The Flower That Grew from Ashes novel Chapter 25

But she saw another detail crystal clear.

She saw the look Lizzie gave Clarissa the moment the younger woman finished speaking.

It was a gaze filled with warmth, heartache, closeness, and even a faint trace of... anticipation.

It was a look Lizzie had never, not once, directed at Annelise, her official daughter-in-law.

Annelise's heart felt as though it were being marinated in pure lemon juice, aching with a bitter, acidic sting.

The charity auction that followed pushed this silent, targeted humiliation to its absolute peak.

Lizzie bid generously, securing several wildly expensive items in a row.

Finally, when the finale piece—an exquisite emerald necklace—was presented, the atmosphere in the room ignited.

The bidding started at one million.

After several rounds of fierce competition, the price skyrocketed.

Finally, Lizzie raised her paddle.

"Two million."

The room went dead silent.

The auctioneer slammed the gavel.

Amidst thunderous applause, the two-million-dollar emerald necklace, resting in a velvet box, was brought over to Lizzie.

Everyone assumed the matriarch had purchased it to comfort her one and only daughter-in-law, Annelise.

After all, she had just "lost" a child; it was the exact moment a prominent family would offer a lavish consolation gift.

Even Annelise, for a brief second, fell for the illusion.

Then, she watched Lizzie open the box, pick up the dazzling necklace, completely ignore her, and turn directly to Clarissa.

With her own hands, Lizzie fastened the necklace around Clarissa's snow-white neck.

She patted Clarissa's hand and, in front of hundreds of guests, spoke in a tone of overwhelming maternal affection.

"Clarissa, you've worked so hard keeping the fort down for the Lehman family all these years."

"Consider this necklace my compensation to you."

With one sentence, another bomb of information dropped.

What did she mean by "keeping the fort down"?

What "compensation"?

The ballroom fell into a deathly hush for a moment before erupting into applause even more thunderous than before.

Everyone understood.

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