CHAPTER 191: APOLOGY! FAKE OR REAL?

Rininwonderland! Wow babes, thanks for the gift honey. I love you 🫶

This Chapter is all yours, enjoy! (⁠~⁠￣⁠³⁠￣⁠)⁠~

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Penny opened her mouth to speak, but Maybelline’s theatrics cut her short.

"It’s all my fault," she cried, her voice breaking as her tears slid down her cheeks. Maybelline threw her hands like a helpless broken woman and Abby didn’t hesitate to fall to her side as her support.

To an outsider, she might have looked like a broken, regretful mother. But those who knew her saw only performance.

Penny almost scoffed at her mother’s behavior. This wouldn’t be the first time this woman was calling for a truce. Penny knew she was doing this for Ariana. Though a part of her wanted to believe it was true this time.

This fight between both girls was a family fight. Raphael thought. But what he didn’t understand was why Ariana would try to harm her half sister from what they all heard.

"I should never have tried to separate you two as children," Maybelline wailed. "I’m sorry for everything Ariana did to you, Penelope dear. Mother is truly sorry." She clutched at the hem of Penny’s dress as though her own life depended on it as she cried bitterly.

"I have been the worst mother," she sobbed louder. "Don’t forgive me. Hate me if you must, but don’t hate your sister. What she did was wrong, Penelope, but please forgive her."

Behind Penny, Osvaldo stood like a shadow. His golden eyes narrowed, his jaw tight. Maybelline had dared to bring fake gifts into his house, dared to act pitiful in front of his wife. He knew his Penguin so well, her heart still longed for her mother’s love, and that softness was dangerous.

"That is why I picked the best gifts for you, Penny dear," Maybelline tried again, her voice pleading. "Let us put all this behind us. Let peace reign." she pushed her box of fake jewels forward.

Maybelline’s words were still hanging in the air when the sound of an engine ripped through the silence. A black Bugatti slid to a halt before the Adkins estate.

Xavier Bloodsworth had arrived.

He had been given permission to see his daughter whenever he wished, though the Adkins made sure he understood, Penelope was bound to Osvaldo for life. He could never separate them.

Weeks had passed since he’d last laid eyes on her. He had missed too many years of her life already, and when he finally had the chance, fate had tied her to a man everyone called a madman.

A useless man.

His daughter was too little to be a wife, she wasn’t even of age to be married. Neither did she attend college. She should be abroad by now studying for a better future, not to be tied to a mad heir.

He had no idea if he was cursed or not. Was nature punishing him because of his deed of the past?

Still, he had made peace with his guilt, had apologized again and again. If they wouldn’t let him take his daughter into his own home, then he would protect her here, even if it meant clashing with the Adkins heir.

Xavier expected the worst, his daughter bruised, broken, or in tears. Instead, he stepped out of his car to find her radiant, dressed like a fairy, while powerful men and women knelt before her with priceless gifts.

How was this possible?

Everyone knew Dewitt Adkins and Darlington commanded such respect. But the mad heir? The useless son? Since when could he summon the nation’s elite to bow before him?

He had heard the Adkins Armies have been summoned and they were around the city searching for a man, but he thought those were just mere words to scare people.

Had this useless boy truly summoned the Adkins armies?

Was he really not useless after all?

The sight unsettled Xavier almost as much as it shocked the people still kneeling. Their unease doubled now that he was here. If appeasing Penny had been difficult before, it was hopeless now. Xavier Bloodsworth was not just a father, he was a storm in human form.

The next most feared man in the country. A man with so much power that had high men shaking.

They had thought Penny was the tiger’s daughter. What they failed to see was the beast standing right behind her. A beast set to devour.

Dewitt hadn’t just made his son mad, he had turned him into a destructive weapon, one made to kill only.

Love should never be a subject to Osvaldo. He should never care for anyone, but his Penguin had evoked his human side too.

"Penelope."

Xavier’s voice cut through the air. Penny’s head snapped up, and in an instant, she ran into his arms.

She had feared her father’s anger, had dreaded that he might cast her away. But here he was. Her chest heaved as she melted into his embrace, clinging as if afraid he might disappear.

"Daddy..." she whispered, tears burning her lashes.

Xavier tightened his arms around her. For the first time since stepping into the estate, his cold expression softened and he smiled. "How are you, my little one?"

"I’m fine," she whispered back, gazing up at him. Her blue eyes reflected him so perfectly that his heart melted. This was his child. His seed. The last piece of him that mattered in this world.

"I’m sorry for lying that day..." she began, voice cracking.

"It’s alright. Now is not the time," he said gently, brushing her hair back. Then, to everyone’s shock his smile widened.

Prince Raphael’s eyes widened. Xavier Bloodsworth... smiling?

This monster knew how to smile? And he looked even more handsome while he smiled.

Now they could all see why Penny’s beauty was not random. She was her father’s daughter. Where Ariana had always paled in comparison, Penny glowed like living fire, because she carried his blood.

The women present shifted uncomfortably, their gazes sneaking to their own husbands. Xavier was everything they secretly wished for, rich, powerful, breathtakingly handsome, cruel yet magnetic. He was danger wrapped in elegance, the kind of man who could make any woman’s heart betray her.

"What is going on here?" Xavier’s voice hardened as he pulled away from Penny. His eyes scanned the men still on their knees, and they lowered their heads further, trembling.

Prince Raphael looked away. Mr. Jones opened his mouth to explain, but Maybelline rushed forward instead, collapsing at Xavier’s feet.

It was the first time she had come this close to him since the sins of their past bound them together.

"Please," she begged, clutching his shoes. "Help me beg Penny to forgive me. I had no idea how deeply I hurt her until now. Penny is my child too, along with Ariana. They’re my life. I would die if anything happened to them!"

Hughes rolled her eyes from the corner. If Maybelline was truly sorry, why had she brought fake gifts for Miss Penny? Her sobbing was nothing but a mask.

Xavier’s glare darkened. "What is going on here?" he demanded again.

This time Timothy stepped forward, his voice steady but low.

"These families are the parents of the girls who tried to unalive Mrs. Adkins... and so my master has asked for atonement." Xavier’s face darkened at his words.

What the hell was he saying?

Who dared touch his child?

"And I said I do not want your gifts. I don’t have a use for them." Penny said calmly. She was about to speak more when someone finally said.

"Hmm." Every eyes turned to the Adkins mad heir. He just spoke for the first time since they were here.

Osvaldo immediately threw his hair backwards and his face finally came to view. Every eyes turned wide at the sight of the heir.

They could all finally see his face. He was the strange man that had stirred certain conversation that day at the Bloodsworth’s reunion party. That man that day, he was the Adkins heir.

Osvaldo’s golden eyes met each and everyone of their gazes. Abby and Maybelline both moved backwards at his stare. Even though he looked his usual mad, something about this man was different today.

His eyes held no warmth at all. Just emptiness. Deep emptiness. They watched his lips move, waiting for him to say something. They each held their breaths waiting for him to destroy the rumors about his mental illness. But his next move destroyed whatever doubt they had in their mind about him.

Osvaldo suddenly smiled. The smile reaching his eyes. And then just like that, he showed his 32 teeth. His smile was too wide, too bright... Too wrong.

Maybelline and Abby moved back a little signalling the others, but they didn’t bulge. It seemed like they were all hypnotized by the man before them. Like they were all under a spell.

For a moment, Penny wondered if Osvaldo had gone mad again. But he had been okay only a few minutes back.

She really didn’t understand this man. He suddenly jumped, spun and started clapping. Laughing so loud while he did so.

Xavier quickly pulled his daughter behind him immediately.