Chapter 183: Lilian Escaped from Prison

Eleanor's POV

I stood there, frozen.

He recorded it. He actually recorded it!! I'm his birth mother!!

Vivian looked to Harrison with pleading eyes. Harrison just shook his head.

Erwin turned off the recording. "Our family has always stood for fairness and tolerance. I've given you both. Now it's your turn. Pick one."

I was cornered, speechless.

I never threw tantrums. I was terrified that if I pushed too hard, I'd completely destroy my image in my son's eyes. Now my chest felt tight, as if I'd been backed to the edge of a cliff.

Harrison tried to smooth things over. "Erwin, why not wait until after the trip to deal with this? It's not like..."

"No." Erwin cut him off coldly, glancing at his watch before looking back at me. "Mother, you have five minutes left."

I gripped Harrison's hand hard under the table. But he could see our son was serious, so he turned to persuade me instead.

"Why don't we invite Secretary Perez over for dinner? Look at her. She's a good girl."

"Godfather!" Vivian couldn't help but cry out when she heard he wanted to invite Natalie. "No!"

Erwin tapped his watch face. "Three minutes, twenty seconds."

My heart pounded, but I still didn't want to speak. Yet the time kept ticking away.

Just as Erwin said time was up, I finally lost control and blurted out, "Vivian leaves the city!"

Vivian's eyes turned bright red. "Godmother...!"

I had no other choice. If I didn't pick, Erwin would bring Natalie home, and then it would be even harder to fix things.

I was certain of it—that was exactly what Erwin was aiming for.

"Good." Erwin nodded, then said to Vivian, "Murray will help you with your luggage. Leave by tomorrow. If you don't, then Mom broke her promise. Don't blame me for forcing you out."

I sat there, choking up, unable to speak.

I'd always heard that the eldest child was the most well-mannered, polite, obedient, and sensible.

If you arranged a blind date for him, he'd gladly go.

But now, he was actually forcing his own parents, pressuring them—he was the most cold-blooded and ruthless of all my children!!

Erwin picked up his fork. "The food's getting cold. Eat."

I was too furious to speak. Vivian sat there heartbroken, her eyes reddening again and again.

Finally, Vivian couldn't take it anymore and got up to leave.

Erwin said he'd come home for dinner, and he did. After finishing his meal, he left without a trace of reluctance.

It really was just about the meal.

Harrison lowered his voice to comfort me. "See? He doesn't feel anything for Vivian. Stop wasting your energy."

"You blockheaded fool!" I twisted his arm angrily and started crying. "Vivian's not the point. The point is Natalie! Your son is determined to fight us to the bitter end!"

"Honey, there's no 'us' in this." Harrison gathered his courage. "Why not... try to accept Natalie?"

I glared at him and got up to find Vivian.

She hadn't left—she was still in the garden. "Godmother, what do we do now?"

"I don't know either."

She clenched her fists. "If I lose like this, Erwin will press his advantage and force you to accept Natalie even more completely! Godfather is already wavering. We can't let him win."

Red-eyed, she paced back and forth on the lawn, which worried me. "Vivian."

"I've got it!" She seemed to have a flash of inspiration. "Tomorrow night, after the gala ends, I'll leave the city. Then I'll..."

She leaned close to my ear and told me the rest.

"Ah, that..." I hesitated. "That's not right, is it? If you do that, Erwin won't let you off the hook..."

# Natalie's POV

At Grant's apartment, I made dinner, watered the two sun-scorched rose bushes on her balcony, and tidied up the place.

Grant came home exhausted, and when she saw dinner ready and her messy coffee table wiped clean, she practically floated with joy.

"Well, well, where'd you spring from!"

I smiled and told her to wash up and eat—she'd been running around like she was at war all day and must be starving.

She had a good appetite, but she noticed I was distracted.

"What's wrong? Fight with the Davis big shot?"

"What's there to fight about with him? That guy." I sighed. "He's so good you can't even find fault with him."

"So? You're miserable because you can't find his flaws. He really is great, but you don't believe you two can make it to the end. You want to run, but you can't get away."

I stayed silent for a long time, then said quietly, "His parents don't approve either."

Grant stopped eating. She rushed over and hugged me.

"It's okay. If it's the same path, we walk it. If not, we pull out immediately. But don't jump to conclusions—wait and see, maybe he'll—"

"Grant, I hope he does nothing."

"But he definitely will. Natalie, you can't control him. If you don't follow his rhythm, he'll always find a way to make you follow along."

I deflated. She was right. I'd never been the one in control.

I was just... just a fool who'd wandered into the danger zone again.

Grant was about to say more when the doorbell rang twice.

"I bet it's Erwin."

I swatted her and got up to answer the door. Maybe her words worked, because I opened it without even checking the peephole.

When I saw who was standing outside, I couldn't help rolling my eyes.

"Levi. Can't you just lie there quietly like a corpse?"

I found him more annoying than a distant relative peddling insurance on my couch. He was endless, like a lingering ghost.

But he didn't care about my hostility, dropping a bombshell with a dark expression. "Lilian Lewis escaped from custody."

!!

The news hit me like a thunderbolt.

"What kind of joke is this? You think this is a movie? How could she possibly be broken out? She was being held in a detention center!"

Grant heard too. She rushed over. "Where'd you hear that? That's impossible!"

Levi quickly pushed his way into the room. Grant and I tried to block him, but failed.

"Half an hour ago, my people in another city called. Lilian was being transferred to another detention center today, but the transport vehicle got into an accident on the road. One escort officer was killed, another injured."