Chapter 197 Plan B
Collins stood in their view. His eyes scanned their faces and the badges of the news companies they worked for.
“If a word about this leaves this place, I will make sure you never feed yourself or your family again. Is that clear?”
He took in smoke and puffed it out.
They shivered.
“Y-yes, sir.”
Collins drove the car while Maverick and Heaven remained at the back. She had told Samantha to take her car back to the Johnsons’ and take care of Liam and Rebecca.
“Heaven,” Maverick called her.
“Hmm,” she answered.
“My brother being alive doesn’t change anything between us. You are mine,” he said, his hand tightening around hers.
"Do you always have to view me as a possession?"
Maver sighed. "What's wrong with that?"
Heaven looked away from his eyes and out the window.
It was quiet until the double gate pulled open.
She was stepping into places she had promised herself she wasn’t going to enter because they had caused her trauma, but she wanted to face it all.
The car stopped in front of the house.
The first day she stepped her feet into this place was the day she had become a widow, never meeting the husband she married.
Today she would meet him.
She stepped out of the car.
Maverick interlaced their fingers. She pulled her hand away.
“Can you let me handle things my own way?”
He needed to chill out. His brother, who was also her husband, was there. Her first time meeting him didn’t have to be them announcing they were sleeping together while he was supposedly dead.
Maverick didn’t mind, but she minded a lot.
Maverick frowned. He wanted to protest.
“You said you wouldn’t force me into doing things I don’t want to. Maverick, you promised.”
He reluctantly nodded.
She pulled her hand away from his.
She walked toward the house.
“First young madam, welcome home,” Butler Rose bowed to her.
She gave her a nervous smile.
“Thank you.”
Butler Rose led the way until they reached a door. A nurse came out of the room with a tray.
Heaven grabbed her gown as if steadying herself.
She pushed the door open.
General Richard was standing in view while Eleanor held Boyle’s hand, weeping profusely.
They turned as she entered.
“Father,” she acknowledged only, not sparing Eleanor a glance.
Richard stepped out of the way.
Heaven saw him for the first time, not in pictures.
She saw the face she had mourned, bowed to a million times, praying for his soul to find peace.
She just stared.
He had an oxygen mask over his nose and a drip in his hand.
The room was silent except for the beeping sound from the machine.
“He was shot in the leg and in his back. Luckily it missed his heart. The doctors said he is out of danger, so we just have to wait for him to wake up,” Richard explained to her.
Heaven nodded and moved closer.
Her hand touched the bed rail, then the bed, before she reached and touched his face.
A sob broke from her throat.
She didn’t know why, but she let it all out.
She was never a widow after all.
Life had just been too cruel to her.
“Can I take care of him until he wakes up?” she asked.
Maverick’s face tightened in disagreement, but he had already agreed to let her handle things the way she wanted.
“I’m a doctor, so it wouldn’t be a task at all.”
“You don’t need permission to take care of your husband, Heaven,” Richard said to her.
He moved toward the door, pulling Maverick out with him.
His second son was irrational.
Eleanor remained in the room.
She didn’t know what to say.
Heaven didn’t bother about her and just adjusted Boyle’s blanket.
She checked the file attached to his bed to see what had been administered to him and what was to be given to him again.
Eleanor reached out to tap her but hesitated, then turned and walked out of the door.
“How is the girl who helped Boyle?” Richard asked Maverick, trying to keep his mind busy and away from Heaven.
“She was electrocuted. She is responding to treatment. She was brought back with Boyle. She should be here,” Maverick responded.
His father knew where she was, so why was he asking him?
He already guessed why and rolled his eyes.
“That means she’s awake and ready to answer my questions.”
They both entered the room.
Bianca sat on her bed, staring at nothing when the two men appeared.
She didn’t flinch at all.
“Where is Edward?” was the first question that came from her.
“Dead,” Richard answered.
“Who are you?” he asked back.
Disappointment flashed in her eyes.
She had wanted the pleasure of ending his life herself.
She had wanted to watch him bleed through the knife she would dig into his throat and pull down to his stomach, watching all his organs drop to the floor.
She had lost that chance.
“Why am I treated like a suspect instead of a savior?” she asked them.
“Is there anything you need that hasn’t been provided for you?” Maverick asked her.
She shrugged.
“You both are looking at me weirdly.”
“Why did you help my son?” Richard cut straight to the point.
“You wouldn’t help him. I sent you clues, but you decided to be too trustworthy and dumb,” she said casually.
Guilt flashed across Richard’s face.
“Watch your mouth!” Maverick warned.
“You didn’t get the recorder, did you?”
“What recorder? I only saw a note,” Richard said.
“I was here some days ago. I placed a box in your study. It had a recorder in it. I tore it out of my sister just to make you aware since you didn’t react to the piece of paper.”
Her voice sounded pained.
Maverick looked at his father.
“I didn’t get any recorder. I am very meticulous about new items in my space. I wouldn’t miss that,” he said.
“You were just too trusting. Edward was here that day. I was the maid cleaning your table, if you remember vividly.”
Richard’s mind flashed back.
He had come back to find Edward around his table. He had said he lost his ring.
“That doesn’t answer the question though,” Maverick said to her. “Who are you?”
“I am Major Vincent’s daughter—the one who was accused of stealing ammunition and shooting you, then killed by Edward. You all destroyed my family.”
She raised her voice.
Richard gasped.
Maverick didn’t react.
“After my father died, the military became uncomfortable. I left first, but my sister stayed. She was bullied and called a traitor’s child. My mother couldn’t take it; she died from grief. My sister couldn’t take the bullying too and left. We watched you all be happy in videos and everything.”
“My sister, Priscilla, was diagnosed with last-stage colon cancer.”
Her voice cracked. Her vision blurred as she recounted it to them.
“She couldn’t be saved, as the doctor said. She wanted revenge. She didn’t want to die alone. Hence she decided to end your daughter because it would affect both families.”
She held her chest in pain.
“She got busted by Edward. She got away. We opted for our Plan B.”