Chapter 16
“She knew all along…” Edmond stumbled back a few steps, the blood draining from his face.
“She knew, and she still left. It wasn’t on impulse. She planned it…”
His knees buckled beneath him, and for a moment, he seemed on the verge of collapse.
The clerk behind the desk watched him with a strange mix of pity and curiosity. This man-tailored suit, designer watch- clearly had money, yet looked utterly destroyed. Then the clerk remembered something.
That woman, Amelia Austin, had come by just weeks ago to register a child. Eyes swollen from crying. Hands trembling as she held her baby. She said she wanted to put the child under the father’s name.
But the moment her case pulled up, the system told a different story-her so-called “husband” already had a registered
son with another woman. Their marriage certificate? A fake.
The woman’s devastation… it had been hard to watch. Meanwhile, Edmond Robinson walked out of the precinct like a
ghost.
The clerk picked up his mug, took a sip of coffee, and sighed.
“You reap what you sow’…”
Outside, Harris had been waiting nearly half an hour. The second he spotted Edmond, he rushed over.
“Mr. Robinson-sir, are you okay? I brought a new phone. Maybe… maybe try messaging her again?”
Edmond took the phone with numb hands. He opened their old chat, stared at the empty message bar for a long time
before slowly typing, one word at a time:
[Amy, please don’t be angry. I can explain everything.]
[Come back, okay? I have so much I want to say to you.]
He hit send.
No reply. Not that day. Not the next,
Over the following two weeks, Edmond went into a frenzy. He searched the entire southern region himself, while Harris led a team combing through the north.
But Amelia had vanished, as if she’d been erased from the world.
Just when he was hanging by a thread-when desperation had reached its peak-his company exploded into crisis. The intelligent prosthetic limb project had gone completely off the rails.
Blanche had secretly swapped in cheap components to cut costs, and it was only a matter of time before disaster struck.
And now it had. A user-a war vet with an amputated left leg-was electrocuted. He was now in the ICU, still unconscious. Even worse, a spy planted by a rival firm leaked the story online.
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#RobinsonIndustries ProstheticsElectrocution shot straight to the top of the trending list. Stocks plummeted. Several major development deals were pulled. Losses ran into the tens of millions-overnight.
Edmond stared at the red numbers on the report until his vision blurred. When Amelia had overseen the project, it ran like clockwork. Not a single decimal point slipped.
Then he let himself get blinded by lust and handed everything to Blanche.
Everything had fallen apart since.
Rage surged in his chest. He stormed down to the basement and yanked Blanche out of the corner by her hair. His leather whip, soaked in saltwater, descended sharply.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
“You filthy whore! You ruined everything!”
“This is all your fault! You’re cursed!”
“If it weren’t for you, that project would still be thriving! I should’ve killed you when I had the chance!”
Blanche shrieked, her skin splitting open with every lash-but then she started laughing. Hysterical, manic laughter.
“Edmond Robinson, you think torturing me will bring Amelia back?”
“You destroyed all the things she cared about most. You wrecked her future. You left her no choice but to register her daughter under the name Austin!”
“She hates you. Hates you so much she wishes you were dead!”
“SHUT UP!”
Edmond froze. The belt slipped from his hand and hit the floor with a hollow thud.
She was right. What right did he have to beg Amelia for forgiveness? She must hate him more than anything in the world.
He drove frantically to the Austin estate.
When the gates came into view, he didn’t hesitate. He dropped to his knees on the stone driveway, ignoring the rain, and implored the servant to let him in.
“Please-I need to speak to Mrs. Austin. Just one question. Just one!”
But the servant only looked at him with thinly veiled disgust.
“Mr. Robinson, you need to leave. Our madam made it very clear-you are never welcome at this house again.”
“What are you talking about? I’m her son-in-law!” Edmond’s voice cracked. “Please-just one word-”
The servant gave him a long, cold stare. Then, she snorted derisively.
“Son-in-law?”
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He looked at Edmond up and down, then folded her arms with a sneer.
“You clearly haven’t heard. Miss Austin is getting married.”
Edmond’s heart stopped.
“… What did you say?”
“She’s getting married. We’re planning the wedding as we speak.” The servant’s tone was laced with contempt. “And on a day like that-a once-in-a-lifetime and all-we can’t have strangers showing up to ruin it, can we?”
Chapter 14
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