Chapter 244 I Am Under Her Command

Chapter 244: Chapter 244 I Am Under Her Command

Laurel watched her closely. There was genuine pain beneath Margaret’s anger, but it had become so entangled with resentment that she seemed unable to distinguish the injuries she had suffered from the harm she had chosen to inflict.

"You may have been treated unfairly," Laurel said, "but that doesn’t explain why Grandpa was poisoned."

Margaret turned on her immediately. "Of course you’d defend them. They gave you the authority I was never allowed to have."

"Grandpa didn’t give me Vile Valley," Laurel replied evenly. "And whatever disagreements you have with him, they don’t change what happened to the people you imprisoned or the patients whose treatment you obstructed."

Margaret’s face flushed with anger. She was about to answer when hurried footsteps sounded behind them.

Grandma Wayne appeared at the end of the corridor, accompanied by a worried attendant. She had been told that Margaret was confronting Laurel near her husband’s ward, and she had come despite being advised to rest.

"What is happening here?" Grandma Wayne demanded. Her eyes moved from Alexander’s troubled face to Margaret’s furious expression. "Your father is still recovering. Must you quarrel outside his room?"

Margaret stared at her mother, and something in her expression changed. "Mother," she said bitterly, "perhaps you should stay. Alexander wants to know why I’ve become such a terrible person."

Grandma Wayne stiffened. "Margaret, this is neither the time nor the place."

"When would be the right time?" Margaret demanded. "After Father wakes up and orders me to apologize? After you tell me, once again, that I should be grateful for everything this family has given me?"

Grandma Wayne looked wounded. "We never asked you to be grateful for your own home."

"No," Margaret replied, her voice trembling. "You only expected me to remember my place in it."

Alexander felt his stomach tighten. He remembered arguments between his aunt and grandparents, usually ending with Margaret leaving the room in anger. He had always assumed they were ordinary disputes over family affairs. Now he wondered how much resentment had been growing beneath those quarrels.

How long has she hated them? And how did none of us see what it was becoming?

Grandma Wayne stepped closer, lowering her voice. "Margaret, whatever grievances you have against us, we can discuss them privately. Your father needs peace."

"Father needs peace?" Margaret repeated. "He nearly died, and that’s still all you care about. Have either of you ever cared what happened to me?"

"Enough," Alexander said, unable to hide the strain in his voice. "Grandpa is lying in that room because you poisoned him. Vera says you planned to make him unconscious. Stop turning this into an argument about whether the family appreciated you."

Margaret looked at him, breathing heavily.

For an instant, Laurel thought she might strike him. Instead, Margaret drew herself upright and gave a cold smile. "You sound exactly like your father. And besides, we only wanted him to sleep, where did you get the information that I poisoned him?"

Alexander went still.

Margaret seemed to realize the first half sentence she had said, because her expression flickered before hardening again.

"My father?" Alexander asked quietly. "What does he have to do with this?"

"Nothing," Margaret replied too quickly. "I only meant that he was just as self-righteous."

Grandma Wayne’s face had grown pale. "Margaret, don’t speak ill of the dead."

That warning seemed to provoke her further. "Of course," Margaret snapped. "We must never speak badly of him. He was the perfect son, wasn’t he? The one Father trusted with everything."

Alexander stared at his aunt, suddenly remembering the way she had always become silent whenever his parents were mentioned. He had mistaken it for grief.

Was she angry with them even after they died?

Before he could ask another question, Laurel stepped forward.

"Alexander, I think we should continue this somewhere private," she said. "Grandpa shouldn’t be disturbed, and there are too many ears."

Alexander nodded, although his attention remained fixed on Margaret.

A security officer led them to an empty consultation room nearby. Grandma Wayne followed reluctantly, and Felicia, who had been standing at a distance, was instructed to wait outside until she could be questioned separately.

Margaret disliked the arrangement immediately. She had entered the medical sector intending to confront Laurel, yet now she found herself seated across from Alexander while two officers remained near the door.

They’ve already decided I’m guilty. Even my own nephew is looking at me as though I’m a stranger.

Laurel placed the medical records on the table. "Let’s return to Grandpa’s poisoning," she said. "Vera described the meeting where you proposed making him sleep. She also said you told her and Felicia to leave the arrangements to you. Do you deny having that conversation?"

Margaret folded her arms. "I said Father needed to step aside. I never told anyone to kill him."

"Then who arranged for the poison?" Alexander asked.

"How should I know?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"You accused Enzo immediately after Grandpa collapsed," Laurel continued. "Yet you didn’t provide evidence, and you restricted the treatment that might have saved Grandpa’s life. Why?"

Margaret looked away. "I believed Enzo was responsible. The fortress was under threat, and I couldn’t allow his people to interfere."

"His people?" Laurel chuckled in disbelief. "That’s my people, Aunt Margaret, my faction. Attacking the leader of my faction, are you trying to stand against me?" Laurel’s gaze hardened as they held hers.

The tension in the air grew so tense, that a knife could slice through it.

Grandma Wayne pressed a hand against her chest, unable to bear the tense atmosphere.

"Margaret," she whispered, "please tell me you didn’t deliberately prevent the doctors from helping your father. And you didn’t mean to fight against Laurel’s faction."

Margaret avoided her mother’s gaze. The silence was enough to make Grandma Wayne’s eyes fill with tears.

"I raised you to be strong," the old woman said, her voice shaking. "I know your father and I made mistakes, but I never taught you to abandon your family when they needed you."

Margaret’s eyes flashed. "You raised me to obey. There’s a difference."

Grandma Wayne recoiled as though she had been struck.

Alexander watched them, feeling the familiar foundations of his family tremble beneath him. He wanted to defend his grandmother, but he could no longer pretend that Margaret’s bitterness had appeared from nowhere. At the same time, he couldn’t forget Grandpa’s helpless body or the innocent people who had suffered under his aunt’s orders.

Even if they wronged her, why did she choose to hurt everyone else?

Laurel closed the folder. "Margaret, we’re going to verify every part of your statement. Until then, you are just a member of the Wayne family, and you won’t have unsupervised access to Grandpa."

Margaret sprang to her feet. "You have no right!"

"I have a responsibility to protect the people living here," Laurel replied. "Including your father. And you were never meant to come in power, that is a terrible mistake, which caused the fortress everything. Do you think I don’t know what you did on the battlefield? This is not a barbie doll house. Don’t make me regret bringing you into the fortress."

Margaret looked towards Alexander, expecting him to object to Laurel’s words. Rather he remained seated for a moment, his face drained of color. Then he slowly rose. "I won’t interfere with the investigation, or with Laurel’s words. She is the boss of the fortress, even I am under her command." he said.

Margaret stared at him in disbelief. "Alexander, I’m your aunt."