Regretting The Wife He Threw Away

"Little Nina has nothing to do with Irwin."

Briony cut Jeannie off mid-sentence.

Jeannie turned to meet Briony's gaze.

Briony approached, her face expressionless. "Ms. Radcliffe, I made myself perfectly clear last time. If you keep meddling in this, I have to wonder what your real intentions are."

Jeannie froze.

Briony went on, "Little Nina is where I draw the line. Irwin is Rosita's son. I would never let him get near my daughter."

"I understand you have issues with Ms. Lockwood," Jeannie replied, meeting Briony's eyes, "but Irwin is just a child. Isn't it a bit much to treat him so differently, to be so guarded around him?"

Briony arched an eyebrow, taking in Jeannie's wide, innocent eyes, her lips curling into a cold smile. "You can think I'm being unreasonable, or you can go complain to Stewart if you like. But as long as I'm here, Irwin will never get close to Little Nina."

"I'm not going to tattle to Mr. Wentworth," Jeannie said quickly. "It just seems so unfair to Irwin. He's just a kid, yet he's paying for all the grudges between you adults..."

She hugged Irwin closer, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

"With all due respect, ma'am, you're a mother too. How can you do this to him? People always say stepmothers are never as kind as real mothers, but I always thought you were different. Seeing you like this today... I realize I was naive. You don't care about Irwin at all!"

enough. He rolled up

caught him just

all that, you still expect

said, letting go of his arm

glared back, anger

lips quirked in

moment, she raised her hand and

echoed in

clutching her cheek, staring at

enough,

now on, if

walk

me,

she'll slap you every time," James added, barely hiding

when Stewart

him, he broke free and