Chapter 421

Penelope let out a hollow laugh. What was she thinking? It was impossible.

How could she suspect Mrs. Stapleton was the hit-and-run driver?

It was utterly unthinkable.

“The surgery could take a while. You should go home first,” Timothy suggested.

Penelope nodded. “If there’s anything I can do to help, you have to call me.” “I will.”

She glanced at the operating room doors one last time. Gloria’s colleague had said her injuries were severe. She hoped Gloria would pull through.

After leaving the hospital, Penelope headed back to the Johnson family home, only to run into a frantic Mr. Johnson rushing out the door.

“What’s wrong?”

He hurried toward her as soon as he saw her.

“Quick, get to Star Villa! Theodore’s mother set the house on fire, and she’s trapped inside!”

Penelope was stunned.

She drove Mr. Johnson to Star Villa as fast as she could. From a distance, they could see the sky glowing orange. As they got closer, the air was thick with smoke, and the house was a raging inferno.

Mr. Johnson stumbled out of the car and collapsed to the ground at the sight of the blaze.

Penelope’s own limbs felt weak, especially when she heard a maid say that Mrs. Stapleton was still inside-and that Theodore had rushed into the fire to save her, and neither had come out…

She tried to stay calm, but her mind went blank. All she could see were the flames, her ears filled with a cacophony of shouts.

“There’s still someone inside!”

“We can’t go in, the fire’s too intense!”

“Call for backup!”

She didn’t know how she managed to walk forward. Each step felt like pulling her feet from thick mud, stumbling until she bumped into a car parked outside.

She instinctively looked at it. A white car…

“The driver was in a white car with no plates.”

The officer’s words echoed in her mind. She rushed to the front of the car and confirmed it was a can without license plates. Looking closer, she saw bloodstains on the front bumper.

Penelope snapped out of her daze. The driver really was… Mrs. Stapleton.

Just then, a dark figure burst out of the inferno. It was Theodore!

He was carrying Mrs. Stapleton in his arms, escaping just as the flames threatened

to consume the entire building.

Two firefighters rushed to help him get clear of the fire.

Then, he collapsed to the ground.

He held the unconscious Mrs. Stapleton tightly, gasping for air. His suit was scorched with holes, his face was covered in soot and she

couldn’t tell if he was injured

Penelope started to approach, but Theodore suddenly looked at her. His gaze was a

complex mix of emotions, laced with a chilling coldness.

For some reason, she stopped in her tracks, unable to take another step.

It was as if… as if she were the one at fault.

Carson ran over and hugged Mrs. Stapleton, breaking into sobs.

“How could you be so reckless!”

“If something had happened to you, I… I would never have forgiven myself!”

“Renata, Renata, please, let yourself go, and let us go too!”

The business titan, who

commanded boardrooms, was

crying like a child-a mix of sorrow,

resentment, and regret that.

ultimately amounted to

helplessness.

Lorraine was dead and could not be brought back.

This was the unbreakable curse on the Stapleton family, one that no one could lift.

An ambulance was already waiting. Theodore picked up Mrs. Stapleton and walked swiftly toward it.

Penelope suppressed a wave of fear and stepped forward to help, but he pushed her away.

“This has nothing to do with you!”

His words, tinged with an inexplicable resentment, made her outstretched hand

freeze in mid-air before she awkwardly pulled it back.

Without another glance at her, Theodore got into the ambulance and left.

Mr. Johnson also rushed to the hospital, while the fire continued to rage, firefighters battling to extinguish the flames.