?Chapter 688:


    “How dare you use me like this? What are you trying to do?” Carole asked, her frustration clear.


    Ellie just smirked, unimpressed by Carole’s attempts to deny everything.


    Marvin, tired of the back-and-forth, made a bold proposal. “Carole, we’ll put snake-attracting powder where Baylee had her ident. You stay there for half a day, and we’ll call it even.”


    He thought that since Carole had harmed Baylee, she had to face the consequences on her own.


    Carole, unlike Baylee, didn’t have a loyal friend like Ellie toe to her aid, nor someone to organize a rescue helicopter for her. She found herself trapped with no escape.


    “You’re asking me to die! This is murder!” Carole shrieked, her voiceced with terror.


    Marvin chuckled, but the amusement never reached his eyes.


    “Carole,” he said smoothly, “everyone will believe it was an ident.” He was right. Just as they all suspected Carole’s schemes without concrete proof, her own “ident” would be seen the same way.


    Carole shook her head, her gaze darting between Ellie and Baylee, who regarded her with undisguised disdain.


    To Carole, Marvin was the executioner, already raising the axe.


    Tears welled in her eyes as she reached for Katharine’s sleeve, desperation etched across her face. “Katharine…”


    Katharine’s voice was cold as she pulled her sleeve away. “Carole, I warned you. Using the marriage alliance to get close to Kaiden and Leo was thest favor the Lambert family would extend.”


    Her gaze hardened. “You shouldn’t have interfered with Elsie’s matters.”


    Every chapter lives on g a lno vels ;m


    Baylee’s eyes flickered towards Ellie.


    Ellie had always been sensitive about the Lambert–Thorpe marriage alliance. Carole had once misled her into believing she was betrothed to Kaiden, making Ellie feel like a mistress.


    Was Carole recing someone named Elsie?


    And if Ellie truly was Elsie, then wasn’t she the one destined to be with Kaiden? A surge of resentment filled Carole. Elsie again.


    In her mind, using the unused marriage arrangement was perfectly reasonable. So why was she being cast out by the Lambert family? Wasn’t an adopted daughter still a daughter of the Lambert family?


    But dwelling on this wouldn’t save her.


    Tears streaming down her face, Carole approached Kaiden. “Kaiden…”


    Before she could reach him, Ellie stepped in, blocking her path.


    “Miss Lambert, it’s best for you to maintain a respectful distance from my husband.”


    The feigned kindness usually present in Carole’s eyes vanished, reced by a cold, obsessive glint. It was as if she were trying to drill holes through Ellie with her gaze.


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