Chapter 407

Her words stopped Theodore in his tracks. But after a moment’s thought, he ignored her and continued leading Penelope back to the car.

Yvonne wasn’t about to give up. She ran to his side of the car, pounding on the window.

“Your sister’s death had nothing to do with me! I’m innocent, but you hate me for it. You push me away and ignore my feelings for you. It’s not fair!” she screamed. “I’m looking for the real culprit! When I find them and bring them to you, you won’t hate me anymore. You’ll regret choosing Penelope over me!”

“Theodore, get out of the car! I can tell you right now who it is!”

Listening to Yvonne’s frantic tirade, Penelope felt a sudden chill run down her spine. She didn’t know why.

Theodore remained silent, simply starting the car and driving away.

Just as Penelope thought he was ignoring Yvonne’s desperate claims, he made a sharp turn and drove around to the back of the Bishop estate, stopping a few dozen yards from the rear gate.

He didn’t dare get any closer, afraid of triggering the memories. But even from this distance, Penelope knew his heart must be aching.

“The thunder was so loud that day,” he murmured. “The wind and the rain were relentless.”

Penelope followed his gaze. Her own mind flashed back to the day she had first come to the Bishop estate. It had been a stormy day, too, with booming thunder and torrential rain. She had been dragged inside, subjected to a barrage of insults and scorn, and then thrown out.

Literally thrown out.

Like a limp doll, tossed into the mud and water.

“Right next to that iron gate,” Theodore continued, his voice heavy. “There used to be a huge sycamore tree there.”

Penelope tried to remember. Was the tree still there on the day she was thrown out? She searched her memory, but the day was a blur of heart-wrenching moments. The presence or absence of a tree was the last thing on her mind.

“It withstood the entire storm,” Theodore said, “but it fell after the sky had cleared.”

“It was an accident,” Penelope said softly. The words felt cruel, but she couldn’t bear to see him consumed by guilt.

“But what if there was a culprit?”

Penelope frowned. “How could there be?” The storm? You couldn’t hold the weather responsible for Lorraine’s death.

Theodore’s eyes suddenly sharpened with a cold light. “That back gate was always kept locked. But on that day, it was wide open. Why?”

“It was? Why?”

“I don’t know. And the Bishops were always evasive about it, like they were hiding something.”

“So you think someone opened that gate on purpose?”

“Yes.”

And that person was the culprit.

Penelope turned and wrapped her arms around him, kissing his cheek tenderly. Lorraine’s death was clearly a tragedy born from a perfect storm of coincidences. You could argue that everyone involved in

those coincidences was responsible, or that none of them were.

But someone had to be blamed. For twenty years, it had been Mr. Johnson. Who would be next?

“Let’s go find Yvonne and get the truth from her now,” she suggested.

Theodore shook his head. “If we ask her now, she won’t tell us. But she’s already started looking. When she finds the person, she’ll come to us.”

Penelope had to agree. Given Yvonne’s obsession with Theodore, the moment she found this person,” she would drag them before him, hoping it would lessen his hatred for her

But when that person finally appeared, Penelope had a feeling it would bring

another storm, one just as devastating as the first.

Three days later, as promised, Hans’ lawyer came to see Penelope with the contract to transfer the ownership of the Bishop manor. After navigating the complex legat procedures, the deed to the estate was finally in her hands.