Chapter 425
Carson couldn’t bring himself to look Penelope in the eye. He lowered his head, like a pitiful man begging for forgiveness.
“Don’t give up on Theodore. He hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Penelope gave a bitter smile. “But how can we possibly move forward from this?”
“Penelope…”
“You’ve destroyed what we had!”
With that, Penelope turned and walked away.
Johnson Manor was as magnificent and brilliant as ever, especially in the dark of night. She felt like she had been in a dream, living in this villa, having everything she had ever longed for. But now she had been jolted awake, only to find a clear, sharp line dividing her dream from reality—a line she had crossed.
“Gloria’s surgery was a success. She’s in the ICU.”
It was a call from Timothy.
Hearing the news, Penelope felt a small weight lift from her chest.
“Please look after Ms. White at the hospital for me. I’ll visit her in a couple of days.”
“Look after her for you? Are you sure Gloria was targeted because she was pretending to be you? Who was the driver? What do they have against you?”
“That’s all for now. I’m hanging up.”
Penelope ended the call, turned off her phone, and collapsed onto the bed. Her eyes felt too heavy to keep open. She took several deep breaths, trying to steady herself.
She was so tired.
Mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted.
She needed to sleep, undisturbed, for as long as it took, until she felt whole again. She did fall asleep, but her rest was fitful, filled with a torrent of dreams.
When Penelope woke up again, the sky outside was bright. A glance at the clock showed it was one in the afternoon. But checking the date, she realized she had slept through an entire day and two nights. It was the afternoon of the day after tomorrow.
She turned on her phone and saw a flood of missed calls from her brother, Carson, and Theodore. She sent a quick text to her brother asking about Gloria’s condition, then got up to take a shower.
The phone rang again while she was in the bathroom. She ignored it. When she came out, she saw it was from Theodore.
She hesitated for a long time but couldn’t find the courage to speak to him. So she turned her phone off again, feeling like a thief who just wanted to hide.
She felt nauseous from not eating for so long, but when she made a bowl of pastas, she had no appetite. Forcing down a few bites, she drove to her mother’s garden.
The afternoon sun was bright and beautiful, but when she arrived at the garden, she found it in ruins.
The daisies, camellias, begonias, and jasmine had all been torn out by the roots and thrown carelessly on the ground, their heads drooping, their petals scattered…
Penelope stood stunned for a moment before rushing inside, where she saw the vandal was still at it, yanking violently at a golden chrysanthemum.
She ran over, but she was too late. The chrysanthemum came out of the ground. Still not satisfied, the vandal threw it down and ground the still vibrant flower into the dirt with his foot until it was nothing but a muddy pulp.
“I thought these flowers were your treasure!”
Penelope suppressed her anger and looked at the man responsible-Donald.
She noticed how haggard he looked,
as if he’d just recovered from a
serious illness. When he turned and saw her, he frowned, trying to compose himself, but his expression crumbled as he looked at the destruction behind her.
“What are you doing here, Ms. Laurier?”
“I came to see the flowers, but you’ve destroyed them.”
“I didn’t want to grow them anymore, so I pulled them out.”
“But you’ve been tending this garden for twenty years.”
“Are you mocking me, Ms. Laurier?”
“Why would I be mocking you?”
Donald was clearly trying to hold something back, but he couldn’t anymore.
“I… I grew these flowers for her for twenty years, hoping she would just look at them once, but she’s dead! She’s dead!” Donald yelled, his eyes turning red. “And what’s worse s that thought we had something beautiful together, but… but she betrayed me long ago. She and that Jack, they were sneaking around together, they even had a child!”