Chapter 134

"Stella, calm down..."

"You may not care about your parents' lives, but I do! Adrian Roland, I thought you just misunderstood me. I never imagined you could be this heartless! When you believed I killed your parents, you wanted me dead! And now? Has your love for Lily Savigny made you abandon all conscience?!"

Adrian reached for her, but she violently shook him off.

"I never expected she would provoke Grandfather into a heart attack..."

"So you still plan to marry her?" Stella's voice was icy with suppressed fury. "You two deserve each other—heartless monsters."

Adrian's eyes were bloodshot, his knuckles white from clenching his fists.

"If... I can fix this, if I can make everything right again... would you... come back to me?"

"Never," Stella said firmly. "I will never have anything to do with you again in this lifetime."

The emergency room doors swung open.

"Family of the patient?"

"Here!"

Stella rushed forward, leaving Adrian's unfinished words behind.

"Your relation to him?"

"His granddaughter-in-law."

The doctor nodded. "The elderly gentleman is stable but needs rest. This episode was triggered by emotional distress. He must avoid further agitation. Fortunately, he received timely treatment, or the consequences could have been dire."

"I understand."

When Mr. Edward Roland was wheeled out, his trembling hand reached for her.

Stella grasped his frail fingers. "Grandfather Roland, I'm here."

Only then did the old man close his eyes in relief.

"Where's Adrian?"

Stella glanced back to see Adrian at the end of the hallway, taking a call.

"Probably handling company matters."

Mr. Roland weakly shook his head. "It must be that vixen..."

Stella stayed silent.

Whoever was on the phone no longer concerned her.

"Rest, Grandfather. I'll watch over you."

As the old man drifted to sleep, Stella checked her phone, worried about the children at the estate. Lily's aggression this time had been far more brazen than before.

Her phone vibrated.

[The children are safe. Protection arranged. Don't let Lily provoke you. Leave her to me.]

Mr. Alistair's message finally eased her anxiety.

[Why do good people suffer?]

[Justice prevails in the end. Wait a little longer. I will set things right.]

She replied: [I believe in you.]

......

"Lily Savigny, what more do you want?" Adrian's voice was laced with venom.

A light laugh came through the phone. "Adrian, you must want to kill me right now. Too bad there's no evidence. Even if you know the truth, the law can't touch me—unless I confess."

"Name your terms."

"I want to be Mrs. Roland in every sense. Stella ruined my reputation. No one else will marry me now. We had a deal—marry me, wait until the baby is born, and I'll turn myself in. A life for a life. I'll donate my lungs to Stella. She gets to live!"

Adrian listened to her deranged words, exhaustion weighing on him.

Since her lies were exposed, Lily had become a different person—or perhaps this was her true self all along.

"Refuse, and I might just decide I don't want to die after all." Lily's laugh was chilling. "Then poor Stella and those motherless children will suffer—"

"I agree!" Adrian cut her off.

"Tsk tsk. For Stella, you'd give up everything—wealth, dignity..."

"Enough!"

Hanging up, Adrian slumped against the wall.

His phone rang again.

"What now?" he snapped.

"Adrian? It's me." Julian Valois's voice came through. "The kids are safe. Jason's men are in position."

"...Thank you."

"Finally coming to your senses." Julian exhaled in relief. "When you first approached me as 'Mr. Alistair,' I genuinely thought you had dissociative identity disorder."

Adrian gave a bitter laugh. "It's always been me, hasn't it?"