Their Queen's Back - Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Skye's scathing sarcasm sent Richard and Eleanor into a towering rage, their faces flushing crimson with fury.
"You ungrateful wretch! Skye, kneel this instant!" Eleanor bellowed, her face dark with rage.
Skye sneered coldly and led Sophia to the sofa, sitting down with deliberate defiance.
Eleanor's vision blurred with rage, her chest heaving violently as she gasped for breath.
"You... you...!" Eleanor sputtered, her voice trembling with rage.
Seeing his mother so upset, Richard roared at the two sisters, "Skye! Sophia! Kneel down this instant—show some respect, that's your grandmother!"
Linda gently stroked Eleanor's back, her voice reproachful yet tinged with resignation.
Linda said gently, "Skye, Sophia, you may not realize this, but your grandmother's health has been fragile for years. If you upset her any further, it would be the gravest disrespect. Just listen to her—kneel down and apologize, and we can put this all behind us."
Unbothered, Skye poured herself a glass of water, treating Linda as if she were invisible—not even sparing her a glance.
Linda's face turned livid as she clenched her teeth. "Skye is indeed the most troublesome one," she thought. "I can't allow her to stay here and threaten my position."
"You two ungrateful daughters! How dare you defy me?" Richard, burning with rage, glared fiercely at Skye.
Skye offered a cold, faint smile. Her eyes were as frosty and aloof as ice, utterly devoid of emotion. The sheer force of her presence was overwhelming—a single razor-sharp glance from those piercing eyes was enough to send chills down anyone's spine.
Meeting Skye's icy gaze, Richard felt a chill creep up from his feet to his very core. For a fleeting moment, he seemed to see that formidable woman—Margaret—standing before him again.
Richard swallowed hard, a wave of panic washing over him.
"Father, the only reason I still call you that is for the sake of the Hughes name. But if you keep calling me an ungrateful wretch, we can cut ties for good. Let me make one thing clear: if you sever our relationship, every Hughes asset—the cars, the houses, the company, everything—will be mine alone. Have you forgotten my methods? I can notarize everything right now and guarantee you won't get a single cent. I've been kind enough to let you put on airs here, but frankly, it hasn't even been that long and it seems the fox has started believing its own disguise as the tiger."
"You... you...!" Richard sputtered, choking with rage, unable to get another word out.
And Skye was right—once disowned, he'd be nothing but an outsider, not getting a single penny from the Hughes fortune.
Eleanor jabbed a finger at Skye, her voice dripping with venom. "You ungrateful little bitch! Just like your mother—nothing but trouble, both of you. Homewreckers, the pair of you! Your mother deserved to die young!"
The moment Skye heard Eleanor insult her mother, her face turned to ice. Without hesitation, she snatched up the glass of water in front of her and flung it straight into Eleanor's face.
Eleanor shrieked in shocked outrage.
Even Linda was startled. In her mind, she thought in shock, "How could Skye be so brazen, showing not the slightest respect for her elders—not even for the matriarch!"
Skye showed not a shred of mercy.
"What a tough nut to crack," Linda thought.
Skye rose slowly to her feet, her gaze icy. "It seems you still haven't learned your place. That title means nothing to me. If you'd just kept quiet like the invisible old woman you are—with one foot already in the grave—maybe, when I was in a good mood, I'd still call you 'Grandmother' and let you enjoy your luxuries. But since you insist on trampling my patience, from today on, not a single Hughes penny will ever touch your hands."
Eleanor was stunned by Skye's outrageous defiance—so brazen, so utterly unreasonable! "That ungrateful wretch!" she fumed inwardly, her anger boiling over.
Nothing could shake her.
If that wretched girl really cut ties with Richard, Eleanor knew she wouldn't get a single penny from the Hughes fortune.
"Talk about a backfire!" Eleanor thought bitterly.
Eleanor thought bitterly, "I should've known it all along. This wretched girl is the spitting image of Margaret from back then."
Both were women beyond the Hughes' control.
Skye said coldly, "Don't even think about cursing my mom. If it weren't for her back then, you'd probably still be rotting in some godforsaken corner."
"You... you... you!" Eleanor sputtered, her face turning purple with rage.
Eleanor was left utterly speechless for a long moment. She had to admit—everything the Hughes possessed was due to that woman, Margaret.
Richard's face darkened instantly, his fists clenching. The humiliating truth was staring him in the face, yet he stubbornly refused to accept it.
Everyone said Richard had climbed to the top by riding on Margaret's coattails.
Without Margaret, Richard would be nothing.
He had once loved Margaret, but when everyone mocked him as just a kept man, his love for her slowly morphed into hatred.
Richard fumed, "It's all Margaret's fault for being so headstrong. If she'd just handed Hughes Corporation over to me and stayed home as a proper wife, people wouldn't be looking down on me now."
"It's all that bitch Margaret's fault!" Richard fumed inwardly.
Skye looked Richard straight in the eye and said coldly, "Father, my ten-year absence has proven you're utterly unfit to run the company. I know you've always resented Mother and felt ashamed of your 'less-than-glorious' status. But search your conscience—if our roles were reversed, could you really have built the Hughes empire? If you truly had the ability, Hughes Corporation wouldn't be in this pitiful state today—a crumbling wreck, barely clinging to life, with every opportunist taking their kicks at it."
Skye's words struck like a barrage of daggers, piercing straight through Richard's proud and arrogant ego, leaving his pride in tatters.
He gritted his teeth and remained silent. After a long moment, a defeated look crept into his eyes.
"All of you, come in now!"
Skye called toward the door, and in strode the butler, housekeeper, chef, and servants—all familiar faces who had served the Hughes a decade ago.
Skye had every one of them tracked down and brought back. After she left and Linda entered the family, Linda fired all the old staff and replaced them with her own people.
As Richard looked at these familiar faces, a flood of memories overwhelmed him, leaving him momentarily dazed. For an instant, it felt as if time had rewound to those long-gone years when he was with Margaret.
Miss Skye!
Skye commanded, "From today, you're all officially reinstated. Wendy, check my mother's room and compare everything against the inventory she left. If anything is missing, search every room. If you still can't find it, call the police—any single missing item meets the threshold for criminal charges. Butler, I find the living room decor unacceptable. Ask Lauren about my preferred style and have it redone today. Chef, prepare lunch. I'll come down after a short rest."