Chapter 395: Grand Finale

Chapter 395: Grand Finale

Harriet turned her head away, too sad to speak.

Tristan strode forward with his long legs. "Cloud Bay has already reserved a room for Chase. A new house is being built, and I've prepared an entire floor for him. When he grows up and gets married and has kids, there'll definitely be enough space. You focus on taking care of yourself first. When you're feeling better, spend more time with Chase and Della. Whenever you need me to take Chase to Cloud Bay, just let me know."

"Tristan, thank you." Nolan smiled with relief. "I can't give Chase the fatherly love he needs. I'll need you to continue that for me."

"In Chase's heart, no one can replace you." Tristan smiled. "But don't worry, I'll treat him as my own. Whatever Della has, he'll have too."

"I believe you, of course." Nolan gripped both their hands tightly. "Thank you, thank you both."

At Nolan's request, Ondine and Harriet prepared medicine for him together.

The medicine could temporarily control his condition and even improve his health, but it wouldn't last long. Once it wore off, his body would deteriorate rapidly.

After taking the medicine, Nolan took Chase on a trip around the world.

In his words, this was his final gift to Chase.

The only thing he could do was leave Chase with more beautiful memories during his last days.

Two months later, Harriet brought Chase to live at Cloud Bay.

Another month passed. During dinner one evening, Harriet received a phone call.

Whatever the caller said made Harriet's face turn pale, and tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.

She instinctively glanced at Chase, then immediately got up and left the dining room.

Chase froze for a moment, then quickly put down his knife and fork and followed her out.

Harriet sat on a bench in the garden, covering her face as she cried.

"Mom." Chase walked over and gently patted her back. "It's my dad, isn't it? He passed away, right?"

Harriet looked up at him in shock.

Chase sniffled, holding back tears as he spoke. "When we were watching the northern lights, Dad told me what death means. He said he had to go find my mom and sister first, to build a home for my next life. He said in this life, I should become family with you, and Mr. Lancaster would be my dad."

Harriet hugged him tightly, sobbing. "Chase."

She didn't know why Nolan had explained everything so clearly to Chase, or whether experiencing life and death at this age was good or bad for him.

"Mom, Dad said we can be sad for him, but not for too long, because he's only temporarily separated from us. One day, we'll meet him again."

"Yes." Harriet choked out. "One day, we'll be reunited with him."

Harriet took the two children to Nolan's funeral.

The funeral was simple, without wailing or crying, only deep reluctance and silent tears.

But when the funeral ended, Della suddenly disappeared.

Harriet sent people to search everywhere. They found Della's two bodyguards unconscious in a corner, but Della was nowhere to be found!

"It's Griffin!" Harriet trembled. "It must be him! He took Della!"

Tristan's face turned cold. "Send out everyone. Contact the police. Search everywhere."

Ryder nodded. "Yes."

Harriet stayed calm and sent everyone home to Cloud Bay first, then kept her eyes on her phone.

If Griffin's purpose in taking Della wasn't to kill her directly to torture Harriet and Tristan, he would definitely contact her to achieve some other goal!

She could only pray that Griffin wouldn't hurt Della. She would agree to any other demand!

When Tristan entered the master bedroom, he saw Harriet curled up on the sofa, staring at her phone, trembling all over.

"Harriet." Tristan walked over, picked up a blanket and covered her. "Are you cold?"

"Tristan, I'm scared." Harriet's voice shook. "Why hasn't Griffin called yet?"

"Don't panic." Tristan comforted her. "It's only been two hours since Della was taken. He's probably still watching. I've sent people to search the whole city. He can't escape. I'm going out to look now. Stay home, okay?"

"Where will you look?"

Tristan said, "I'll direct the search from the car to make it more efficient."

Harriet nodded slightly. "Be careful."

"Don't worry."

Time passed second by second. It wasn't until afternoon that the phone suddenly chimed with a text message.

Harriet grabbed the phone. When she saw the content, she was shocked!

She rushed out of the room with her phone. "Someone! Get the car ready!"

Caspian came running. "Harriet, what's wrong?"

"I got a text message with Della's location!"

"Let me see." Caspian took the phone. "This place is very remote. It might be a trap. How about I go check it out? If it's a fake message, at least you won't fall for it."

Harriet looked at him firmly. "Caspian, if it really is a fake message, I absolutely won't let you take that risk for me!"

Caspian nodded. "Okay, then I'll contact the police and we'll go check together."

"That won't work either."

"Listen to me!" Caspian gripped her shoulders. "I promise you, I'll be fine. I'll come back safely."

