miscarried, he had ordered the doctor to deny me anesthesia because I hadn’t been able to keep dancing to please Isabella.
He had said that since I had upset her, I would pay her back in agony a hundredfold.
Emily sneered at me.
“Brother, why waste your breath on a barren hen like her? She’ll never bear children again.”
That wound—my lifelong scar—was now being mocked as a joke.
For the first time, a trace of sorrow flickered across Alexander’s face.
