Bella's POV
I stared at Jasper with frigid contempt. "Ivy took off after Lord Thorne. Rather than questioning him about what went down, you're coming at me like I'm to blame. What—do I seem like such an easy target?"
A bitter laugh escaped my lips. "So this is the great Lord Jasper of the duke's estate? Pathetic. The supposedly grand duke's estate—it's crumbling to pieces."
The scorn blazing in my eyes struck Jasper like a dagger through his ribs.
But what wounded him more was my demeanor—the way I'd completely walled everyone out. I no longer regarded Genevieve as my mother, saw everyone around me as adversaries.
Even him, my own flesh and blood, was nothing to me. And here I was, openly wishing destruction on the family. I could see the question forming in his eyes: how had I become so ruthless, so utterly without feeling?
