Chapter 339: I'm Going After Her!
"We didn't tell you about Kismet from the beginning precisely because you're too trusting! We were worried that if you knew, your wariness would be too obvious and tip her off, making her suspicious. We thought you'd at least have some basic caution, but we never imagined..." He couldn't finish the sentence. He never expected Kate would spill every single piece of classified information without any reservation.
Emily's voice came through the phone, equally filled with regret: "Charles, this is our fault. We shouldn't have taken chances from the beginning—we should have told her the truth sooner. Now it's too late to regret anything."
Charles took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. What's done is done—no point dwelling on it now. He looked at Kate, who stood frozen in place, her face ghost-white, tears gradually welling up in her eyes. His emotions were a tangled mess.
Kate finally snapped out of her shock, and the full weight of betrayal hit her like a freight train. She wasn't stupid—just too trusting. And that's exactly what Kismet had used against her!
"Kismet! How dare she deceive me! How dare she use me! I'm going after her!" Kate suddenly shrieked, spinning around and charging toward the exit, clearly intent on storming Windsor Manor to confront Kismet face-to-face.
"Kate! Don't be rash!" Emily's urgent voice called through the phone, trying to stop her.
But Charles didn't try to hold Kate back. A plan suddenly formed in his mind, and he said coldly, "No. Let her go."
"Charles?" Emily sounded confused.
"This might actually be an opportunity. Kate's emotions are at their most raw and genuine right now. Let her confront Kismet—let Uncle Oliver hear firsthand exactly what Kismet has been up to."
Charles opened the door and called out to Kate in the hallway, "Kate, let all your anger show. Don't let her see through any cracks."
Though impulsive, Kate wasn't completely without sense. Hearing Charles say this, she paused, immediately understanding his meaning. She roughly wiped the tears from her face, her eyes becoming determined and ice-cold: "Fine! I'm going right now! I want Uncle Oliver to judge this situation properly!"
With that, she stormed out of the hallway without looking back, heading straight for Windsor Manor.
Kate slammed through Windsor Manor's living room doors so hard the crash made Kismet jump, who had been talking with Oliver. Kismet's face still wore her usual gentle smile, but seeing Kate's furious expression, a barely perceptible flash of panic crossed her eyes before quickly returning to normal. She rose, affecting her typical intimate manner as she approached: "Kate? You look upset. What happened?"
"Don't touch me!" Kate violently shoved away Kismet's outstretched hand with such force that Kismet staggered backward. Her eyes were blazing, her chest heaving dramatically as she pointed directly at Kismet's nose, her voice trembling with rage: "Kismet! Why did you lie to me? Why did you fish for information? Did you think I was some kind of fool you could play with?"
The living room atmosphere instantly turned glacial. Oliver's brow furrowed deeply as he looked toward Kismet: "Kismet, what's this about?"
Kismet's complexion shifted slightly, her eyes quickly brimming with tears as she looked pitifully at Oliver: "Uncle Oliver, I... I don't know either. Kate, is there some misunderstanding?"
She turned to Kate, her tone carrying a hint of urgency and confusion, "Did someone tell you something? You tell me, and I'll help you figure it out."
"Misunderstanding?"
Kate let out a cold laugh, the accumulated fury and humiliation of being deceived pushing her nearly to the breaking point. "The misunderstanding was you pretending to be concerned, calling to ask which hospital and room Ewan was in! The misunderstanding was you fishing for information about when Jett would be released! The misunderstanding was you taking all that intelligence and then sending people to kill and silence them, to attack Ewan in the hospital! Kismet, you're absolutely heartless! Even if Jett did wrong, he didn't deserve to die! And Ewan was completely innocent! To achieve your goals, you'd actually do something this vicious!"
Kate's voice thundered through the living room. She held nothing back, pouring out exactly how Kismet had exploited her naivety, how she'd extracted classified information, and how it had led directly to Jett's brutal death and Ewan's attack. Every word carried white-hot rage.
Kismet's face went ashen as she rushed to interrupt, tears already streaming down her cheeks, looking utterly pitiful: "Kate, you must have been manipulated! How could I possibly do such things?"
Oliver's expression became extremely grave. He looked between the emotionally charged Kate and the weeping Kismet, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief. He had always regarded Kismet as his own daughter, never once doubting her. Kate's words hit like a bombshell, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.
"Kismet, what Kate is saying... is any of it true?" His voice carried a barely detectable tremor.
Kismet dropped to her knees before Oliver with a thud, crying even harder: "Uncle Oliver! I didn't! I really didn't! This was all Frank's doing! It was him! When I rejected his advances, he became jealous of Charles and turned his love for me into hatred, deliberately setting me up! He must have noticed Kate's trusting nature and intentionally misled her into thinking it was me!"
She lifted her tear-filled eyes, gazing at Oliver with determination: "Uncle Oliver, think about it—if I were really behind this, how could I possibly have someone crash into Charles? I love him so much, how could I bear for him to be hurt even a little? That must have been Frank's scheme! He wanted to drive a wedge between me and Charles, between all of us!"
Kismet's words were delivered with such apparent sincerity and clear logic, completely absolving herself while pinning all the blame on Frank.
Oliver had always been deeply fond of and trusting toward Kismet. Hearing her explanation, and remembering that Kismet had mentioned Frank's persistent harassment before, he couldn't help but waver. He looked at Kate with a hint of scrutiny in his tone: "Kate, are you sure you haven't made a mistake? Could it really be... Frank stirring up trouble?"
Kate never expected Kismet to twist the truth so brazenly. She trembled with rage: "You're lying! Frank had no way of knowing any of this! It was you! You personally asked me these questions! You even said... you even said this information was very important to you, and told me not to tell anyone else! Kismet, do you dare deny you said that?!"