Chapter 191

Beatrice Lockwood despised Evelyn Sinclair from the moment she discovered Evelyn was Robert Sinclair's daughter.

Any woman could marry Dominic Blackwood and become her daughter-in-law—except Evelyn.

She had hidden her true feelings for the sake of family harmony. But now, she would openly oppose this union.

Seeing Dominic's fury made her feel guilty, but also relieved she no longer needed to pretend.

She would stop Evelyn at all costs, even if it meant burning bridges with her own son.

Their mother-son bond was unbreakable. No woman could change that.

"You want an explanation? About how I turned to that scoundrel Robert Sinclair after your father abandoned me?" Beatrice confessed, knowing her brilliant son would uncover the truth anyway.

Dominic's shocked expression confirmed her suspicions.

Tears streamed down Beatrice's face. "I've kept this shameful secret for over twenty years. Your father was ruthless—he would have disowned us both if he knew."

She moved to her vanity and opened the hidden safe.

Inside lay stacks of pawnshop receipts where all her jewelry had been sold.

"Look at these!" She thrust them at Dominic.

He examined the documents. Every piece of jewelry he'd ever gifted her had been liquidated.

This made no sense. The Blackwood family tracked every expenditure meticulously.

Where had the money gone?

Beatrice sighed under her son's piercing gaze. "Robert Sinclair is sick. He needs expensive treatments. That's when I forced Evelyn to leave you."

She continued dramatically, "She knows my past with her father and uses it against me. They've blackmailed me repeatedly."

"Now that I have nothing left to give, she's revealing our secrets. She wants to turn you against me!"

Beatrice's mind raced as she spun her web of lies.

But Dominic remained unmoved. If anything, his anger grew.

"Evelyn doesn't scheme for money like other women," he stated coldly. "I've never misjudged character. And I've always known there was more to you."

Beatrice's heart sank. Her son didn't believe her. He trusted that woman instead!

Dominic paused, then delivered his final blow. "When a son can't trust his mother, perhaps the mother should examine her actions."

The staff discreetly retreated downstairs, wisely avoiding the family drama.

Dominic stormed out like a tempestuous aristocrat from a Victorian novel.

"Dominic!" Reginald Blackwood called after his grandson, but the young man roared away in his sports car.

With her son's trust lost, Beatrice turned to the only remaining authority—the family patriarch.

"Father, you must intervene!" she cried dramatically. "If the Lockwoods learn Dominic slept with Maxwell's wife, the scandal will destroy us!"

She embellished the story further. "Yes, Maxwell took Evelyn first, but their marriage is legal. Will you let your grandson ruin our family name?"

Reginald clutched his chest, gasping for breath.

"Call Dominic!" Beatrice screamed to a nearby maid. "Tell him his grandfather is having a heart attack!"