The Red Rose of Manhattan Chapter 7

After dinner, the four of them sat in the living room chatting happily.

Lily had no interest in their little charade. She got up and headed to the garden.

The evening breeze carried a hint of early summer coolness, but it couldn't blow away the suffocating feeling in her chest.

Before long, Serena followed her out, wearing a victorious, gentle smile that was utterly grating.

"Lily, out here alone in the wind?" Her voice was soft, but her tone dripped with undisguised provocation. "Actually, I know why you're upset. People in our circle told me all about your three years with Ethan."

Lily faced away from her, her body tensing slightly, but she didn't turn around.

"Honestly, I was a bit worried when I first found out," Serena walked up beside her, studying her beautiful but pale profile. "After all, my dear little Lily is so gorgeous—what man wouldn't be tempted?"

"But it's such a shame. All that beauty wasted. Your mother couldn't compete with mine, and you? You can't compete with me either. Those three years were just charity—something I let you have. Now that I'm back, it's time for the knockoff to step aside."

Lily slowly turned around. In the moonlight, her eyes were startlingly bright, filled not with the anger or sadness Serena expected, but with cold mockery.

"Charity?" Her red lips curved as she enunciated each word clearly. "Serena, did staying abroad make you forget what you really are?"

"An illegitimate daughter who only got into this family because her mother was a homewrecker, a pathetic creature who needs schemes to hold onto a man—and you think you're qualified to talk about charity?"

"Your mother picked up garbage my mother didn't want. You picked up a man I didn't want. You two are cut from the same cloth—specialists in taking other people's leftovers."

"You!" Serena's smile froze instantly, her face alternating between red and white.

She hadn't expected Lily to still have such a sharp tongue even after being trampled into the dirt!

"What, me?" Lily stepped closer, her presence overwhelming. "Think you've won? You're just picking up scraps—a man I, Lily Sterling, used and tossed aside. And you're parading him around like he's some prize. Serena, that's the limit of your vision."

Serena shook with rage, her carefully maintained gentle facade completely shattered.

Lily turned to leave, done with the conversation.

The moment she turned, Serena let out a piercing scream and slammed her own forehead into the edge of a decorative stone bench, blood immediately streaming down her face!

"Serena!"

Almost simultaneously, Ethan, Marcus, and Linda rushed out from the living room.

Serena lay on the ground, clutching her bleeding forehead, tears streaming down her face: "Dad, Mom, Ethan... don't blame Lily. I just lost my balance..."

Linda immediately threw herself at her daughter, wailing dramatically: "Serena! My baby! You're too kind! She treated you like this and you're still defending her!"

Marcus's face was iron, pointing at Lily with fury: "Lily! You ungrateful child! What did you do to your sister?!"

Lily stood there, coldly watching this carefully staged frame-up, her heart frozen solid.

Her gaze swept past her furious father, her hypocritical stepmother, and finally landed on Ethan.

He was crouched beside Serena, carefully checking her wound, then looked up at Lily. His deep eyes held none of their usual calm—only bone-chilling judgment.

In that moment, her heart went cold to the marrow!

He... didn't believe her either.

Of course. Serena was his precious one. Why would he believe Lily?

Lily's lips curved into a smile.

The next second, she walked over and, in everyone's shocked gaze, grabbed a heavy ceramic planter and smashed it down hard on Serena's already bleeding forehead!

"CRASH!"

A dull thud, followed by Serena's even more piercing scream and everyone's gasps.

"Listen carefully," Lily dropped the planter, her voice terrifyingly calm, her eyes like poisoned blades. "I didn't touch her just now."

"But I did now."

Everyone was stunned, including Ethan.

Lily dropped the ceramic shards and turned to leave, but her wrist was suddenly caught in a vise-like grip, the bones grinding painfully.

Ethan held her tightly, his face dark as a storm.

He looked at Marcus, his voice ice-cold: "Mr. Sterling, your daughter has done something like this. If you don't discipline her properly, I won't let this slide."

Marcus—torn between concern for Serena and fear of Ethan's power—immediately nodded and bowed: "Mr. Frost, rest assured! I'll teach this ungrateful girl a lesson!"

He immediately called his security: "Grab her! Take her to the family shrine! Make her kneel!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Lily struggled, glaring viciously at her father.

But Marcus looked to Ethan, asking obsequiously: "Mr. Frost, making her kneel in the shrine to reflect—is that punishment enough..."

Ethan scooped up the bleeding Serena, his eyes sweeping coldly over Lily, his words brutally cruel: "Too light."

"I noticed that riding crop hanging in your study isn't just for show."

With that, he carried Serena and strode away without looking back.

Lily felt like she'd been struck by lightning, staring in disbelief at his retreating figure.

He... he'd just suggested Marcus use a riding crop on her?