Chapter 198

Chapter 198

When Nora and Jasper arrived together, Daisy had already moved Sierra out of the basement.

She had Sierra tied to a chair. Seeing the people who suddenly burst in, she realized Claire wasn't among them.

She knew Claire had most likely run into trouble.

"Where's Frederick?"

"Why is it you two?"

After Daisy took the fall for Claire in Rosewood City for injuring Aaron, the police quickly saw through the ruse.

They discovered that Claire was the one who actually hurt Aaron.

So Daisy was released.

After returning to Suncrest City, Daisy felt deeply guilty.

She hadn't been able to help Claire and wanted to do something to make up for it.

But when she got home and cleaned the villa where Claire used to live, she found Claire's diary. Only then did she realize that Claire had hated them all along!

Brian's imprisonment was deliberately orchestrated by Claire!

Her plan was simple: either Brian succeeded in killing Nora and Claire would reap the benefits, or Brian failed and she'd get her revenge either way.

"Nora, you're someone's daughter too. Tell me—as a mother, was I really that bad to Claire?"

These past few days, Daisy couldn't wrap her head around it no matter how hard she tried.

What had she done wrong?

Why did Claire hate her and Brian so much?

Sure, they were poor back then. They couldn't afford to send two kids to school.

They couldn't give them the best material conditions.

But she had given Claire the best she could within her means.

"Daisy, you shouldn't be asking me that question. You should be asking yourself."

Nora looked at Daisy coldly, her gaze dropping to the knife hanging from Daisy's hand.

"Ask myself?"

"I picked Claire out of a dumpster and raised her! I'm her savior!"

"If it weren't for me, she'd be dead. The one she should really hate is her birth mother."

"Her birth mother abandoned her. If I hadn't come along, she would've either frozen to death in that dumpster or been eaten by stray cats and dogs."

"All these years, I'll admit I favored Brian more. After all, Brian is my biological son, and Claire was just a girl I picked up. I fed her, gave her a roof over her head—I did right by her."

"How could she hate us like this?"

"How could she!"

Daisy's emotions spiraled out of control.

She was hysterical, her eyes unfocused.

"Claire set a trap that pulled Francis into online gambling, then forged loan documents to force him to hurt Nora."

"Her cruelty runs bone-deep. No matter how you treated her, you couldn't have changed that."

Jasper thought back to everything Claire had done.

He found it shocking too.

How much hatred must Claire have harbored to be willing to destroy even the father who'd raised her for decades?

Remembering Francis's condition before he died, Jasper's brow furrowed tightly.

"No."

"It wasn't like that."

"Claire was such a good girl when she was little. So obedient. She'd fight to do any chores around the house. Everything changed after she met Nora!"

"It's all your fault!"

"No matter how poor we were, even if Claire starved to death, that would've been our business! Nora, why did you have to help her?"

"Back then, when you two went to the same school, why did you have to appear in her life?"

Daisy refused to accept that Claire had set them all up.

She blamed everything on Nora's appearance.

Because Nora showed up, Claire learned that other people's daughters lived such happy lives.

With that comparison, her mindset gradually twisted.

That's what made her so ruthless and heartless!

In her agitation, Daisy raised the knife and moved forward.

Frederick arrived just in time. He stepped in front of Nora, shielding her.

"Even if Nora hadn't appeared, Claire would've met other girls."

"You failed at raising her. You raised a daughter who doesn't know gratitude and instead seeks revenge. You have to live with the consequences!"

Frederick thought back to five years ago.

Before he and Nora had finalized their divorce, he'd given in to temptation and gone to Claire.

As Claire's parents, Daisy and Francis not only failed to advise Claire to keep her distance from a married man—they were exceptionally welcoming to him.

Frederick knew he'd been scum.

But at the same time, he found Daisy and Francis's parenting utterly lacking.

As parents, they had no moral compass, no sense of decency or shame. They enabled their daughter to wreck someone else's marriage.

A family like that could only produce a daughter like Claire!

"It's our fault?"

"We don't know how to raise children?"

"Frederick, you grew up with everything you needed. Of course you don't know how hard life is for people at the bottom!"

"When you can barely scrape together three meals a day, where's the energy to educate your children?"

Daisy refused to acknowledge her mistakes.

She blamed everything on Nora and Frederick.

"If you hadn't taken an interest in Claire's rare blood type, if you hadn't insisted on hiring her as Nora's caregiver, how could she have turned out like this?"

"You're the ones at fault!"

Seeing Daisy's crazed state, Frederick realized she obviously knew about Claire's plan for today.

He glanced at Sierra, still unconscious with no sign of waking.

He didn't want to waste words with Daisy.

"Name your terms. What will it take for you to let my mother go?"

"Claire's dead, Francis is dead too. According to my agreement with Claire, I can get Brian released early!"

"As long as you don't hurt my mother!"

Frederick was certain that Daisy had kidnapped Sierra for Brian's sake.

To force him—or to make Sierra arrange for Brian's early release.

"Dead?"

"They're both dead?"

"Claire said that once Brian got out, she'd take us back to our hometown, buy Brian a big villa, give us tons of money for retirement. It was all lies!"

Daisy held her phone in her other hand.

The screen showed the dial pad.

Clearly, before they arrived, she'd been calling Claire or Francis repeatedly.

But neither had answered.

She must have suspected something was very wrong tonight.

Claire and Francis must have run into trouble.

But she hadn't known they were dead!

"Claire killed Francis. Aaron shot Claire."

"Right now, Aaron's in the hospital getting his stomach pumped. His life hangs in the balance."

"If you have any conscience left, you shouldn't keep making mistakes!"

Thinking of Aaron—the child she'd helped raise—Daisy lowered the knife in her hand.

Claire and Francis were dead, but she still had Brian and Aaron.

She needed to go see Aaron!

"Mom, are you okay?"

Seeing Daisy put down the knife, Frederick immediately went to untie Sierra's ropes.

"Ever since I moved her from the garage, she's been like this."

"These past few days, I've been giving her IV nutrition."

Daisy watched the unconscious Sierra, avoiding Frederick's eyes.

She admitted that when she first brought Sierra here, she'd wanted to force Sierra to get Brian released.

But she never expected Sierra to remain unconscious for days on end.

She honestly hadn't known what to do with her.

"Frederick, we need to get her to a hospital."

"From what I can see, she's in bad shape."

Nora looked at Sierra—who in her memory had always been arrogant and imperious—reduced to this state. She felt an indescribable melancholy.

"Nora, please don't leave Suncrest City right away."

"At least stay for Grandma's funeral."

Frederick lifted Sierra in his arms. As he passed Nora, his eyes held reluctance.

"Okay."

Nora looked at Frederick and nodded.