Chapter 4

Nora's heart lurched. She rushed forward and planted herself in front of Tracy, shielding her completely.

Tracy flinched at the fury on Lucas' face.

Tracy spoke up, her voice shaking. "I didn't hit her. She grabbed me and pulled hard, so I fell on top of her."

Nora knew Tracy better than anyone. Tracy came from a well-educated family, and she had always been gentle and composed.

Even at her angriest, she would never lay a hand on someone.

Nora swallowed the panic rising in her chest.

She said firmly, "If you want to know what really happened, check the security cameras."

Claire rubbed the corner of her eye and sighed. "Lucas, just let it go. After all, in Mrs. Evans' eyes, I'll always be the other woman."

She lifted her gaze to Lucas, and her eyes glistened with hurt.

Her voice dropped. "Even though I knew you first. Even though we were in love. But you two signed the marriage license, and I have no real claim."

Her words dragged Lucas right back to those memories. His family had forced him to break things off with Claire and marry Nora, a woman he had never even met. The resentment from that time still burned.

Over the years since the wedding, he had seen enough to understand Nora.

She wasn't scheming or manipulative. She was patient, resilient, and quietly tough underneath it all.

She had given everything to him and the Jameson family without complaint.

But none of that erased the feeling of being trapped, of having his choices stripped away. That bitterness sat in his chest like a splinter he could never pull out, and it poisoned everything.

So once he took control of the family, his coldness toward Nora only deepened.

He said flatly, "We don't need the cameras. I believe Claire."

He pulled out his phone and made a quick call.

Within minutes, a team of bodyguards in black suits came rushing through the door.

Nora's whole body went rigid, and she instinctively pulled Tracy closer behind her.

She glared at him and said, "Lucas, what do you want?"

Lucas tilted his head with a cold smirk. "She hit Claire first, but I can't exactly hit an old woman back. That would make me look like a bully."

He paused, letting the words hang. "How about we let her spend the night in the morgue to think about what she did?"

Nora's eyes went wide, and the color drained from her face. "Are you out of your mind? Lucas, what kind of person are you?"

Mason was still lying in a hospital bed in a vegetative state, and Tracy had just taken a hard blow that left her shaken and barely holding it together.

Lucas let out a low, amused laugh. "She seemed pretty happy running her mouth a minute ago. And she sure didn't hold back when she swung at me."

Nora bit her lip. She knew she couldn't go head-to-head with Lucas right now, or Tracy would only suffer more for it.

She softened her tone, and a thin thread of desperation crept into her voice. "Lucas, no matter what happened, my mother didn't mean it. Claire isn't even hurt. Can we just let this go? Please. Otherwise—"

Claire suddenly cut in before Nora could finish. "Then let Nora take the punishment for her mother."

She turned to Lucas with a gentle, practiced look. "Lucas, she's still an elder. If word gets out that you disrespected her, people will talk, and it won't look good for you."

Lucas looked down at Claire and patted her hand, his eyes soft with adoration. "You're always looking out for me."

Then he lifted his gaze to Nora, and the warmth vanished. "Fine. Since Claire is being so generous, you'll go to the morgue instead."

Tracy never imagined Lucas could be this cruel. If he wanted to punish her, fine. She could take it.

But there was no way she could stand by and let Nora suffer in a place like that.

Tracy stepped forward and said, "I'll go. This is my mess, so let me take the punishment."

Nora shook her head. "Mom, stop. Don't say another word."

Tracy turned and wrapped her arms around Nora, sobbing into her shoulder.

"Your father is lying in a hospital bed right now, and he still hasn't woken up. You can't fall apart too. If something happens to you, what are your father and I supposed to do?"

Lucas watched the two of them argue, his expression cold and unmoved.

He said, "There's no need to fight over it. Tracy, even if Nora takes your punishment for hitting Claire, you still owe her an apology."

Nora opened her mouth. A thousand words sat heavy in her throat, but none of them came out.

All she felt was a bitter, hollow sense of absurdity.

Lucas had shoved Mason to the ground with his own hands for Claire's sake, and that fall had left Mason in a vegetative state. He had never said a single word of remorse.

But now, when it was Tracy who had been framed by Claire and hadn't even touched her, she was the one being forced to bow her head and apologize.

At the end of the day, it was simple. Lucas had the money and the power, and he used both to crush anyone beneath him.

Claire watched the whole scene unfold, and a flicker of satisfaction crossed her eyes.

She smiled and said, "Mrs. Evans, you might as well apologize now. Who knows? If Lucas cools down, maybe he'll let Nora out sooner."

Tears spilled down Tracy's face in an instant, and her expression twisted with humiliation and despair.

She had spent her entire life as a teacher. She had earned people's respect and lived with dignity.

Never once had she imagined that at her age, her own daughter's husband would force her to apologize to the woman who had been tormenting her child.

Her voice broke as she whispered, "I'm sorry."

Nora stared at Tracy's hunched, trembling figure, and the pain cut through her like a knife. She couldn't bear to watch, so she turned her head away.

Claire let out a soft laugh, her tone dripping with insincerity.

She tilted her head and said, "Mrs. Evans, that apology was a little too casual, don't you think?"

Tracy's body trembled, and the rigid posture she had held so carefully crumbled in an instant.

Her straight spine curved forward as if someone had drained every ounce of strength from her bones.

She drew in a slow, shaking breath and lowered herself into a deep bow.

Her voice came out thin and unsteady. "Ms. Quinn, I'm sorry. I was wrong."

Nora watched from the side, and her heart split open. Tracy had spent her entire life sheltered in Mason's care, proud and dignified through every season of her marriage.

Now, in her old age, she was bowing to this woman because of her.

But Claire showed no sign of letting up. She just sat there with that half-smile frozen on her lips, watching Tracy in silence.

Tracy clenched her jaw.

Then, in one sharp motion, her knees buckled, and she dropped to the floor with a heavy thud.

Nora cried out, "Mom!"

She rushed forward and grabbed Tracy's arms to pull her up, but her own tears were falling faster than she could stop them.