Chapter 248: A storm [3]
"You are going too far, Damien. I corrected Jane’s behaviour, which is something you should have done long ago. What of all the times she insulted your wife? Or acted out of order?" Camille demanded, her voice sharp as she listed Jane’s mistakes.
"I punished her then. You are only justifying striking Jane because you were the one who did it. Should I take one of your children and strike them? They misbehave often enough, yet you only ever seem to focus on Jane," Damien replied, each word heavy with threat.
"Then again, you are hardly with your children, so you don’t know how they are. You don’t know how to speak to children because you don’t speak to your own," Damien added, his insult cutting Camille deep in her chest.
"Enough!" Camille cried, wounded by the attack on her motherhood. "I am a good mother. I give my children the care and attention they need. I have other duties alongside being their mother."
Camille would love to be at her children’s side almost every hour of the day, but she had duties to tend to.
"My mother never raised her hand to any of us. She was Lady Hawthorne, dividing her attention between us and her duties. I will not excuse what you did to Jane, especially when you show no remorse. I keep wondering, what if you were to raise your hand to my child?" Damien asked, unable to trust Camille.
Camille lifted her chin, desperate to show she wasn’t afraid. "If the situation calls for it, yes."
Damien’s hand shot forward, faster than Camille could react, clamping around her neck. His grip was iron, so Camille could not break free from it. "You will do no such thing. Where do you get off striking everyone’s child but your own? Are the hats you wear too tight? Have you lost your sense over the years?"
Camille gasped for air, her throat burning under his hold, and her eyes filling with tears. "Release me," she demanded, her voice breaking. "You are not to put your hand on me"
"Neither were you to put your hand on Jane," Damien hissed, his grip remaining firm. "But I see we are crossing lines today. You’ve grown far too bold. You cannot control your own home, so why would you think you could control mine?"
Never had Damien imagined harming Camille, yet her insolence left him with no choice.
"Jane is not your daughter for you to raise your hand to. Eloise is not your concern. She is my wife!" Damien’s voice echoed against the walls. "She doesn’t need your teachings to become a woman who sits alone, avoiding her children while her husband travels."
"Why do you think I didn’t send Eloise here with your little rascals?" Damien pressed, loosening his grip just enough for Camille to speak. "They misbehave. You cannot speak of Jane being spoiled when your children run around harming the servants.
"Your children run around making a mess, and rather than correct them, you blame the servants. Doesn’t this remind you of how you acted with Eloise’s father?"
Camille smacked his hand away, glaring at him with defiance. "Get out of my home!"
Damien’s gaze swept the bedchamber. "This home sits on my land. I don’t know if I consider you good tenants."
Camille laughed bitterly. "You cannot send us out. It is in my husband’s name, and you always forget that I am a Hawthorne. I have been here long before you were born."
"While you cut off the other relatives, I kept close ties. Ties that put me in good favour with them," Camille retorted.
Damien’s eyes hardened. "I don’t care who you are close to. If I kill all of you, I wouldn’t need to be bothered. The only Hawthornes I care for reside in the estate."
"I see now why grandfather overlooked you. It wasn’t because you are a woman. I can respect a woman for her knowledge. You received no compliments because you lacked both," Damien sneered.
"I was ignored because I am a woman!" Camille argued, rising to her feet. "I settled into that role because I was forced to. You will regret not listening to me, Damien. I am pleased you found love, but that woman knows nothing."
Camille faltered under Damien’s glare when she called Eloise ’that woman’, sinking back down.
"She is Lady Eloise Hawthorne," Damien corrected coldly.
"She is of low birth. If my brother were alive, he would never have allowed you to marry her. Eligible ladies lined up for you, yet you chose Eloise. I have accepted her-
"
"You haven’t," Damien cut her off. "If you pick at her background and what you think she lacks, then you haven’t accepted her. Fortunately, I don’t need you to."
"It amazes me that the only reason you kept in good graces with your husband was that Eloise’s father helped you. He helped you, you dismissed him, and now you pick at his daughter," Damien said, his disgust growing by the second.
"How am I to offer thanks or apologies to a dead man?" Camille blurted, the words spilling too quickly.
Damien loomed over her, his stare leaving an unsettling feeling in her chest. "You should start by fixing your tone. Once young and foolish, now old and foolish. Jane has nothing to learn from you."
"If you force Jane to be at your wife’s side, she will be laughed at. Eloise doesn’t know how to carry herself, and if you think that Countess can save her, you are mistaken. That woman is rude," Camille spat, her anger flaring at the mention of Viola.
"I should be the one to care for Jane. You scold her constantly, and she dislikes your wife. Why keep her when she doesn’t want to be there? I slapped her," Camille confessed, her voice trembling purposely for pity. "But only because she disrespected my marriage. She should know better."
"Did Jane tell you what she did to be slapped?"
"I haven’t spoken to Jane, nor do I need to. Seeing how you act now is enough. You and your family are banned from the estate-"
"Damien!" Camille exclaimed, rising again.
"Other than the four corners of your home, you are forbidden to set foot on my land or in any of my homes. I won’t send the town guards for you. I’ll imprison you myself. You, your husband, your pets, your servants, your in-laws. You can all rot in a cell together," Damien threatened, his voice carrying a chilling promise.
"You cannot do this," Camille whispered.
"Watch me," Damien replied. "I advise you not to walk around town just yet. I might not slap a woman, but I know a few women I could pay to give you a good slap."
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