Chapter 931

Leonie let out a blood-curdling scream. Mrs. Everhart was gone.

Layne was the only one who still had his wits about him. He followed the ambulance, where the nurses and doctors regretfully informed the family.

"Her vitals are flat," the paramedic said softly. "There's no point in rushing to the hospital."

Leonie screamed at the medical staff like a madwoman. "What do you mean there's no point?!"

Mr. Everhart flat-out refused to accept the reality.

They insisted on going to the hospital. Layne followed in dead silence, his bloodshot eyes filled with a terrifying darkness.

Mrs. Everhart was wheeled into the emergency room, though the doctors only hooked her up to the monitors as a formality.

Ten minutes later, the doors opened. Mr. Everhart looked at the doctors with a desperate, agonizing sliver of hope.

"We're so sorry," the lead doctor murmured. "We do everything we can to save our patients, but we cannot bring back the dead."

The devastating blow hit Mr. Everhart so hard he collapsed straight to the floor. Leonie whipped around to glare at her brother.

"Why did you call the cops?!" she shrieked. "Mom brought the money! Why did you bring the police? Why?!"

She threw herself at Layne, hammering her fists against his chest. Layne just stood there like a stone statue, letting her hit and curse at him without flinching, until a nurse intervened.

"This is a hospital. Please calm down."

Mr. Everhart was admitted to a VIP suite for observation. Leonie then went to check on Dorian, only to find the doctor pulling a white sheet over his face. "Miss Everhart, Mr. Fletcher has passed. I am so sorry for your loss."

Overnight, Leonie had lost the mother she adored and the man who had brought her the most joy in recent weeks. She sat in the VIP room like a lifeless doll, staring blankly at her unconscious father, completely consumed by a suffocating wave of despair.

The hospital administration approached her to claim the body. Leonie knew absolutely nothing about Dorian's real background. She didn't know where he came from, nor if he had any family left.

Shattered by her mother's death, Leonie didn't have the mental capacity to think about logistics. She simply told the staff to keep Dorian in the morgue and that the Everhart family would cover all expenses.

Layne and Leonie sat in the hospital, desperate to comfort their father but having no idea where to start.

Devastated by his wife's death, Mr. Everhart refused to eat, drink, or speak. He just sat there, staring blankly into the distance. No matter what Leonie said to him, he remained entirely unresponsive.

Left with no other choice, Layne and Leonie authorized the doctors to put him on an XV drip just to keep him alive. Gwyneth didn't find out about the nightmare until two days later, catching whispers from the maids. By the time she rushed over, it was already the day of Mrs. Everhart's funeral.

Heavily pregnant, Gwyneth had been living in an isolated bubble of peace at home. She never imagined that

stepping out of the house would mean facing the reality that Layne's mother was gone forever. Aside from her own blood relatives, the Everharts had treated herbetter than anyone else in the world.

Looking at Gwyneth, Leonie's tears began to fall all over again. She wanted nothing more than to collapse into Gwyneth's arms and sob, but losing her mother had forced her to grow up overnight. Instead, she found herself offering comfort.

"Gwyneth, my mom is gone. Please don't cry too hard."

Gwyneth never expected to hear something so mature out of Leonie's mouth. Every word of comfort she had prepared suddenly vanished from her mind.

When Mr. Everhart emerged from the back of the memorial hall, Gwyneth gasped. She could hardly recognize him. The warm, doting husband was entirely gone.

His hair had turned completely white overnight, and his spine was bent, leaving him hunched over like a frail, elderly man. He was barely in his fifties!

The loss of his wife had fundamentally broken him. He had spent the last few days drowning in He was the one had backed Layne's decision to call the police. They had recovered the majority of the millions of dollars, but the mastermind-the woman known as Felicia-was still in the wind.

self-loathingne's decision who

Mr. Everhart was consumed by absolute regret. If he hadn't called the cops, the shootout wouldn't have happened. They would have lost over a hundred and fifty million dollars, but what did money matter when the price was his wife's life?

He couldn't pull himself out of the guilt, shouldering the blame for the entire tragedy.

Seeing his hollow, deadened expression broke Gwyneth's heart.

"Leonie, what exactly happened? How did it all go so wrong?"

Remembering that Leonie had been inseparable from Dorian lately, Gwyneth couldn't help but ask.

"Where is Dorian?"

At the mention of his name, Leonie's tears fell faster.

"You should just curse me, Gwyneth. It's all my fault. If I hadn't meddled in things that were none of my business, my mom wouldn't have died for me. And Dorian would still be alive."

Gwyneth wiped her wet cheeks, her face pale with shock. Dorian was dead too? Why?

"Your fight with Connor was over him, wasn't it? Were you two dating?"

Leonie shook her head. "We weren't dating. I just wanted to help pull him out of the hellhole he was in, but now I realize... I was the hellhole."