"Then stay in contact with me the whole time."

"Okay."

Harriet waited anxiously at home.

Since she wasn't sure if the message was real, she didn't call Tristan.

Over an hour later, Caspian called. "Harriet, Della really is here! She's okay. I'm bringing her back now!"

"That's wonderful!" Harriet was thrilled. "I'll tell Tristan right away!"

Harriet hung up and was about to make a call when another call came in.

She looked at the number and immediately answered. "What did you say... What do you want!... Okay, I'll come."

Harriet hung up and immediately left.

She drove alone to the suburban house where Griffin had held her captive before.

The place was already in ruins.

Harriet didn't stop. She got out of the car and headed up the mountain.

It was the dead of winter, and the mountain path was dangerously slippery.

Harriet fell several times, but she didn't care about the pain. She got up and kept climbing.

At the top, she saw the lake from a distance.

This was where Tristan had fallen into the water years ago, and she had jumped in to save him.

Harriet didn't understand why Griffin wanted her to come here.

The lake surface was frozen. Looking closely, Harriet saw Griffin standing in the middle of the ice, with Tristan sitting beside him.

"Tristan!" Harriet ran quickly to the lake's edge. "Tristan, how are you? Are you hurt?"

"Harriet, he's fine." Griffin smiled. "To get Della back, he took the drug I gave him. Now he can't use any strength at all, which saves me from having to tie him up."

"Griffin, what do you want?" Harriet asked. "Tell me, what will it take for you to leave our family alone?"

"Yes, you're a family." Griffin laughed bitterly. "Harriet, from beginning to end, I've been alone, without a single family member."

"Didn't I treat you as family? Didn't Grandma treat you as family? You're the one who gave up on us!" Harriet said angrily. "Griffin, I don't want to talk about the past anymore. I'm only asking you now, don't hurt Tristan."

Griffin didn't answer her. He suppressed the pain in his eyes and said, "Harriet, do you remember this place? This is where you saved Tristan all those years ago."

Tristan froze, looking at Harriet in disbelief.

The person who saved him here back then was Harriet?

Tristan laughed softly. He felt a mystery that had been weighing on his heart suddenly disappear, and everything became clear.

So after going in circles, the person who had been with him all along was Harriet!

"Harriet, I really regret it. When I found you two that day, the Lancaster family hadn't arrived yet. You were both unconscious. You know, if I had killed Tristan that day, how much better it would have been." Griffin laughed bitterly. "But unfortunately, I couldn't be that ruthless back then. That was the biggest mistake of my life."

"Griffin, you were once pure and kind, everyone's ideal guy. Niamh still talks about how you were admired by everyone at school. The way you are now has nothing to do with Tristan. From beginning to end, he never did anything to wrong you. You shouldn't hurt him."

"He didn't?" Griffin smiled. "Making you fall in love with him is the worst thing he ever did to me."

"I'm the one who fell in love with him. I was the one who loved him first, on my own. It has nothing to do with him. If you want to hate someone, hate me!"

Griffin looked at her. "Harriet, how could I bear to hate you? Actually, the person I hate most isn't Tristan, it's myself. Now when I look back, I can't even see the path I came from, much less figure out which step I took wrong that led to this ending."

"Griffin, don't keep making mistakes." Harriet said painfully. "I'm begging you."

"Harriet, I won't hurt you." Griffin wiped the tears from his eyes. "The reason I used Della to lure you both here today is to finally end this with you."

Griffin pulled out a small black remote from his pocket. "Harriet, you're right. Everything should end."

Before Harriet could react, Griffin pressed the button on the remote.

A muffled explosion came from under the lake. The ice surface instantly cracked, and the two people on it fell straight into the water!

"Tristan!" Harriet cried out, quickly threw off her down jacket, and jumped into the freezing lake without hesitation!

Time seemed to rewind to over ten years ago, when she had jumped into the lake just like this, swimming toward Tristan with everything she had.

The two scenes overlapped. Harriet swam with all her strength toward Tristan as he sank to the bottom, finally grabbed his hand, and brought him up!

They surfaced, and Harriet dragged Tristan to shore. "Tristan, how are you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Harriet breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at the lake.

Griffin hadn't come up.

Harriet hesitated for two seconds, then got up to go back.

"Harriet!" Tristan grabbed her wrist. "You used up a lot of energy saving me just now. Going back in will be very dangerous!"

Harriet firmly pushed his hand away. "Even if he's guilty, the law should judge him, but I can't just watch someone die."

