Imdiately Victoria gasped, her lips parted, and her knees wobbled slightly. She didn't know whether to scream or collapse. She couldn't even breathe for a second.
But Benedict didn't spare her another glance. He imdiately turned away from her like she was nothing more than a ghost behind him.
Imdiately he faced Lisa again, his voice calr but still desperate.
"Please," he said, dropping back to his knees. "I'm begging you. I'll do anything… anything you want. Just na it. Please, I'm begging you, limit the punishnt—anything at all, I will accept. Just get my family out of this ss."
At that mont, seeing that Victoria was still standing—her arms limp at her sides, her mouth slightly open in disbelief—her father's fury erupted like a dam breaking.
"What are you still doing standing there?" he roared, his voice echoing across the tense room like a slap. "Are you deaf? Go down on your knees right now and start begging! Do it now—before it's too late!"
His hand flew up in a sharp motion, pointing directly at the cold marble floor, and his eyes burned with both fear and sha. "Do you think this is still about pride? Do you think you still have a choice? This is not just about you anymore it's about our family na! It's about survival, Victoria!"
Victoria didn't move. Her lips trembled, but no words ca out. Her eyes swept over the faces in the room so avoiding her gaze, others watching her fall apart with quiet satisfaction.
But before she could even gather the strength to answer, a sharp clearing of the throat cut through the air.
It was Oliver, he stepped forward slowly, his face unreadable, but his voice cold as frost. "No," he said flatly. "Even if she begs. Even if Victoria drops to the ground and scrapes her knees until they bleed… it won't change anything."
Everyone turned to him in silence. Victoria blinked rapidly, her chest rising and falling as she tried to understand where this was going.
Oliver continued, his eyes boring into her like steel, "Because she's not sorry. That's the truth. Even now, she still carries herself like soone who thinks she can get everything she wants. As if the world is just a playground for her gas."
He scoffed bitterly. "She thinks she can ss things up and walk away untouched. That people will always forgive her, always cover for her."
He paused, letting the tension hang heavy.
"But let tell you sothing," he said, his tone hardening, "Even if Victoria was truly remorseful… even if she cried her eyes out and gave up everything she owned… I would still never forgive her. Never."
At that mont, the silence in the room was so loud that it could break glass. Everyone's attention was fixed on him—his eyes, sharp and unforgiving, staring directly at Mr. Jackson, who remained frozen, still on his knees.
Then he spoke—slow, cold, and deliberate.
"If you really want my forgiveness," he said, his voice steady like a blade being drawn from its sheath, "then you will do three things. Just three simple things."
He raised one finger.
"One… You will not interfere in anything I do today. No questions. No pleas. No half-hearted objections. I don't care who you are or what pride you're still clinging to. Today, your voice is irrelevant. Stay out of my way."
Mr. Jackson's throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. His eyes darted between his daughter and the man now towering over him with ruthless calm.
Oliver raised a second finger.
"Two… When I am done here, you are going to teach your daughter how to behave. You will teach her manners—not the fake kind people wear to high society dinners, but real, hard, bitter manners. Discipline her the way you should have years ago. Because if she ever—and I an ever shows her face near anything that has to do with or anyone I care about…"
He leaned forward, and his tone dropped lower, darker.
"Then don't expect a warning. Don't expect rcy. Don't even expect payback. Expect sothing she might never recover from. That's not a threat. That's a fact."
The weight of those words landed heavy. Mr. Jackson trembled, while Victoria, standing opposite him, had gone completely pale. For the first ti in her life, fear truly settled into her chest—not fear of scandal, or sha, or even punishnt—but of sothing far more permanent.
Then, slowly, he raised a third finger.
"And three…" he said, his gaze turning cold as ice, "You are going to make sure… that I never see Victoria again."
At that mont, without even thinking twice and knowing fully well that this was the only door left open the one that would save his family from total ruin—Mr. Jackson swallowed his pride like a bitter pill and nodded quickly.
"Anything at all," he said, his voice cracking under pressure. "Anything… I'll do it. Just don't kill her. Please. I can handle everything else. Just spare her life."
His words were pitiful, desperate, drenched in fear and sha. He wasn't speaking like a father anymore. He was speaking like a broken man begging for scraps of rcy.
Oliver didn't say a word. He didn't need to. His cold eyes shifted sharply to the side landing directly on Lisa.
And Lisa understood instantly.
With no hesitation, no questions asked, she took a slow, deliberate step forward.
The air shifted, Everyone in the room felt it—the dangerous chill that crawled up their spines like a storm rolling in.
Then Victoria's heart dropped.
She had never seen that kind of look on Lisa's on any lady face before. It wasn't rage. It wasn't cruelty. It was the look of execution—a quiet, calculated readiness to punish. And it was aid directly at her.
Victoria's lips parted slightly. Her breath caught in her throat. Her feet, once firm and proud, suddenly refused to move. Her knees began to wobble. All the pride, all the confidence, all the delusion she had carried monts ago—gone. Vanished into smoke.
As Lisa approached, slow and steady, Victoria's arms twitched. She wanted to run, to scream, to call soone's na. But she couldn't. Her body was frozen. Her voice failed her.
Even her parents didn't move. Mr. Jackson bowed his head in silence. Her Brother hands shook by her sides but didn't reach out.
"P-please…" Victoria finally whispered, but her voice was so low it barely escaped her trembling lips.
Lisa didn't blink.
Without a single word, she reached forward sharp, swift, and with stunning precision—her hand wrapped tightly around Victoria's throat.
Victoria gasped, her eyes widening in shock as Lisa yanked her forward like a rag doll.
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