Beatrice raised her hand and slapped Melody hard, sending her stumbling back a step.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beatrice snapped, \u201cYou didn\u2019t? I\u2019ve seen women like you plenty of times!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Outside the door, Michelle was practically bouncing with excitement, cracking sunflower seeds as she whispered enthusiastically, \u201cGive her another slap!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sienna reacted fast, clamping a hand over Michelle\u2019s mouth before she could burst into peals of laughter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMom! What do you think you\u2019re doing?\u201d Miles rushed forward and grabbed her arm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With her own son stopping her, Beatrice jabbed a finger past him, pointing straight at Melody as she spat viciously, \u201cI\u2019m warning you to know your place and stay away from my son. I went easy on you at the birthday banquet because there were people around. But now you\u2019ve only gotten bolder.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Miles\u2019 voice shot up several octaves. \u201cMom! Do you really have to be this unreasonable?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beatrice laughed. \u201cUnreasonable? Fine. I\u2019ll show you what unreasonable looks like.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With that, she strode forward, snatched up a makeup case, and hurled it straight at the mirror.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The entire mirror shattered instantly. Glass exploded outward, with shards flying everywhere. Melody screamed and scrambled back in panic. A sharp fragment grazed her calf, leaving a thin line of blood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still not satisfied, Beatrice flipped the entire vanity table over. Bottles and compacts crashed to the floor with a deafening clatter. Foundation splattered everywhere, eyeshadow palettes shattered, and clouds of mixed pigments littered the ground in messy streaks of color.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The onlookers outside gasped collectively. A few even instinctively stepped back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sienna stared wide-eyed. She had heard stories about Beatrice\u2019s temper, but seeing it firsthand made her realize that the rumors weren\u2019t exaggerated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beatrice grabbed a chair and raised it threateningly. \u201cAre you leaving or not? If you don\u2019t go right now, I\u2019ll tear this whole place apart!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Miles looked at the wrecked room, then at Melody, who was trembling uncontrollably.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He hesitated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Melody clutched her burning cheek, tears streaming down her face. Even so, she forced a fragile, heartbreaking smile. \u201cMiles \u2026you should go.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Miles finally gave in. \u201cMom, stop it. I\u2019ll leave.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Only then did Beatrice lower the chair. She grabbed Miles by the arm and said, \u201cYou\u2019re going home right now to pack. You\u2019re going to Hawford to learn how to manage the company with your uncle. And you\u2019re not allowed to come back until I say otherwise.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMom!\u201d Miles tried to protest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beatrice shot Melody a cold, lethal look. \u201cIf I catch you looking for her again\u2026 I\u2019ll hit her every single time I see her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The crowd at the door parted instantly, and Beatrice dragged Miles away. As he passed Sienna, he shot her a dark, venomous glare.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sienna responded with a sweet smile and even pulled a face at him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Miles clenched his fists in rage, itching to punch her, but Beatrice dragged him off before he could act.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The dressing room was in ruins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Melody collapsed onto the floor, biting her lower lip so hard that it turned white. Despite that, she couldn\u2019t suppress her sobs. Large tears fell onto the ground one after another.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Only then did Shannon shakily step forward and snap at the onlookers, \u201cStop staring! Why are you still here?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Michelle tossed another sunflower seed into her mouth and laughed cheerfully, \u201cBecause it\u2019s entertaining, obviously! She got slapped both onscreen and offscreen. I guess you were right, Ms. Foster. You\u2019re really dedicated to your craft.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sienna tugged on Michelle\u2019s sleeve. \u201cShow\u2019s over. Let\u2019s go.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once the crowd dispersed, Melody\u2019s quiet sobs finally broke into muffled, anguished cries. With trembling fingers, she pulled out her phone and dialed Clayton\u2019s number.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cClay\u2026\u201d She choked on the very first word, her tears spilling over once more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She got the divorce and bolted 92 Beatrice raised her hand and slapped Melody hard, sending her stumbling back a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-she-got-the-divorce-and-bolted-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20166\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}