Chapter 228: Quarrel

Seeing Miles York so furious, Alice Cole didn’t dare delay and hurried upstairs to fetch Brooke York.

Before heading down, however, she checked in with Brooke, worried her daughter might have done something behind her back.

“Brooke, your dad is incredibly angry. It looks like he’s ready to tear into you. Have you done something?” Alice figured that if Miles was this enraged, it was most likely because of Brooke. As she went upstairs to call her, she couldn’t help but wonder if Brooke had done something without her knowledge—something Miles had now found out about and was ready to hold her accountable for.

“Mom, what could I have possibly done? Besides that incident at the abandoned building… wait, is it about the abandoned building?” Brooke’s face paled at the thought. That matter was truly serious. Not only had Miles expressly forbidden her from doing it, but he had also already smoothed things over. Despite that, she had deliberately escalated the situation.

“Not necessarily,” Alice said, shaking her head. She reasoned that if it were about the abandoned building, Miles’s reaction wouldn’t have been like that. He probably would have lashed out at Alice first, then stormed upstairs to yell at Brooke himself, rather than just barking at her to go get their daughter. “Who knows what’s gotten into your dad this time. Just go downstairs. It’ll be fine; Mom will protect you.”

If it really was about the abandoned building, Alice already knew about it, so she wasn’t too concerned.

“Okay!” Comforted by Alice’s words, Brooke felt a little less afraid and followed her downstairs. But halfway down, she sensed that something was off in the air. Miles’s fury seemed immense; she could already feel the waves of his anger from where she stood.

Alice led Brooke the rest of the way. The moment they stepped off the bottom stair, Brooke met Miles’s glaring eyes, and a wave of panic instantly washed over her. Shrinking behind Alice instinctively, she felt as if Miles might lunge forward and strike her at any second.

“Brooke York, you really outdid yourself. I had no idea your heart was so black, that you could be so malicious.”

Unhappy to hear Miles scolding Brooke so harshly, Alice immediately stepped in, shielding Brooke like a mother bear protecting her cub. “Miles York, why are you being so fierce? Brooke is already in a bad mood, and you’re yelling at her like this. She isn’t one of your employees, so don’t you dare throw your weight around as a boss in this house! If your shouting causes her any distress, I won’t let you off the hook either!”

Miles had only scolded her briefly, but Alice instantly fired back with even greater ferocity.

“I get it now, Alice. You knew about this the entire time, didn’t you?” Miles was sharp; he immediately realized that Alice had known all along, and he was the only one kept in the dark. “Didn’t you tell her to drop it? Why did she still go and do something like this? It’s precisely because she committed such a harmful act that Sophie Lane exposed the whole thing!”

“Do you think Brooke wanted to do that? She was being threatened by Sophie! Who told that Sophie Lane to threaten Brooke in the first place?” Alice threw caution to the wind. Brooke had already done the deed anyway, and Sophie had already exposed the fact that Brooke had stolen someone else’s university spot. Since things had already reached this point, Alice decided to push all the blame onto Sophie. And it wasn’t really just shifting blame—it *was* Sophie’s fault. Who asked her to mess with Brooke?

Listening to this familiar evasion of responsibility, Miles scoffed. “Right, I understand. Your daughter can do no wrong. Who’s at fault? Chloe York. Sophie Lane. It’s always an outsider’s fault. Brooke is the most sensible one, the one who would never make a mistake.”

“Of course.” Alice completely missed the heavy sarcasm in his voice, taking his words as a given. In her mind, Brooke truly hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Alice, your daughter has already reached the point of utter derangement, and you’re still coddling her? Are you just going to let her run rampant?”

“What kind of nonsense is that? What do you mean Brooke is deranged? Is this what you call deranged? It’s called protecting herself! Is she deranged for protecting herself? Miles, do you even hear yourself?”

Miles retorted, “You want me to hear myself? I think you’re the one who needs to listen to what you’re saying! I already told both of you that I had handled the situation and that you didn’t need to get involved. I even made her promise not to threaten Brooke again, let alone appear in front of her.

“But you, Brooke! You took it upon yourself to show up right in front of her and have her tied up! You are a complete and utter disappointment.”

Hearing that last sentence, Brooke’s face drained of color. Her dad actually called her a complete disappointment. Did this mean he had completely given up on her?

Alice’s heart also skipped a beat at his words. But she knew she had to stay tough right now; the tougher she was, the less Miles could say. “Miles, let me tell you something. The deed is done, and scolding Brooke here is useless. What you should be doing is hurrying to resolve this issue. Besides, as far as I know, you already *have* resolved it. So what’s the point of being so aggressive with Brooke? What does it achieve, other than scaring her and damaging your relationship as father and daughter?”

Miles looked at Brooke, who was still cowering behind Alice, and a wave of exhaustion washed over him. “Forget it!” he thought. No matter what he said, Alice would always have her twisted logic ready.

“Fine, I can’t argue with you. Do whatever you want. I wash my hands of this!” With that, Miles stormed out of the house.

Only when she heard the front door close did Brooke step out from behind Alice.

“It’s okay, Brooke. The coast is clear,” Alice said, quickly turning to comfort Brooke once Miles was gone. She knew Brooke had definitely been frightened by Miles’s outburst and hurt by his harsh words.

“Mom, did we go too far this time? I feel like Dad is truly furious,” Brooke said, her voice laced with worry. She fretted over whether she had angered him so much that he was completely disappointed in her.

“Why do you care what he thinks? When is he *not* angry? And doesn’t he always end up dutifully cleaning up our messes afterward? So, you don’t need to overthink it. He’s your father. If he doesn’t protect you, who else is he going to protect?”

Alice was completely unconcerned. In her mind, Miles had never been genuinely angry. Every time they fought, as long as she spoke up first—no, sometimes she didn’t even need to say anything—Miles would take the initiative to reconcile with her. Because of this, she didn’t believe for a second that he would actually drift apart from them.

“Yeah! I understand.”

Seeing how unbothered Alice was, Brooke also relaxed a little. While Miles’s approval was important, Alice’s was crucial too. After all, her mother had always stood by her side. If Alice ever stopped supporting her, then she would truly be in trouble.