Eloisa’s voice intensified, her eyes glowing crimson with unbridled fury. “You brandish your wealth and influence, behaving as though my daughter’s existence were inconsequential! If we cannot reach you through justice, I’ll ensure this opulent residence of yours is painted with blood!”
With that declaration, Eloisa hurled herself headfirst toward the table’s jagged edge.
Ruben’s eyes widened in horror. “Restrain her!”
But the intervention came too late. Eloisa had resolved to make her statement through self-sacrifice. She crashed her forehead against the table with terrible force, blood cascading from the wound as she collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
“Mom!” Charles Henderson, Eloisa’s firstborn son, struggled to maneuver his wheelchair toward his fallen mother.
“Eloisa!” Gatlin Henderson, Barbara’s father, sprinted to Eloisa’s side. Elliana, still positioned on the staircase, scrutinized Charles in his wheelchair with a furrowed brow.
Cole had once revealed that when Barbara plummeted from that building, Charles had positioned himself directly below. His attempted rescue resulted in his own crushing injuries, robbing him of lower limb function. The wheelchair had been his prison for two years.
Charles had once stood as the Henderson heir, handsome and intellectually gifted. That catastrophic accident had decimated his potential.
Cutler Henderson, Eloisa’s second son, had gone missing as a child and was never found. Chances were, Cutler was long gone.
With Barbara’s demise and the remaining younger generation either presumed dead or irreparably damaged, the Henderson legacy had crumbled to dust.
Eloisa’s mental deterioration suddenly became comprehensible. For someone bereft of all hope, no financial compensation could mend her fractured spirit.
Eloisa’s desperate action silenced the entire assembly.
Irene, who had been verbally assaulting Eloisa moments before, slunk back into the background. Should Eloisa expire here, the implications could be catastrophic.
Ruben summoned the family physician to examine Eloisa. Upon receiving assurance of her survival, he exhaled profoundly with relief. Turning to Gatlin, Ruben said, “Mr. Henderson, our families share generations of history. Barbara’s passing torments me deeply, and I seek atonement. State your conditions-anything within my power.”
Gatlin’s lips compressed, his expression a tableau of sorrow and uncertainty.
Ruben had watched Gatlin grow up, their families intricately connected. Gatlin acknowledged Ruben’s fundamental decency, yet with the Henderson lineage literally extinguished, he could pacify neither Eloisa nor his own torment.
What request could Gatlin possibly articulate when his heart lay in fragments? No fortune would restore his tranquility.
Suddenly, Eloisa’s eyes flew open. She emitted a caustic laugh. “Atonement? Preposterous! Can you resurrect my daughter? Can you restore my son’s ability to walk?”
Ruben found himself rendered mute. Barbara’s death had created an irreversible void.
Eloisa, disregarding the crimson rivulets streaming from her head wound, staggered upright and lunged for Jeff. “I don’t want any financial compensation! I demand this demon pay the price for my daughter’s life!”
“Ah!” Jeff attempted to flee in panic.
Desperately, Jeff clutched Trinity’s arm. “Trinity, protect me! I beg you!” Eloisa, with disheveled hair and bloodshot eyes, resembled someone possessed-ferocious and utterly terrifying.
Trinity, fearing entanglement in this volatile situation, wrenched her arm free and retreated hastily.
Jeff, having counted on Trinity as his salvation, froze in disbelief at her abandonment. In that momentary paralysis, Eloisa captured him.
“You worthless miscreant! Enter that coffin, kneel, and implore my daughter’s forgiveness!” Eloisa’s voice pierced the air like a banshee’s wail. She dragged Jeff toward the coffin, hauling him to its edge with surprising strength.
Consumed by vengeful rage, Eloisa failed to notice that Elliana had quietly approached the coffin.
Eloisa thrust the coffin lid open, seized Jeff’s collar, and prepared to hurl him inside.
Within lay Barbara, motionless, eyes sealed. Her emaciated frame and ashen complexion, worn by prolonged illness, were horrifying. Jeff glimpsed the still form and trembled violently. “No! I refuse confinement with a deceased person! I’m petrified!”
Jeff struggled desperately against Eloisa’s grip, but terror had completely drained his physical strength.
In his frantic thrashing, Jeff inadvertently grasped Elliana’s leg. “Help me, Elliana! Rescue me! As matriarch, you must ensure my protection!”
Elliana nearly erupted in laughter. Jeff finally spoke sensibly when his survival hung in precarious balance.
Eloisa, immersed in grief for years and barely paying heed to the outside world, remained clueless about Elliana’s recent marriage to Cole. “Identify yourself,” she demanded, fixing her gaze on Elliana with suspicious intensity
Consumed by guilt, Ruben had allowed Eloisa to haul Jeff away without intervention. He even prevented the other Evans family members from stepping in, reasoning that Eloisa needed to vent her bitterness to facilitate an easier resolution later.
However, at merely eight years old, Jeff failed to comprehend Ruben’s strategic thinking. To him, it felt as though everyone had abandoned him while his world disintegrated around him. He clutched Elliana’s leg desperately, ready to do anything and dismiss any previous animosity just for her intervention.
Elliana ignored Jeff, instead reaching for Barbara’s wrist to check her pulse before lowering the arm with careful precision.
Eloisa stared, bewilderment crossing her features. “Who are you? Why are you touching my daughter?”
Suspecting something, Elliana offered a subtle smile. “Mrs. Henderson, I’m Elliana Marsh, Cole’s wife. I now serve as the matriarch of this family.”
Eloisa blinked. Though she typically avoided gossip circles, she had caught wind of the Evans heir’s extravagant wedding. She had heard rumors that Cole’s wife was unattractive, but Elliana’s appearance surpassed her expectations. Had grief not overwhelmed her, she might have recoiled in shock.
“What’s your angle here? Are you attempting to persuade me into pardoning this child?” Eloisa snapped. “Let me make this abundantly clear-that’s impossible!”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.