Chapter 56: Death
Buzz—Buzz—Buzz—
Freya had just stepped out of Sophia's office when her phone began to vibrate.
It was Grant calling.
"What does he want?" Freya pressed the call button, holding back her frustration.
Right now, she still needed to rely on Grant for many things, so she didn't dare neglect his call.
"Freya, your brother's gone. You need to come home quickly..." Grant's voice came through on the other end in sobs.
His son had just been lost, and he felt like the sky was falling.
"What?!" Freya exclaimed, quickly responding, "Alright, I'm on my way back now."
...
Upon returning home, Freya found Grant and Harper as if they'd gone mad.
Grant's face was streaked with tears, his eyes blood-red with a vengeance, a murderous aura emanating from him.
Harper lay sprawled on the couch, her hair and clothes a mess, her cheeks red and swollen, barely breathing in and not out, looking as if she were on her last breath.
"Mom, what happened to you?" Freya immediately rushed to Harper's side, asking anxiously.
"Freya..." Harper opened her eyes, her hands trembling as she reached for Freya's. "Quick, go find Raymond, the doctor at Campbell's house private hospital. He took your brother away."
"Mom, what do you mean?" Freya asked, completely confused.
"You dumb whore, idiot, who told you to sign the consent form?" Grant sprang to his feet, furious, and lunged toward Harper, raising his hand as if to strike her again.
"What are you doing?" Freya stood up quickly to stop him. "Did you do this to mom?"
"Your mom's the idiot who killed my son." Grant roared as if he wanted to strangle Harper.
"It wasn't me. They tricked me, told me it was an ectopic pregnancy, and if we didn't terminate Nicholas right away, I would surely die..." Harper cried out, her voice breaking.
She was already approaching fifty, and it had been no easy feat to become pregnant with Nicholas. Was that not hard enough?
She had hoped to secure her status with Nicholas, but now, other than her daughter Freya, she had nothing left.
"You fool, pigheaded; it was clear from the previous ultrasound that Nicholas was a normal conception; everything was normal. Did you not think to use your brain?" Grant glowered at Freya. His voice raised in a seething shout.
"Calm down!"
Reflecting on the phone call she got from Jacob last night, Freya finally grasped the reality of the situation, grinding her teeth in anger. "It must've been Jacob. He orchestrated this whole thing with his doctor for Sophia," she seethed.
"What?!" Grant cried out in agony. "That bitch Sophia, I'll make her pay."
"There's a window of opportunity next week; Sophia will be on a business trip to D City," Freya said with a sly smile.
"Grant, you can't let her get away with this again!" Harper clutched desperately at Grant's shirttail, tears rolling down her cheeks, pleading, "We need to avenge our son."
Through gritted teeth, Grant vowed, "I won't let that little slut off the hook!"
Only with Sophia gone would all her assets belong to him.
...
Sophia had to stay late at the office today, as she had a business trip to D City scheduled for Monday. By the time she left work, it was nearing nine p.m.
Originally, she planned to return to her apartment at Autumnwood Glades, but halfway there, Fiona's words echoed in her mind, prompting her to change course and head back to The Golden Palms.
When she arrived at The Golden Palms, it was almost ten o'clock. Entering the living room, her eyes immediately caught the sight of two men, one large and one small.
One was sitting on the sofa, browsing through documents, while the other was on the carpet, playing with some watercolor pens, seemingly engrossed in his drawing.
Hadn't they agreed to send Nicholas back to the old mansion?
The moment she saw Nicholas, this question involuntarily popped into Sophia's head. However, in the next instant, she gathered her thoughts, averted her gaze, and made a beeline for the stairs.
"Mommy." Her heart skipped a beat when, just as she turned to leave, Nicholas's tender, childlike voice reached her ears.
"Tomorrow's the weekend. We can spend some quality time with Nicholas," Raymond added, putting down his documents and standing to face her. He explained in his gentle voice.
Stopping in her tracks, Sophia turned back to look.
"Mommy, look! I drew something." Nicholas got up, eagerly showing Sophia his freshly made drawing. His bright eyes shimmered with hope.
The drawing depicted a green lawn with an apple tree, a white house, the sun, and a family of three holding hands.
The man was Raymond. The child was unmistakably Nicholas and the woman... Sophia froze.
Because the woman in the drawing was her, not Freya.
Freya had long hair down to her waist, but Sophia had a short bob that kissed her collarbone. And in the drawing, the woman's hair matched Sophia's length exactly.
Nicholas wouldn't go to bed, insisting on waiting for you," Raymond continued, looking at the startled Sophia.
Sophia finally couldn't bring herself to be harsh when she saw Nicholas's innocent and guileless expression. She smiled and said, "Nicholas, your drawing is awesome!"
At her words, Nicholas's little lips curled up into a beaming smile. "I'll draw another one for Mommy tomorrow."
Seeing Nicholas so happy made Sophia chuckle and nod in agreement. "Okay."
"Mommy has said yes, so should Nicholas go to sleep now?" Raymond bent down to pick up Nicholas, his deep-set eyes also twinkling with laughter.
"Okay," Nicholas agreed sweetly.
Raymond ruffled Nicholas's hair affectionately and handed him over to one of the staff, instructing them to take Nicholas upstairs to bed.
When Nicholas was taken upstairs, Sophia followed suit. As Raymond reached the main bedroom and tried to open the door, he found it locked from the inside.
Unable to do anything, Raymond gave a resigned chuckle and turned away.
After taking a shower and stepping out of the bathroom, Sophia saw that Raymond had already showered as well. He was wrapped in a navy blue robe, sitting up in bed with a document in hand, intently reading.
Stopping in the midst of drying her hair, Sophia turned to glance at the door.
It was still locked, showing no signs of having been tampered with, and she certainly hadn't heard any unlocking sounds. How did Raymond get in?
"Henry prepared a midnight snack," Raymond said, looking up from the last line of the document at Sophia.
Under the bright light, his gaze, soft yet endlessly tender, peered through his glasses.
He knew Sophia had skipped dinner.
Their eyes met, and for a moment, Sophia was spellbound, a blurred memory flitting through her mind. She tried to grasp the fleeting image, but it vanished just as quickly.
The next second, she looked away and, without a word, turned and walked into the walk-in closet.
...