Chapter 285

Chapter 285

Three days later, the Scott Villa was sold.

Derek had vanished without a trace.

Seemed like Derek was finally done letting Karen drag him down.

Karen frantically grabbed her phone to call Derek, not even bothering to pack a bag.

After what felt like forever, Derek's ice-cold voice cut through: "Karen, could you please stop blowing up my phone?"

"Derek, where are you? I can come to you, okay?"

"Come to me? With that vegetable daughter of yours?" Derek's voice was arctic, each word like a knife to Karen's chest.

"Derek, it's not like that. The doctor said Sloane has a really good shot at waking up..." Karen's voice cracked with desperation.

But Derek was done with this BS: "Then call me when she actually does."

Click. Derek hung up.

Derek wasn't scared of Karen's threats anymore.

He knew her playbook inside and out.

One daughter locked up, the other practically brain-dead—he was literally all Karen had left. No matter how much he screwed her over, Karen would never let anything happen to him.

For days, whenever Remy wasn't around, Karen would sneak into the hospital to see Sloane.

She'd hold Sloane's hand, rambling about everything that had gone down over the years.

When she looked up, her heart nearly stopped. Sloane was staring right back at her with wide, bright eyes.

"Sloane, you're awake?" Karen's voice broke with joy as she rushed to hit the call button, completely forgetting she was supposed to be hiding.

When the doctor hurried in, Karen remembered to grab her phone and call Derek.

"Derek, our Sloane's awake! Our daughter's awake..." Karen sobbed into the phone.

"Got it." Derek's response was flat before he hung up.

Soon enough, Remy got word and rushed to the hospital.

Karen ducked into the emergency stairwell, but her eyes stayed glued to Sloane's room.

Inside, Sloane beamed at Remy with that same radiant smile.

Remy gently smoothed Sloane's hair back, the moment achingly tender.

"She's my daughter." Karen whispered from her hiding spot. "Sloane, my sweet Sloane..."

In the hospital room.

Sloane tilted her head, studying Remy with that same innocent charm as always.

"Mom looks super worried about me?" Sloane traced Remy's exhausted features with her eyes, smiling softly.

"How could I not be?" Tears streamed down Remy's cheeks.

"But I'm not really your daughter, so why even bother?" Sloane kept her head tilted, but something cold flickered behind her eyes.

"Sloane, what are you even saying? After all these years, don't you know how I feel about you? Come on, stop spiraling. What matters now is getting you better." Remy's voice was gentle but firm.

"So Mom forgives me?" Sloane's smile was almost angelic.

Just then, Flora burst through the door.

She clutched a black USB drive—identical to the one Remy had before.

"So, Sloane, did you hurt Amara?" Flora stared fiercely at Sloane.

Instead of answering Flora, Sloane slowly turned back to Remy: "So Mom spilled the secret?"

"Amara is your family! How could you be so twisted?" Flora pressed harder.

But Sloane's eyes never left Remy.

"So Mom was lying to me, wasn't she? You don't want to wait for me to get better—you want to throw me in prison yourself!" Sloane looked at Remy with a mix of hurt and something darker.

Remy shook her head through her tears. She honestly had no clue where Flora's USB drive had come from.

"Sorry, ladies, but the patient just woke up and needs her rest. You'll have to leave." a nurse stepped in.

"Of course!" Remy stood up.

But Flora planted herself like a tree, clearly ready to fight for her daughter. "Sloane, how can you be so heartless?"

"Flora!" Remy grabbed Flora's arm, practically dragging her toward the door.

"Even now, you're still protecting her?" Flora's glare could've melted steel.

Remy shook her head: "Sloane messed up big time, but it's not our job to punish her—that's what the justice system's for."

The room went quiet again, leaving only Sloane.

Sloane's mind drifted back to childhood—hiding alone in her bed, surrounded by stuffed animals that never judged her.

"How boring!" Sloane glanced at the IV in her hand and ripped it out without hesitation.

Blood trickled from where the needle had been, but she didn't even flinch.

She looked out the window from the 22nd floor—people below looked like tiny ants scurrying around.

Sloane stepped barefoot onto the window ledge.

A breeze kissed her face, cool and strangely soothing.

"The wind out here feels so much more alive than that suffocating room." Sloane took a deep breath and whispered: "Why doesn't anyone love me? Why did I get stuck with such a pathetic excuse for a mother?"

Sloane slowly spread her arms wide.

The door slammed open.

"Sloane!" Karen's scream pierced the air.

But it was too late.

Sloane's fragile body fell like a bird with clipped wings, floating weightlessly toward the ground.

"Sloane!" Karen pressed herself against the window in horror.

Finally, there was a sickening crash.

Car alarms started shrieking from the parking lot below.

Karen crumpled to the floor. "Gone. Everything's gone."

With shaking hands, Karen dialed Derek's number. "Derek! Our daughter's gone..."

Karen was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe.

But Derek's voice came through ice-cold: "Karen, you're completely unhinged. I want a divorce!"

"Even you're dumping me?" Karen sat broken on the freezing hospital tiles.

She'd just found her beautiful, precious daughter. She'd just watched her baby wake up...

Was this karma?

Was it all just karma?

Karen laughed like she'd lost her mind: "It's all karma, Derek, it's all karma..."

She mumbled to herself, struggling to pull herself up from the floor.

At the police station.

Karen, dressed in tattered clothes, told the desk sergeant with dead eyes: "I need to confess! Twenty years ago, I helped murder my husband!"

According to Karen's confession, Edward had caught her cheating with Derek, so she and Derek decided to eliminate him. They pushed Edward off a high-rise and made it look like an accident. Then they ran off with all of Edward's money.

Police took Karen's statement and immediately put out a warrant for Derek.

At that moment, Derek was at the airport, thirty minutes from takeoff.

As for why Karen took Chloe away back then, it was just because Edward's property had been notarized in advance.

Edward had been smart enough to write a will beforehand.

He'd left most of his fortune to Chloe.

Meanwhile, at the Miller Villa.

Howard and Chloe were having dinner when Teddy's call came through.