Mrs. Hawke never imagined she''d find herself in such an awkward situation. She couldn''t believe that her daughter, whom she had raised with such care and attention, would disy such embarrassing behavior. At the Lancaster Group banquet, she chalked it up to Arabe defending the Hawke family''s honor. But now, Arabe''s repeated bouts of hysteria had her questioning whether it was something in their genes.


    The broken engagement was already a sore spot, and Arabe''s antics only added fuel to the fire.


    Mrs. Hawke, already miffed with the Zade family, found herself less indulgent toward Arabe than before. What once seemed like mere petnce now looked more like the imprudence of someone like Luna, which irritated her increasingly more.


    Arabe hadn''t quite recovered from the abrupt end of the phone call when she felt the weight of Mrs. Hawke''s displeased stare.


    She nced over immediately, wearing a look of hurt and sorrow. "Mom."


    She hoped, as she always had, to appear pitiful and evoke her mother''s sympathy andfort. That was how it had always been.


    And with the ckwell family calling off the engagement, it was clearly their fault, not hers. So really, she was the one who was wronged.


    But Mrs. Hawke shot back with a cold huff, "Do you even have the nerve to call me ''Mom''?"


    A flicker of fear crossed Arabe''s eyes. "Mom!"


    She called again, but Mrs. Hawke had already turned away in anger, heading upstairs.


    Alden took a deep breath, his voice low and stern. "Enough. Your mom''s had enough of this. With the ckwell family breaking off the engagement, you need to figure out what you''re going to do."


    Arabe bit her lip, tear stains filled with her face.


    "Dad, it was him who broke it off. Why is Mom angry at me?"


    Alden didn''t want to borate further, simply saying, "If this bes a scandal, it''ll be humiliating. I''ll talk to the ckwells again You should also think of a way to handle this. If it doesn''t work out the engagement is over"


    Arabe was confused. "Dad, he''s the one who wants to call it off. You still want me to marry him?" After all the humiliation, how could her father still push her towards Theo? Why couldn''t they find her a better match?


    Her father and brothers had always said that if Theo wasn''t good to her, they''d find her a better fiancé. Why was everything different now?


    She looked at her father''s grim face and her silent brothers, feeling a growing chill inside. What had changed? Why weren''t her brothers speaking up for her now?


    Alden frowned. "Why can''t you? Do


    .n


    you see otherdies behaving like you? Didn''t Theo adore you? Can''t you try to win him back? If this engagement falls through, how do you expect to find another match?"


    Arabe turned to Dorian, hoping for somefort, Thetter merely said, "Ourpany has a projecting up that requires cooperation with the ckwell family. A marriage union would be beneficial for


    business. Theo''s been triage


    of you


    for so long, no way he''d give up so easily; it would be a shame to call off the engagement."


    Orion couldn''t help but interject, "But, isn''t this a bit unfair to Be?"


    Alistair frowned. "Didn''t she used to like Theo a lot?"


    Lysander remained silent, but his tacit agreement was evident. Arabe''s face suddenly hardened with realization.


    "Is it because you think of me as just an adopted daughter, with no blood ties to you. Is that why you''ve changed?"


    She let out a bitterugh through her tears. "You all never let me suffer before. If it were Miranda, you wouldn''t treat her like this, would you?"