Chapter 23

Chapter 23 Chapter 23 61%a Logan saw Elysia and a smile spread across his face. He pointed to the empty seat next to him and said, “Hey, Elysia, come sit here.”

Emma watched, her jealousy building. Earlier, when she complained to Logan, he didn’t comfort her at all. But now, as soon as Elysia showed up, he greeted her with a big smile–it was obvious favoritism.

As Elysia walked by and prepared to sit next to Logan, Bella scoffed, “What terrible manners!”

Elysia frowned and shot back, “I have no manners because I’ve been an orphan my whole life. I think you should reflect on more as my parents”

owned too. “Bella, that’s way out of line to say that to Elysia.”

Bella looked annoyed and was about to snap back when Scott shouted angrily, “Enough!”

Instantly, the living room fell silent.

Emma sensed something was wrong, and she felt tears start to well up in her eyes. “Dad...” Scott looked at her, his brow furrowed. “Tell me, what exactly is going on?”

Emma panicked, losing her confidence. She stammered, “Dad, the truth... it’s just like I told you.” “Unrepentant!” Scott snapped and then turned to the butler beside him. “Paul, go get the whip”

Emma trembled uncontrollably. “Dad, you have to believe me, please.”

Bella’s expression darkened. “Scott, what did Emma do to deserve that?”

Paul hesitated. The punishment of a whip was too severe, and he worried whether Emma could handle it, Scott didn’t respond to Bella; instead, he shot an angry glare at Paul “What? Am I not being taken seriously?” Sweat beaded on Paul’s forehead as he quickly replied, “I’ll get it right away.” Then, he rushed out.

Leven more flustered as she watched Paul leave.

Emma felt In contrast to the growing tension in the room, Elysia looked totally unfazed, almost like she was enjoying the drama happening around her. She hadn’t anticipated that Scott would deal with Emma using a whip–Emma was about to get a tough lesson.

Logan leaned in close to Elysia and asked cautiously, “What did fumma do to make Scott this angry?”

“A big mistake,” Elysia replied.

Logan rolled his eyes.

That answer didn’t tell him much. Clearly, it would have been a serious issue if it had come awhip.

Before he could ask anything else, Paul returned with a tray. On the tray lay the whip.

Emma’s stomach–dropped. She nervously slid off the couch and Mood before Scott. “Dad, I really know I was wrong. Please forgive me.”

15 Tue, Jan 20 Chapter 23 With that, tears streamed down her face as she turned to Bella. “Mom, please ask Dad to forgive the Bella felt more and more distressed. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she said, “Scott, Emma has been pampered since she was a child. How can she handle this kind of punishment?”

Elysia couldn’t help but scoff silently. If she were the one facing punishment, Bella wouldn’t plead or shed a tear for her at all. In fact, she would probably think it was deserved.

Sometimes, Elysia envied Emma. Bella’s love was genuine and strong enough to defend her against Scott Maybe that was what motherly love looked like. But it just wasn’t meant for Elys.

Scott looked at the sobbing Emma, irritation clear on his face. “What did you do wrong?”

Emma felt conflicted. She wasn’t sure how much he actually knew or how much she should confess. If she shared too little much, it would be like admitting or said the wrong thing, she wouldn’t escape this punishment. But if she said to everything.

So, she decided to take a gamble. “I... I shouldn’t have lied?”

“Keep talking!” Scott’s voice contained a hint of anger.

Emma wiped her tears and continued, “I shouldn’t have deceived you. The necklace didn’t end up in my bag because of Elysia. I put it in her bag myself.

“I thought it would be a joke. I didn’t mean for the necklace to end up in my bag. Out of anger, I lied to you”

Emma tried to downplay her actions as just a prank, but everyone there knew better. It was clear she had crossed a line.

Bella frowned, but she didn’t blame Emma. Deep down, she believed that Emma’s sneaky behavior was because Elysia was back in town.

If Elysia hadn’t returned, Emma would still be the sweet, innocent lady. Bella she felt just like Emma–she wished Elysia had never come back?

Logan, on the other hand, looked upset and shouted, “Is that supposed to be funny?”

He hadn’t liked Emma much before, but it was mostly because she was always crying. Even when she talked badly about Elysia in front of him, he had thought it was just typical girl drama.

But now, he was shocked to learn that Emma had actually plotted to hurt someone–especially his own sister. That was too much.

He turned to Scott and said, “You’re right. If she’s made such a serious mistake, she deserves the whip.”

Emma felt a wave of despair. ‘How could Logan turn against me like this? This is all Elysia’s fault!

At first, Scott hesitated. He didn’t want to be too harsh, concerned that the punishment might leave a permanent scar, Be had worked so hard to raise Emma, and he didn’t want all of his efforts to be in vain.

Yet, Logan’s words reminded Scott of his earlier doubts. He recalled Elysia’s comments front the study and paused for a moment. Then he looked at Emma and said, “Given how you’ve admitted your mistake, you’ll only get two light lashes as a warning Emma collapsed to the floor. ‘How could Dad still resort to pun ment after everything I explained? This is all Elysia’s fault everything is because of her Bella’s face turned pale. Scott, maybe we should just drop this:

14:18 Tue, Jan 28 Chapter 23 Scott shot her a cold glare. ‘She is like this because of you, yet you won’t even take a moment to think about it.” With that, he snatched the whip from the tray held by Paul and gestured to two servants, “Bring her over here.”

The servants quickly moved forward, dragging Emma along. She bit her lip and stood in front of Scott.

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Scott raised the whip and brought it down hard. Blood splattered on Emma’s clothes, showing just how much power he’d put into the strike.

But when the second lash came down, Bella rushed forward to shield Emma. The whip struck Bella’s back instead. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at Scott and said, “You blame me for hot raising her right. Then I should bear this punishment for her.