Chapter 228

Chapter 228

Three days later, explosive news detonated across the entire city.

Police issued a statement—Rupert was suspected of multiple malicious crimes: hiring people to vandalize a tomb, ordering the sabotage of an exhibition, and spreading defamatory rumors.

Simultaneously, further investigation revealed multiple economic crimes from Rupert's earlier years.

Most shocking of all was his involvement in the old Mellon family case.

Harper now sat in the interrogation room, quietly facing at this long-overdue truth.

When Niamh was still alive, on the surface, Wilder appeared to be a successful businessman, a loving father.

But no one knew that behind the scenes, he was colluding with outsiders in shady dealings.

Half the wealth he'd accumulated over those years came from tax evasion and fraud, the other half from despicable methods of swallowing up small factories.

Harper's mother, Niamh, had discovered her husband's secrets during that time.

It was a rainy night. Niamh had accidentally found transaction records between Wilder and Rupert at home.

Those numbers were shocking—asset transfers, falsified accounts, even records of dealings with criminal organizations.

Only then did she realize how much blood stained the wealth her pillow companion had accumulated over the years.

What chilled her even more was that Wilder was plotting to swallow up another small factory, using methods so despicable she couldn't bear it.

The factory owner was a good friend of hers. Just days ago, he'd visited their home, arm around Wilder's shoulders, the two of them calling each other friends.

Niamh had a huge fight with Wilder.

She threatened to make the evidence public, to let everyone know his true face.

Wilder appeared to back down on the surface, promising to stop, but then he turned around and went to Rupert.

"That woman can't be kept," he said. "She knows too much."

Rupert understood completely.

A week later, Niamh "accidentally" encountered a car accident and died on the spot.

The hit-and-run driver escaped and was never caught.

Fifteen-year-old Harper lost her mother overnight.

What she didn't know was that behind that car accident were two masterminds—one her biological father, the other the man she would later marry.

That evening before going out, Niamh had turned back to smile at her, saying, "I'll be back soon."

That was the last time she saw her mother's smile.

After Niamh's death, Wilder appeared devastated. At the funeral, he cried until he nearly fainted, holding Harper and saying, "Child, from now on I'll take good care of you."

Harper believed him.

She cried in her father's arms for a long time, thinking he was her only support.

But within six months, Wilder married another woman.

That woman was young and beautiful, and had long been involved with Wilder in secret.

After moving in, she spoke coldly to Harper, making things difficult at every turn.

Wilder turned a blind eye, never speaking up for his daughter.

In that house, Harper lived like an outsider.

She learned to cook, learned to do laundry, learned to read people's moods.

Every night, she hid under her covers, crying secretly, then the next day she continued pretending nothing was wrong.

And all of this, Rupert saw.

He'd had his eye on Harper for a while.

Not because of her personally, but because of the Ross family business.

Though Wilder had married a new wife, Harper was the legal heir.

Controlling Harper meant controlling the Ross family.

But how to make her devotedly follow him?

Rupert came up with an idea.

He'd learned that as a child, Harper had fallen into the sea while playing at the beach and been rescued by a young man.

That was the warmest memory in her heart. She'd been searching for that lifesaver ever since.

That young man had appeared when she was most desperate, snatching her back from death's grip.

She'd dreamed countless times of that blurry face, waking with her pillow soaked.

Rupert dug up every detail from back then.

What time, what location, how big the waves were, how cold the water, what color clothes she wore, what the first words were after being pulled out.

Then he packaged himself as that young man.

At a gathering, he "casually" mentioned saving someone at the beach years ago, every detail matching perfectly.

Harper was shocked and delighted, thinking she'd found the person she'd been thinking about.

She grabbed his hand, tears flowing unstoppably, saying, "I've been looking for you for so long."

From that moment on, her feelings toward Rupert were different.

What happened after, everyone knew.

Harper married Rupert, bringing the entire Ross family with her.

Though Wilder was reluctant to let Harper go like this, under Rupert's threats, he had no choice but to agree.

Rupert held evidence against him. He knew that if he resisted, all his dirty dealings over the years would be exposed.

In the end, Wilder accepted Rupert and stood on the same side as him.

After the Mellon Group went bankrupt, Wilder also fell seriously ill.

Ironically, before dying, he wanted to see his daughter one last time. Harper refused.

She didn't know the truth then, but she remembered those years of being neglected.

She remembered when that woman pointed at her nose and cursed her as excess baggage, her father standing by without a word.

She remembered when she had a fever and was delirious. Her father was out shopping with that woman, not even making one phone call.

Now, the police had investigated everything clearly.

In the interrogation room, facing that evidence, Rupert finally broke down.

"I did it! I did it all! But Wilder was also an accomplice! He personally sent his own wife to her death! Why aren't you arresting him? Just because he's dead, it's all over?"

Harper looked at him coldly. "He's dead, you're still here. The debt he owed, the Grim Reaper will collect. The debt you owe, we'll collect."

As Rupert was being led away, he suddenly laughed.

That smile looked worse than crying.

"Harper..." he muttered, "the biggest regret of my life is meeting you. If I'd known this day would come, back then I should have..."

He didn't finish before being dragged into the depths of the corridor.

A week later, the verdict was announced.

Rupert, suspected of intentional homicide, fraud, and defamation, with combined sentences, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

When the news broke, the entire internet erupted.

Harper looked at that verdict, silent for a long time.

All those things she hadn't understood over the years finally had answers now.

Why her father had suddenly become so cold.

Why her mother's death had been so suspicious.

Why Rupert had been so good to her, too good to be true.

All of it was a scheme, a trap set fifteen years ago.

Alaric stood beside her, gently holding her hand. "Harper..."

Harper looked up at him. Her eyes reddened, but no tears fell.

"I'm fine," she said, her voice soft but steady. "I just feel that all these years, I've been living like a joke. Played for fifteen years, even my own husband..."

She couldn't continue.

Alaric pulled her into his arms.

"It's not your fault," he said quietly. "They were too evil. They worked together to deceive you. You didn't do anything wrong."