Chapter 225

But Clifford no longer believed her. He gripped her chin, his voice a low growl. “Let me tell you something. Even without my title as CEO of the Lambert Group, you will never escape my grasp. Latisha, even if you die, you will die here with me."

His words struck her like a bolt of lightning, leaving her stunned and disoriented. Latisha's body went rigid. She instinctively wanted to pull back, but her rational mind forced her to stay still.

Clifford's fingers traced a path to her earlobe, the light touch making her flinch. He removed the earpiece from her ear and slipped it back into his pocket.

"Stay home and be good. Lock the doors and don't go out. Otherwise, I will break your legs. For real."

He delivered the most brutal threat in the gentlest of tones.

Latisha's fingers dug into the sofa cushions as she fought back a wave of terror and gave a slight nod.

Clifford stood up, went upstairs to change into a different brown overcoat, and left.

Latisha watched him go, then ran to the door and locked it. She leaned against it, her chest heaving as the words from the earpiece echoed in her mind. Clifford was leaving the Lambert family. He was going to lose everything.

She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths to calm herself. No, that wasn't right. His expression was all wrong. If he were really about to be ousted from the family business, he would never be this calm. The man had to have another card up his sleeve. Either he didn't care about the Lambert Group at all, or he had a much bigger ace to play.

This was just another one of his tests, like all the times he'd asked if she wanted to have a child. And she had almost fallen for it again. How could she be so foolish?

After all this time with him, she still had no idea which of his words were true. It was laughable.

After leaving the villa, Clifford drove straight to the office. It was well after hours, and the building was nearly empty. He went directly to Santino's office.

The door was ajar, and Santino was still at his desk, buried in work. He looked up at the sound of knocking.

“Clifford, you're here?” Santino immediately got up to greet him. "I thought you weren't in the office today."

Clifford walked in and sat down on the sofa with him.

"Is there something you need?" Santino asked, pouring him a cup of coffee.

"I saw you were still here, so I

thought I'd check in," Clifford said his eyes scaming the room before

S Santino's face. "Still

busy?"

"Yeah, there are so many problems to solve. You don't usually deal with these smaller company matters, so you wouldn't know."

A faint smile touched Clifford's lips. He crossed his legs and leaned back into the sofa, tooking completely at ease. “Remata sård you haven't been home in a long time. Are you planning on ever going back?"

Santino paused, then gave a weary smile. "There's too much to do at the office. I can't get away. I'll go back when I have time."

"Don't wait. Go back now. I'm giving you time off so you can spend it with Renata.” Santino's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. "Now?"

"Yes. I'll have someone else handle these minor issues. If you don't go back soon, Renata is going to lose her mind over your problems."

"Oh?"

Clifford feigned surprise. “Didn't she tell you? You didn't know she sold her shares?"

Santino's smile froze for a second before he recovered. “Oh, you're talking about that. Yes, I know."

"What else would I be talking about?”

Santino considered this. "I'll find some time to go back and talk to her."

"Don't 'find some time.' Go now. If

you

sep

go back and talk some

into her, she's going to start

going after qur

dad'set

At this, Santino's composure finally broke. He looked at Clifford in astonishment.