Chapter 180
Briana stumbled a few steps before finally steadying herself.
Matilda glared at her. She said. “We don’t want to see you. Never appear before us again, Mrs. Carter. Is that clear? You’re a big shot in Belaris, everyone fawns over you. The Parker family is beneath you
“Mrs. Parker,” Briana said, her voice trembling. “L”
“What did you just call me?” Matilda snapped, cutting her off. “Mrs. Carter? Please don’t call me that. Just hearing it makes my skin crawl.”
“Mrs. Parker,” Briana insisted, her voice steadying. “Henry is the reason I’m still alive. From now on, I want to honor you both in his place. I know you hate me, but I have to own up to my responsibilities.
Kolson waved his hand, impatient. He said, “We don’t need you. Just go.”
After losing their son, there was no way the Parkers could be nice to Briana right now.
Briana started to speak, but the words died in her throat.
‘I’ll take it slow, Briana thought. ‘Time will wash it all away!‘
The Parkers wouldn’t be able to forgive or accept her for a long time.
“Alright,” Briana said, nodding. “I’ll go.”
She gave Henry one last, lingering look before turning to leave.
The chill of the morgue was more than her body could handle now.
If she stayed any longer, she was afraid she’d pass out again.
Just as she reached the door, Briana came face to face with a man in a suit who looked like he was in a rush.
He looked familiar.
She couldn’t help but take a few extra glances at him.
The man noticed her, too, and paused. He said, “Ms. Lane, it’s me. Do you remember me?”
These days, everyone called her Mrs. Carter.
Hardly anyone called her Ms. Lane anymore.
And honestly, the only people who would show up at the morgue right now were probably connected to Henry in some way.
After a moment, Briana asked, “You’re his assistant, right?”
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Chapter 180
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“Yes,” the assistant nodded. He said, “Ms. Lane, lucky we ran into each other. I don’t have to make a special trip now. I have something for you.”
As he spoke, the assistant started rummaging through his bag.
Briana just watched quietly.
“To be precise, Mr. Parker entrusted me to hand this over to you,” the assistant said, pulling out a box. “Normally, Mr. Parker would have given this to you himself, but given the circumstances, I have to do it for him.”
Briana reached out to take it, her hand shaking despite her efforts to steady it.
She had no idea what was inside.
The assistant said, “Once you open it, you’ll get it. No need for me to spell it out. If anything’s unclear, just reach out. Ms. Lane, I’ve got a ton to handle, so I’ll be off.”
“Alright, thanks,” Briana said.
The assistant rushed off, barely sparing her another glance.
Briana hugged the box tightly to her chest, refusing to let go the entire way home.
It wasn’t until she got back to Carter Estate and sat down on the couch that she finally set the box on her lap and started to open it.
Shepard sat beside her, quietly watching as she opened the box.
As soon as Briana opened the box and saw what was inside, it all made sense to her.
There was a memory card and a pair of headphones.
This was the proof she’d been desperate to get her hands on.
Briana inserted the memory card into her computer and clicked on it.
A long list of audio files popped up on the screen.
She clicked on one at random, and Eric’s voice came through her headphones.
He said, “That’s what you want, isn’t it? Briana gone? Fine, I can do it.
“For you, for the kid you’re carrying, I’d do anything.
“When you marry Shepard, just remember who’s making all this happen for you.
“Vivian, you really are ruthless. You started that fire without a second thought and just charged right in.”
Eric’s voice, full of self–satisfaction, echoed through the living room.
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Chapter 180
Briana’s face remained blank.
She closed it, backed out, and clicked on another audio file.
Vivian’s voice came through the headphones.
She said, “Help me. Shepard wants to make me abort the baby.
“It has to be Briana, whispering in his car and poisoning his mind against me.
“As long as she’s alive, I’ll never know peace.”
Vivian’s voice was piercing and shrill, laced with raw jealousy.
Every audio file Briana clicked on had Eric’s voice in it, and sometimes he was arguing with Vivian.
Even in death, Henry still left Briana something so crucial.
Because that’s what he promised her.
He said he’d look into it for her, and he always kept his promises. He never let her down.
Briana’s vision started to blur.
She blinked rapidly, forcing the tears back.
Briana said, “He must have found out about Eric’s plan to kidnap me, got the location, and rushed there as soon as he could.
“He was just helping me gather evidence, but ended up uncovering the kidnapping by accident.
“If it weren’t for him, I would have been the one who died.”
C
Briana turned to Shepard. She asked, “Do you have any idea what I was going through when Henry arrived?”
Shepard met her gaze and shook his head.
“I was about to be raped,” Briana said, her voice hollow. “There were a bunch of guys crowding around me, arguing about who’d get to go first. They were already ripping my clothes off.
“All I could think was, if I got even a tiny chance, I’d jump straight into the river. I’d rather drown than let them touch me. If I had to die, at least I’d die with a shred of dignity.
“Right when I was about to make a run for it, Henry burst in.
“He came by himself, empty–handed, not even a stick to defend himself. They ganged up on him, punching and kicking, swinging clubs thicker than my arm right at him. He was bleeding everywhere, so much blood.”
Shepard interrupted her. He said, “That’s enough, Briana. Don’t go back there.”
“I don’t need to remember,” Briana replied. “Those scenes are etched into my mind. They’ll never fade.”
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Chapter 180
She carefully pulled out the memory card and placed it in Shepard’s palm.
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She said, “Now you have to see it for yourself, Eric and Vivian aren’t who you think they are. One’s your cousin, the other’s the woman you love, but they’re the ones who stabbed you in the back and wanted to ruin
you.
“Shepard, there’s no going back for us.”
Her words were like the sharpest blade, stabbing straight into Shepard’s heart.
Shepard thought, the finality of it hitting hard, There’s no going back.
‘Yeah.
‘A guy like me? I can’t even hold a candle to Henry.‘
Shepard felt a heavy weight settle in his chest.
But for Briana, it was like a huge weight had finally been lifted off her shoulders.
She finally got what she’d been chasing after.
But at the same time, she lost the one person who loved her most.
She thought, ‘If I hadn’t been so obsessed with finding the evidence, with uncovering the truth behind the Aetherton University fire, would Eric and Vivian have ever come after me?
‘Would Henry still be alive?‘
Everything she wanted demanded the price of a life.
The price was just too steep.
Vivian set the fire; she was pregnant with Eric’s baby. Now, the whole world knew. Everything was exposed for everyone to see.
Briana finally let go. There was nothing left for her to hold onto.
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