Vincent POV
The moment my mother stepped in, I knew we were about to have a big issue. I quickly turned to the guards outside my study and asked them to leave.
“Leave us,” I said.
They had exchanged glances, then bowed and stepped away, closing the door behind them. The silence that followed was sharp enough to hurt.
After words had been exchanged for a while, Mother didn’t flinch. She stood by the window, perfectly poised, as if this were just another of our endless political debates. “You had no right to speak to her like that,” I said, voice low but hard.
Her chin lifted. “You’re blind, Vincent. That witch has your daughter wrapped around her finger.”
Those words struck something deep in me, something I didn’t want to name. I kept my voice steady. “She’s a doctor. You forget that
