Chapter 444

Jolene was a sharp blade that had yet to be fully wielded. Because of Juniper, she had broken her leg and missed the university entrance exams, effectively ruining her life. Her hatred for Juniper must be immense. Now was the perfect time to add fuel to the fire.
“Cowards,” Qadir muttered angrily as he watched them leave. “Janet, how can someone like Yelena come from the same family as you?”
Janet bit her lip. “I’m not a Wilcox,” she answered quietly. She never was, and she had no desire to be.
Just then, her phone rang. Seeing the caller ID, her brow furrowed and her expression soured. After a few seconds, she answered, her voice cold. “Hello?”
“Janet, are you free? Let’s grab dinner sometime,” said the caller, Trent Wilcox, Yelena’s brother.
“I’m not.” Janet’s tone was distant as she flatly refused. “Mr. Wilcox, if there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”
With that, she ended the call, turned off her phone, and grumbled, “He’s nuts. Why does he keep asking me out lately?”
“He keeps asking you out?” Juniper picked up on the key detail, her eyes narrowing slightly.
“Yeah,” Janet nodded, explaining softly, “It’s so weird, like he wants something from me.”
But besides her mother, she had nothing. The Wilcox family was like a persistent shadow she couldn’t shake.
Juniper listened silently, a dark glint in her eyes. Trent, was it? He and his sister were two of a kind; neither of them looked like decent people.
After their get-together, Juniper and Janet waited in the restaurant for Shanley to pick them up. In the meantime, a WhatsApp notification pinged on Juniper’s phone. Luella: [The Wilcox family is looking for Master Nocturne. I hear it’s to treat the old man, Orville Wilcox.]
A moment later, another message came through: [If I remember correctly, Orville is your cousin’s biological grandfather, right? Are you taking this case?]
Biological grandfather? Juniper stared at the words, then at Janet, who had endured so much hardship, and a cold smile touched her lips, the man had blindly cut ties with his own son and ignored his
granddaughter, watching her suffer
for eighteen years. Did amold fool
like that even deserve to be called a grandfather?

Juniper: [Let him rot. Look into the major incident that happened with the Wilcox family eighteen years ago.]
Luella didn’t dare argue. Janet was her precious cousin, and if Juniper actually went to treat Orville… whether he’d live was uncertain, but the probability of him being helped into an early grave was quite high.
Less than ten minutes later, Luella sent over the details. The gist was this: eighteen years ago, Zorion Wilcox, the eldest son, and the
daughter of the in
family were
being forced into an arranged
marriage, despite both having people they loved. They agreed to get engaged to secure power within their families and then immediately break it off.
However, on the day of the engagement, Ms. Miller’s boyfriend died in a car accident. Unable to cope, Ms. Miller attempted suicide. Though she was saved, she
reportedly suffered a mental breakdown and was never seen in public again.
At that very moment, someone
deliberately leaked the existence of Saskia Payne. To protect their reputation, the Millers claimed that their daughter’s suicide attempt was due to Zorion’s infidelity. The Wilcox family, trying to quell the scandal, demanded Zorion publicly sever his ties with Saskia. Zorion, of course, refused. In a fit of defiance, he cut ties with the Wilcox family himself The shock of it all was what made Orville gravely ill. Later, Zorion died in an accident, leaving Saskia and Janet to struggle on their own.
What a series of convenient coincidences, Juniper thought. The Wilcox family, was
it? After holding back for so long, it was time. Let everything that deserved to be destroyed burn.