Only then did Tristan slowly let go of her.

Harriet jumped back into the water and searched in the freezing lake for a while before finding Griffin.

He didn't seem to be trying to save himself, but was letting himself sink to the bottom.

Harriet swam toward him with all her strength.

Griffin saw Harriet, and a light suddenly appeared in his lifeless eyes.

But the next second, he saw Harriet's movements becoming slower and stiffer, as if she was running out of energy.

Griffin immediately swam up, bringing Harriet to the surface with him.

"Mr. Lancaster, Mrs. Lancaster!" Ryder rushed over with bodyguards and put coats on them both.

Ryder was about to step forward to restrain Griffin when Griffin's brow furrowed, and the next second, he coughed up blood!

Harriet immediately checked him and looked at him in shock. "You took poison!"

Griffin looked at her with a bright smile. "Harriet, I didn't wear a bulletproof vest today, so I thought you would find a chance to shoot me dead. I kept waiting for you to shoot."

"But you never did, so I had to choose another way. I thought you wouldn't jump in to save me. If I died here, you'd always have a thorn in your heart - that I drowned because you didn't save me. That way you'd remember me forever."

"But even though you hate me so much, you still jumped in to save me. Harriet, why are you so foolish?"

"You said it yourself - if I didn't save you, I'd regret it. So I just did what I should have done." Harriet choked up. "You took the poison beforehand, didn't you?"

"I deserve to die, but I didn't want to die that way. I wanted to die by your hand." Griffin's trembling hand lifted, wanting to touch her face, but with just a little distance left, he stopped. "Harriet, my hands are dirty. I'm not worthy of touching you."

Harriet's heart suddenly ached. "Actually, I know you still had a bit of conscience left, so you didn't hurt Della and Tristan today. Everything you did today was just seeking death."

"I thought about killing them. That way you'd hate me completely. Hating me would make you remember me, which is better than forgetting me." Griffin's tears fell. "But Della looks too much like you. When I saw her, it was like seeing you as a child. All our memories came flooding back. Harriet, we had many beautiful memories too, so I couldn't bear to hurt a miniature version of you."

Harriet nodded hard, tears streaming down her face.

"Harriet, I know you just wanted a peaceful, quiet life, but these past few years, I kept disturbing you." Griffin coughed several times and coughed up more blood. "But now it's good. Everything's over. I won't disturb you anymore."

"Ms. Wallace is waiting for you. You and your mother will be reunited, Griffin. I hope in the next life, each of us can live the way we want to."

"Harriet, I hope in the next life, I can meet you again, before anyone else does." Griffin's smile remained gentle. "Don't worry, in the next life, I'll be a good person, someone worthy of you."

When Griffin finished speaking, he smiled and closed his eyes, falling to the ground.

Harriet closed her eyes, sobbing uncontrollably.

Although Harriet didn't hold a funeral for Griffin, she still buried him next to Amara's tombstone.

She never imagined Griffin would end his life this way.

Perhaps because two familiar people had died one after another, Harriet's mood remained low.

But she still pulled herself together to handle the remaining matters.

When Tamsin was brought to Timeless Medicine Clinic, Harriet was preparing medicine.

Watching Harriet's focused figure, Tamsin felt momentarily dazed.

Harriet had unmatched beauty, a prominent family background, and a successful career. She suddenly couldn't understand why she had the courage to think she could compete with her for a man.

As long as Tristan wasn't blind, he would choose Harriet, wouldn't he?

Tamsin felt utterly ridiculous.

After Harriet finished preparing the medicine and handed it to her assistant, she turned to greet Tamsin. "Have a seat."

Tamsin sat down on the sofa, eyes downcast. "Griffin is dead. I figured you'd deal with me next. Tell me, how do you want me to die?"

Harriet's lips curved slightly. "The Lancaster family does have power and influence, but this is a society ruled by law. One person's life and death isn't for another person to decide casually. New Year's is coming. Hurry up and buy a ticket. Go back to Driftwood Village."

Tamsin looked up at her in disbelief. "What did you say? Are you sending me back to Driftwood Village to spend one last New Year before killing me?"

"Wasn't I clear enough?" Harriet asked curiously. "Your life and death aren't for me to decide. I'm telling you to go back to Driftwood Village because I've decided to let bygones be bygones. You're free."

Tamsin couldn't believe it. "Why?"

"Because you saved my husband." Harriet said sincerely. "No matter what thoughts you had about him after saving him, you saved him. That's an undeniable fact."

