Hearing the man's words, Deanna couldn't hold back anymore and burst into tears.
"I was just trying to be kind. Why did this have to happen to me... What is wrong with this world..."
She buried her head in Lance's chest, her voice filled with indescribable grievance.
Lance felt a pang in his heart, a mix of sorrow and helplessness.
Xavier, seeing the two embracing, tactfully raised the partition in the car.
For a moment, the only sound in the car was Deanna's sobbing.
Lance held her, gently patting her back, comforting her, "It's not your fault; You don't know they would requite kindness with enmity."
Deanna sniffled softly.
After a while, she managed to calm down and awkwardly pulled away from Lance's embrace.
Seeing the wet patch on Lance's chest, her face turned red with embarrassment.
"Sorry, I got your clothes wet."
"It's fine. Do you feel a bit better now?"
Lance looked at her with concern.
Deanna nodded, "Letting it out helped a lot, but I still feel bad inside."
After all, anyone who went through such an ordeal wouldn't recover quickly.
Lance understood and changed the subject, "Grandma has been in the hospital since she was shocked by the news. The doctor specifically advised us to avoid stressing her out in the future because of her age; she's at risk of a stroke."
"I understand. I'll be more careful from now on. Thank you for your help. If it weren't for you, I might not have gotten out so quickly."
Deanna thanked him again.
Lance smiled and didn't take all the credit, "It wasn't just me. Old Hughes and Old Wright also put in a lot of effort to find evidence."
"You all deserve thanks. Once this is over, I'll properly thank you all," Deanna promised with a smile.
As they spoke, the car stopped; they had arrived at Hencard Villa.
In the living room, Old Ashley and the two children heard the commotion and hurried out.
"Deanna."
Old Ashley's voice was hoarse as she ran towards Deanna.
The two little ones also ran over on their short legs, calling out in their sweet voices, "Mommy..."
Each child hugged one of Deanna's legs, their eyes slightly red.
Deanna held them close, her barely contained sadness resurfacing.
Old Ashley looked Deanna up and down. Seeing that her granddaughter was just exhausted but otherwise fine, she finally relaxed.
"It's good that you're out. It's good that you're out."
She couldn't hold back her tears and hugged Deanna tightly, crying, "You've suffered so much..."
Perhaps influenced by the emotions, the two little ones also started crying.
Lance watched the family cry together, feeling a mix of emotions but didn't interrupt.
Deanna fought back her own urge to cry and comforted her grandmother and the children.
"Grandma, don't cry. There are guests here. See, I'm fine now."
"Gregory and Chloe, don't cry either. Help Mommy comfort Great-grandma." She busily tried to console them.
After a while, they finally calmed down.
Lance handed Old Ashley a handkerchief, "Grandma, wipe your tears."
"Thank you, Mr. Mercer. I'm sorry you had to see this."
Old Ashley accepted it with some embarrassment.
Lance smiled, indicating it was nothing.
Just as he was about to invite them into the villa, Sam hurried out with a few servants.
"Mr. Mercer, let Miss Jones step over a brazier to burn her bad luck."
Sam signaled the servants to place the brazier in front of Deanna and smiled, "Miss Jones, please step over it for good fortune."
"Thank you."
Deanna nodded and stepped over the brazier.
Meanwhile, following Lance's instructions, the police announced the results of the case online.
Almost immediately after their announcement, netizens were in an uproar.
"Oh my God, the truth is like this? This is like a real-life version of 'The Farmer and the Viper'!"
"We wrongly accused Miss Jones. We're sorry, Miss Jones."
"Reading through the whole case gave me chills. How could someone do this to their own mother for money?"
"This scum deserves to be caught. They should get the death penalty!"
Netizens quickly condemned Ricky.
Some even dug up Ricky's personal information and shared it online.
At this time, Deanna entered the villa with her grandmother and children and was urged to wash up and rest.
Having been apart for so long, the children clung to Deanna more than ever.
This left Lance without a chance to speak to Deanna alone.
He eventually gave up and went to the study with Xavier to handle business matters.
During this time, he received a call from the police informing him that they had clarified the case online.
Lance checked online and saw Ricky's information exposed by netizens. He narrowed his eyes.
Suddenly, he instructed Xavier, "Have someone investigate the loan shark gang that lent money to Ricky."