The Strong-Willed Sean O'Connor

CHAPTER 6

Eleanor nodded frantically. "That's what he said!"

Rosalind's expression darkened. Her fingers curled into fists at her sides. She had always known Sean as calm and collected, but she had never imagined he was capable of something like this.

She couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to make him react that way.

‘Was he mad about the divorce and took it out on Julian?’ she thought.

"Are you talking about Victor Stroud?" Chloe asked, disbelief coloring her tone. "Are you sure you saw the right person?"

Eleanor turned to glare at her. "Are you saying I don’t know what I saw?!"

Chloe immediately backed off. "I'm sorry if it came across that way," she said quietly.

Lillian stepped forward, her eyes sharp with tension. "Rosalind, you need to talk to Sean. He went too far this time. Beating Julian like that? It’s completely unacceptable."

As far as Lillian was concerned, she wasn’t about to let Sean off the hook—not after the fear he put them through.

Rosalind’s chest tightened. "What exactly happened?" she asked, her voice low and guarded.

She wasn’t one to jump to conclusions—not when it came to her mother and siblings. She knew exactly how they were.

Eleanor and Lillian exchanged a quick glance. Then Eleanor spoke.

"Sean showed up at the house and said he was going to take a few things. Julian went downstairs to talk to him—that's all. He didn’t even get a chance to speak before Sean snapped. He punched him, shoved him to the ground... it was brutal," Eleanor said.

Lillian nodded quickly. "We had to call someone to help Julian up. His lip was bleeding, and his arm looked twisted. Sean didn’t even flinch—just stormed out like nothing happened."

Rosalind’s eyes narrowed. Something felt off. Sean wasn’t the type to lose control without a reason. Still, if what they said was true... then he had gone too far.

"Even if Mister Springfield did something," Chloe said cautiously, "Sean had no right to beat him up like that. What else could it be, if not him taking out his frustration from the divorce on your little brother?"

‘They’re right,’ she thought grimly. ‘Even if Julian had said something wrong, Sean had no right to lay a finger on him. No excuse justifies that kind of violence.’

Anger surged quietly inside her, steady and sure. ‘This is exactly why I left him. I was right to walk away. I thought I’d seen the worst of him, but clearly, there was more beneath the surface—something I refused to see back then.’

"Fine," she said coldly. "I'll handle it."

"You have to deal with him now!" Lillian snapped. "He must be—"

Rosalind rubbed her temples and glanced at Julian, who was still groaning. "Shouldn’t someone take him to the hospital first?"

Without waiting, Eleanor rushed toward the guards. "Get Julian to the hospital. Now!"

"There’s no time!" Lillian pressed. "You can't let Sean get away with this. He didn't just beat up Julian—he drained the pond and left your koi flopping on the ground!"

Rosalind’s brows twitched. "What? He did what?"

"Yes!" Eleanor returned, breathless. "That bastard drained the pond for no reason—and he knew those fish were your favorite!"

That was it. Something in Rosalind snapped. He touched my family. Now my koi too?’

Without hesitation, Rosalind yanked out her phone and dialed Sean’s number, her fingers trembling—not with fear, but with fury.

In the car with Victor, Sean glanced at his phone when it rang. Seeing Rosalind’s name flash on the screen, his brows furrowed. He shoved the phone back into his pocket.

There was no need to pick up. She had just divorced him. What was there to say?

The phone rang once more before silence settled.

Rosalind’s glare pierced the screen as the call ended. 'Is he ignoring me now?'

Sean never ignored her calls. He always picked up immediately, making her feel like he had nothing else to do. ‘Did he suddenly get busy?’

Frustration bubbled as the phone went unanswered.

"Did that bastard just ignore you?!" Chloe questioned, her brows twitching in anger.

Fury boiling over, Rosalind slammed her finger down on the dial button again. This time, Sean picked up.

"What?" his voice came from the other end.

"Did you really drain the pond and leave my koi to die?" Rosalind’s voice was sharp, cold with fury.

There was a brief pause before Sean's voice came through, calm yet edged with annoyance. "Is that what you're calling me about?"

"Don’t act like you don’t know exactly what I’m talking about!" Rosalind shot back, her hands tightening around the phone. "You think you can just do whatever you want now? You have no right to touch my family or my koi!"

Another long pause. "I had no idea what happened to your koi since I did nothing to it," Sean said, his tone turning icy.

Her pulse quickened, anger flooding her veins. "You think you can lie to me?"

"It’s the truth. And did you ask them what really happened before calling me?"

"No matter what they did, you don’t have the right to hit my brother! Are you mad at me for divorcing you? So you take out your anger on my brother and destroy the fish you know I care about?!"

Sean paused. This was the first time he had heard her this angry, and her voice wasn’t even trying to understand his side. It sounded like she had already judged him guilty.

"Did you ever ask yourself what your family did to me?" Sean finally asked, his voice darkening.

Rosalind scoffed, rolling her eyes even though he couldn’t see her. "I don’t care. You don’t deserve my sympathy, Sean. And you're not going to get an ounce of it now. You owe me an apology, not just for the koi, but for everything."

There was another pause, longer this time, as Sean’s frustration began to leak through.

"You think I owe you an apology?" His voice turned dangerously low.

"Yes," Rosalind said flatly. "You should have thought before acting. Apologize to my brother, apologize to me. And stop acting like I owe you anything."

When Sean said nothing, she pressed on.

"This is the last chance I’m offering you. If you don’t go to the hospital to apologize to Julian this instant, I will—"

"Do what?" Sean asked. "I did beat your brother. It should have been your sister, but I don’t hit females. So what are you going to do? Send some men to beat me up?"

"How could—"

"Do whatever you want, Ms. Springfield," Sean cut her off. "I’ll be waiting for whatever you decide to do to me later. But I won’t be apologizing to Julian, nor will I apologize to Lillian or your mother."

Before Rosalind could respond, Sean ended the call.

Her anger reached its peak. She threw her phone to the ground, making her mother flinch.

This was the first time Sean had spoken back to her like that—and she didn’t like it one bit.

"How could he do that?" Chloe was livid. "Do you need me to deal with him?"

Teeth gritting, Rosalind took a deep breath and shook her head. "No need. We came here to pick something up. I’ll deal with him later. Let’s focus on that."

Hearing that, Eleanor immediately frowned. "What could be more important than your own brother?"

"We’ve been offered an opportunity to become a business partner, but to secure it, we need to prove ourselves worthy. We need to land the upcoming deal with Langdon Industries. If I can pull that off, the partnership is mine," Chloe explained.

Hearing that, Eleanor beamed, instantly forgetting about her son—or her anger. "As long as you’ll deal with Sean later, go ahead and make arrangements."