"Tamsin, I'm truly grateful to you. Because I can't imagine what I'd be like now if he had really died in that sea back then."

"Maybe I wouldn't be alive anymore, or maybe I'd be living like a walking corpse for my daughter and family."

"So no matter what you've done to us, since my family is all safe now, I should repay your life-saving grace. So I'm letting you go. From now on, we won't bother each other."

Tamsin was stunned for a long time before she could gather her thoughts.

She pulled at her lips with a self-mocking smile. "Harriet, you know what? When I look back now, everything that happened these past days feels like a dream."

"I had a very long dream where I fell in love with a man who didn't belong to me and lived a few days of high society life like in TV dramas."

"Now the dream's over. I really should go back where I belong and continue being a fisherwoman."

"To be honest, since coming to Emberfall, I haven't had a single day where I felt at ease. Now that I think about it, life in Driftwood Village was hard, but I slept really well every night."

Tamsin stood up and bowed deeply to Harriet. "Harriet, thank you for letting me go. Thank you."

Harriet took out a check. "Take this. It's not much money, because like you said, things that don't belong to you can't be held onto. But this money can improve your life somewhat. Consider it my thanks for saving my husband's life. I hope every day ahead is peaceful for you."

Tamsin's tears streamed down. "Thank you."

She took the check and turned to leave.

After just a few steps, Harriet's voice came from behind. "By the way."

Tamsin stopped and turned around. "Is there something else?"

"I told you before that you're not without skills." Harriet smiled. "If someday in the future you have a peaceful mindset and no longer hold hostility or resentment toward me, my lab will always welcome you."

Tamsin smiled. "Harriet, I'm just an ordinary person. I'm not as great as you, always thinking about how to help more people. Right now I just want to go back to Driftwood Village and get a good night's sleep."

Harriet nodded. "Goodbye."

New Year's came in the blink of an eye.

Harriet gave the household staff and bodyguards time off, so there were fewer people at home.

But Mason invited everyone to the Romanov family villa for the holiday, which was very lively.

What was special this year was that Sloane was conscious and spent it with Harriet.

She cooked several dishes that Harriet loved.

The whole family had a warm celebration.

After dinner, Harriet was pulled by Xavier to play cards.

She was never really interested, and after playing for a bit, she got up and let someone else take her place.

Tristan came over with a coat, helped Harriet put it on, and took her outside.

Harriet was curious. "Where are we going?"

"You'll know when we get there."

Harriet didn't expect Tristan to bring her to the school where they first met.

"What are we doing here?" Harriet asked. "Didn't you level this place?"

"Let's go in and look." Tristan held Harriet's hand and came to the place where they first met.

Everything was as it had been, and because of the holiday, it was decorated with lights.

"It's beautiful." Harriet asked with a smile. "Didn't you say you were going to destroy this place?"

"Of course I was lying." Tristan said. "I just wanted to make you give up back then."

"Good thing you didn't destroy it." Harriet pouted. "Otherwise I'd definitely make you pay."

"Harriet." Tristan turned to look at her. "Why didn't you ever tell me that you were the one who saved me back then?"

"There was no need to tell you." Harriet said honestly. "When you didn't love me, I didn't want to use moral pressure on you. Later when you fell in love with me, I still didn't want to say it. Because saving you that time affected my pregnancy. I was afraid you'd blame yourself if you knew, so there was even less need to mention it. But everything turned out fine. Della was born safely. We have no regrets."

Tristan pulled her into his arms. "Harriet, thank you. The luckiest thing in my life is that you fell in love with me."

Harriet slowly raised her hands to hold him, her face against his chest, feeling his heartbeat through the coat. "Tristan, even though so much has happened between us and we've been through so many setbacks, I don't regret falling in love with you. I've never regretted it."

Tristan released her, looked down at her beautiful face, and kissed her lips.

Harriet closed her eyes and responded to his kiss.

The cold wind couldn't dispel the heat in the air.

After the kiss, Tristan reluctantly left her lips, his eyes even deeper.

"Wife."

"What?"

"You just said that with Della, we have no regrets."

"Right."

"But with a first child, we should be able to have a second child too, right?"

Harriet froze.

"Should we go home and try?"

Harriet's face turned red. "I'm not ready for a second child yet."

"You don't need to prepare. Just lie down."

Harriet: "Tristan, why is your head always full of sex!"

Tristan scooped her up and strode outside. "Then we won't go home. Let's go to the car!"

Harriet shyly buried her face in his chest.

A breeze passed by, and the snow on the branches rustled like lovers' whispers, warm and tender.