Chapter 483

Silveke Harbor blazed with lights, the town restless with tension.

Emeric, the passionate collector, shattered priceless porcelain vases in his fury. Millions reduced to shards in seconds.

The maids stood frozen. Myra clutched Suri's hand, panic-stricken. Aviana's heart churned with turmoil.

"So you all knew."

Emeric trembled, veins bulging with rage. "You hid it from me for three years—three damn years?!"

"Emeric, we kept it from you to spare you the pain," Suri said softly, her voice steady but low. "Your health hasn't been strong. The shock would have destroyed you."

Emeric staggered, then laughed bitterly, jabbing a finger at them. "You call this kindness? Letting Evadne suffer in silence while her honor was ruined? This is how you protect me?!"

"Emeric! That's not what Suri meant!" Myra cried, tears welling.

But he cut her off with a sneer. "Of course you'd defend her. You're not Evadne's birth mother—how could you truly care? All those years pretending to be a happy family—was it all just an act?"

"Emeric! How dare you!" Aviana stepped forward, eyes blazing, but Suri held her back.

"I've stood by you for twenty years," Aviana hissed, her voice cracking. "Do you think we don't ache for Evadne? When she lost the baby, when Thaddeus abandoned her—do you think we didn't bleed for her too?"

Emeric's breath hitched.

Suri had knelt before the Bright family—prideful, untouchable Suri—begging for Evadne's treatment. The thought twisted like a knife in his chest.

"We had no choice," Myra whispered, tears spilling. "What good would anger do now? Nothing can undo what's been lost."

"It can be undone!"

Arnold stormed in, eyes bloodshot, Cassius close behind. "I'll resign. I'll take Evadne to every specialist in the world. I refuse to believe she can't be healed!"

"Arnold, don't throw your career away!" Cassius gripped his shoulders.

"But Evadne—"

"We'll find a way. Debby has connections overseas. There has to be hope." Cassius's voice wavered.

Arnold paced, frantic. "Then I'll kill Thaddeus myself!"

"Enough!"

Evadne's voice cut through the room. She stood on the stairs, pale as death, her usual fire extinguished.

"Three years. It's been three years. I don't care anymore. Stop dragging it up!" Her eyes burned with fury. "Since when does a woman need children? I never wanted them! Leave Thaddeus out of this—it wasn't his fault!"

"Lyle!" Emeric roared. "I told you to keep her in her room!"

"I want to see Thaddeus!"

"Over my dead body!"

They glared at each other, father and daughter, locked in a battle of wills.

Evadne laughed hollowly. "You've had your affairs. All I ever wanted was him. And you still won't let me have that?"

"Evadne—" Cassius's heart ached.

"Are you not afraid of burying your own child?"

Gasps filled the room.

"Evadne, don't!" Arnold blurted. "That bastard isn't worth it!"

Emeric's jaw clenched. "You think threats scare me? If you wanted to die, you had chances—when you lost the baby, when he left you. You won't do it now."

She nearly shattered her teeth from grinding them.

He knew her too well.

"Fine. But mark my words—my time is short. And you won't outlive me."

"Dad, stop!" Cassius pleaded.

Emeric's voice turned icy. "She'd betray her family for that man. Why should I care?"

Evadne was dragged away, locked in her room, cut off from the world.

The Ashbourne men seethed. If not for Cassius and Arnold's intervention, Thaddeus would have been hunted down.

Exhausted, Emeric leaned on his sons as they helped him upstairs.

"Defend him, and you're dead to me," he growled.

Arnold scoffed. "Defend him? I'm not the one with a decade-old blood clot."

Cassius's expression darkened. "I have no intention of defending him."

"Good."

A thunderclap split the sky.

Emeric glared out the window. "If there's any justice, lightning will strike that bastard dead."

Cassius and Arnold exchanged a glance.

"Chairman Ashbourne!" Dn rushed in, breathless. "Thaddeus Abernathy is at the gates!"

The storm raged harder in Skyrim than in Elmsworth. Thaddeus stood before Silveke Harbor's gates, drenched, his phone dead from countless unanswered calls.

Despair gnawed at him. Would he never see her again?

Then—bootsteps.

He looked up.

A gun barrel pressed between his eyes.

"Thaddeus," Bet snarled, rainwater dripping from his cap. "You ruined her. Your life is forfeit."

Thaddeus didn't flinch. Death meant nothing. Only the thought of never holding Evadne again terrified him.

"Bet!" Cassius's voice cut through the rain. "What the hell are you doing?!"