Chapter 370 Dad

Chapter 373 Pretending to be Crazy

Naomi didn't know how long she had cried, nor did she remember how she fell asleep, but she was woken up by her phone ringing.

Instinctively, she reached out to nudge the person beside her, only to find empty space—Jonathan wasn't in the hospital room.

Naomi sighed and picked up her phone. "Hello."

"Ms. Kennedy, this is Gabriel." Gabriel's voice sounded troubled. "Is now a good time?"

Naomi glanced at the time on her phone—it was already 10 a.m. Had she really slept for over ten hours?

She sat up and rubbed her throbbing temples. "Yes, what's going on?"

"Vivian has been caught, but she insists on seeing you before she'll tell us everything."

"What else does she need to say?" Naomi asked, confused.

Xander had already handed over all the evidence against Vivian, and with investigations by police from various countries, she was facing either life imprisonment or the death penalty.

Gabriel acknowledged her question. "Thirteen patients who participated in the experiments are missing."

Naomi's eyes widened. Gabriel nodded slightly. "It's confirmed—these people all participated in the new medical device experiments. The youngest is only ten years old."

Naomi took a deep breath, then asked, "Xander doesn't know either?"

"That's right. He said Vivian handled this matter entirely on her own, and since none of these people have exit records, the authorities suspect they're still within Avalonia."

Naomi's heart skipped a beat. These people were in Avalonia?

Thinking back to how Vivian had returned to the country to find her twenty years ago, maybe she had been planning this even then?

"Deputy General Lopez, where is Vivian now? I'll go see her shortly."

An hour later, in the detention center's visiting room, Naomi saw Vivian.

After several days on the run, Vivian had lost all her former elegance and composure. She wore an orange prison uniform, her hands were cuffed, and her eyes looked somewhat vacant—completely different from before.

Only when she saw Naomi did Vivian snap back to attention. "You've seen him?"

Naomi sat down across from Vivian and asked directly, "I'm here. Where are those patients?"

"Guess?" Vivian suddenly burst into laughter, laughing so hard she swayed back and forth, staring intently into Naomi's eyes.

Vivian seemed to tire of laughing and wiped the corner of her eye. "You really do look like your mother, and like your father too. Everyone said they were a perfect match. Now that I see you, I finally believe it."

"But why? I met Everett first. Why did he fall in love with that bitch Anneliese?"

"Anneliese was my best friend, and she stole the man I loved. She deserved to die! She shouldn't have married Everett, and she definitely shouldn't have given birth to you!"

Vivian grew more agitated as she spoke, her voice becoming particularly shrill.

The way she looked at Naomi was as if she were looking at an enemy.

In Vivian's telling, Anneliese was the bitch who stole her boyfriend, the woman who destroyed her happiness.

"She took everything from me. Why should I let her be happy? I wanted her dead, and I want you dead too!"

Vivian screamed, and the guard behind her immediately restrained her.

Seeing her like this, Naomi suddenly laughed.

"Honestly, if I were Everett, I wouldn't love you either. Your appearance is as ugly as your heart, and none of this should have been yours in the first place."

"My parents met first at a research conference, then they got to know each other and fell in love. If it weren't for my mother, you wouldn't have even had the chance to meet my father, right?"

"And all your research—every research achievement belonged to my mother. You were just her assistant, helping her complete part of the work, weren't you?"

The entanglement between Vivian and them wasn't a secret. Jonathan had done a simple investigation and learned the truth from back then.

With Xander, who was directly involved, filling in the details, Naomi quickly understood everything—Vivian had developed a mental illness.

Vivian had made Anneliese her imaginary enemy, with many confused memories. In Vivian's memory, she was Everett's girlfriend, she was the scientific genius everyone admired.

And Anneliese had become the cunning villain in Vivian's story.

"This is all your delusion." Naomi ruthlessly exposed Vivian.

"No, you're talking nonsense! Everett was my boyfriend. We met at the research conference. We developed feelings through our work on precision surgical instruments and got together! We dated for two years..."

Before Vivian could finish reminiscing, Naomi interrupted her. "The research conference was only for senior researchers. You were just an intern at the time—there's no way you could have attended."

Naomi pulled out a document and pointed to the researchers' names on it. "Look carefully. The developers of the nano-surgical equipment were Everett and Anneliese. Your name isn't there at all."

"Vivian, from beginning to end, my father only ever loved my mother."

Vivian stared blankly at the names on the document. Seeing those two names side by side, she seemed to see again the image of those two people nestled together.

"No, that's not right, it's not!" Vivian shook her head repeatedly, tears streaming down her face.

"That's not it. Everett and I were together. We even have a daughter."

"Ella is our daughter! You don't know how much he loved Ella. He loved me, and he loved our daughter!"

"Naomi, what are you? You're not his daughter at all!"

Vivian screamed hoarsely, constantly denying it, crying and laughing, as if she had truly gone mad.

Gabriel quietly reminded her, "Ms. Kennedy, we need her lucid."

If Vivian went crazy, how would she tell them where those patients were?

"Don't worry, she's not crazy." Naomi stared hard at Vivian.

If Vivian had really gone mad, she wouldn't keep glancing at Naomi, observing her expressions.

She was acting.

Naomi crossed her arms and watched Vivian like she was watching a show. "Had enough of the performance? Vivian, you don't think pretending to be crazy will help you escape judgment, do you?"

"Don't worry, if your psychiatric evaluation really confirms you're insane, I'll put you in the best psychiatric hospital in the city." Naomi smiled. "I'll let you live there to a ripe old age, wishing you were dead."

"You should know I'm a witch doctor. I have that capability, and within Avalonia, no one will help you."

Vivian's laughter stopped abruptly, and she instantly returned to coldness.

Gabriel's eyes widened—he could hardly believe how quickly Vivian had changed her expression.

Naomi scoffed. "From an agent's perspective, you'd really make a great actress. You have the ambition and the acting skills. What a waste."

Vivian raised an eyebrow. "I'm honored to receive your praise."

"Since pretending to be crazy won't work, let's talk terms. Those thirteen patients are all successful test subjects—they have long lives ahead of them."

"Trading their thirteen lives for my one life—that's a good deal, isn't it?"