Chapter 87

A piercing wail shattered the quiet of the room. Everyone's head snapped toward the sound.

Halston was crouched on the floor, face in his hands, sobbing uncontrollably. Clifford stood calmly beside him, still examining the toy gun as if the boy's cries were nothing but ambient noise. He might as well have had a sign that read, "Yes, I shot him."

Latisha's hands clenched at her sides, her heart beginning to pound.

Yolanda and Reuben were the first to rush over. Yolanda swept Halston into her arms, frantically checking his face for injury.

"Halston, what's wrong?"

The boy was crying too hard to speak. A red welt was already forming at the corner of his eye. His skin was so delicate that the whole area was flushed, making the mark from the pellet stand out starkly.

The sight sent a surge of fury through Yolanda. She glared at Clifford. "What do you think you're doing?"

Clifford finally looked up, his tone infuriatingly casual. "It's a tiny plastic pellet. How much could it possibly hurt?"

"You..."

He had thrown her own words back in her face, leaving her speechless, a ball of rage stuck in her throat.

Clifford's gaze was cold and distant, as if he were looking down on them all. "Or would you like to try it yourself?"

"Don't you go too far, Clifford!" Yolanda shot to her feet. "You're a thirty-year-old man picking on a seven-year-old child! What kind of man are you?"

"Yolanda, don't be so dramatic. When was I picking on him? You're the one making a scene over a single plastic pellet. Who's the one really being petty here?"

Yolanda felt like she might faint from sheer rage. She couldn't win an argument with him, and she certainly couldn't win a fight. The helpless frustration was suffocating.

Santino walked over and bent down to inspect Halston's eye. "It's not serious," he said smoothly. "Yolanda, I think you should just let it go.”

Yolanda shot him a venomous look, tempted to tell him to mind his own business he had married into the family, after all-but she didn't want to completely alienate Renata She took a deep breath and forced the anger down.

"Fine," she snapped. "There are more of you than there are of me. I can't win. I shouldn't have come today."

Cradling the still-sobbing Halston, she turned to Wallace. "Dad, don't invite us to these gatherings anymore. We're clearly not welcome. We're leaving."

Wallace's face was like thunder, but before he could speak, Yolanda had already stormed out.

Polly sighed. "Yolanda is always so hot-headed."

Wallace shot her a look, then stood up and went upstairs, done with the whole charade.

"Santino, let's go to bed.” Renata, who had stayed out of the fight, spoke up her face grim. The maids gossip had already put her on edge, and now, watching Santing openly. take Latisha's side had made her suspicions grow exponentially.

Though Santino had married in, Renata never felt she had any power over him. He was like the wind, impossible to grasp. She constantly felt as though he could leave her at any moment. After two years of marriage, she didn't know him at all. His temper was almost too good, as the cared about nothing and feared no loss. That lack of control left Renata in a perpetual state of anxiety.

Santino nodded and walked over to Renata, and they went upstairs together. As he passed Latisha, she glanced up and met his gaze. It was deep and meaningful, holding an unspoken message she couldn't decipher.