Chapter 176
Loraine and Kelvin peered through the glass window, barely daring to believe what they saw–Eddy was already sitting up in bed.
They burst into the room in a panic, stunned to find Eddy upright, the anesthesia barely faded after his surgery. Every monitoring wire had been ripped from his body, and the white bandages around his abdomen were stained a deep red.
He flung back the covers, as if determined to get out of bed.
“Eddy, don’t!” Loraine cried, rushing forward.
just had your stitches done! You can’t move like that! Please, don’t scare your
mom!” She reached for him desperately, with Kelvin hurrying to help restrain Eddy.
The woman who had fallen to the floor finally scrambled up, moving closer. “E-”
Eddy glared at her, his voice raw with anger. “You’re not my wife.”
“You’ll never take her place!”
“Get out!”
“Eddy, I really am-
“My wife would’ve known about the wound on my abdomen. She would never have fallen on me, even by accident.”
“She’d be terrified of hurting me, she” Eddy struggled violently, his breathing ragged. “I need to find Laney!”
He fought against them with such force that his stitches tore open, blood oozing through the bandages. But it was as if he didn’t feel the pain at all.
Loraine and Kelvin couldn’t hold him down, no matter how hard they tried.
Thankfully, the commotion brought the doctors and nurses running. They sedated him quickly, forcing him to lie back.
When Eddy woke again, his eyes were glassy and distant.
Loraine slumped in a chair, at a loss for what to do next.
“Eddy, are you really going to just sit here and let Jacob steal The Simmons Group from under your nose?” she pleaded, her voice hoarse.
“Are you going to let him destroy everything we’ve built? Run our family out of the
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company?”
“All for a woman who abandoned you? Are you really going to turn your back on your aunt, on Healy, on all of us, your brothers?”
“It was just a single mistake in your marriage! You gave that woman everything–your whole heart, your entire world. And how did she repay you?”
“She handed The Simmons Group straight to Jacob. To the man you hate most in the world!”
“She’s too cruel! Not only did she leave you to fend for yourself, she didn’t care about Healy either. Eddy, a woman like that isn’t worth dying for!” Kelvin’s voice was sharp, almost desperate.
But in Eddy’s mind, an image of Blanche at sixteen floated up–a gentle, innocent girl perched on a hospital windowsill, blooming like a peony in spring. When she saw him, she’d called out “big brother” with such sweetness.
He squeezed his eyes shut, desperate not to let her slip away. But the moment he did, all he could see was her broken silhouette as she walked away from him, heart
shattered.
His voice trembled with grief. “Laney deserves every good thing in this world.”
“And the rest of you–you’re not even worthy of saying her name.”
“If Laney hadn’t spoken up for you, I would’ve stopped working with you all long
ago.”
“Useless playboys! You couldn’t even keep her in the dark for me!” Rage flickered in his eyes as he stared down Kelvin. “What good are you?”
Kelvin’s face turned pale, guilt seeping into his expression. “Eddy, Aunt Sheila’s been thrown out of Simmons Manor by Jacob. Can you really stand by and watch her end up homeless?”
Eddy’s silence was icy, and Kelvin felt a chill run down his spine. He didn’t dare say another word..
Loraine knew only Laney could pull Eddy back from the edge. “I don’t care where I end up, but Jacob wants to tear down the manor and bulldoze the backyard. He’s going to destroy the tulips–Sheila’s favorites, the ones Laney spent years cultivating with her own hands.”
The words had barely left Loraine’s mouth when Eddy’s eyes snapped open. He tried to get up, but there wasn’t a scrap of strength left in his body.
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Loraine rose quickly and shot Kelvin a look, watching Eddy with anxious eyes.
He slumped back, exhausted. “I’m hungry.”
“Quick, hurry!”
Loraine had been prepared for this. She called into the hall, and Vesta brought in steaming bowls of soup and a tray of warm dishes. Kelvin helped Eddy sit up and get comfortable.
Two weeks later, Eddy appeared outside the gates of Simmons Manor. He couldn’t help but glance toward the cliffs at the edge of the grounds.
His fists clenched involuntarily. That was where his wife had made her final, heartbreaking decision.
He walked up to the old house, pausing just outside the grand foyer. This was the spot where Blanche had overheard him and Loraine talking that night–the moment she’d fainted in shock, the pain etched forever into Eddy’s memory.
The image of Blanche’s sorrow haunted him. If only he’d been a little more careful that night, if he hadn’t rushed to hand Healy off to Loraine, maybe Blanche wouldn’t have overheard, wouldn’t have collapsed, wouldn’t have left him.
He strode inside with his bodyguards.
A harsh voice rang out. “What are you doing here, you coward?”
Jacob’s command had the manor’s private security swarming in, surrounding
Eddy’s men.
Moving through the foyer, Eddy caught sight of the backyard–bulldozers rumbling, their metal jaws tearing into the flowerbeds. The tulip garden was being ripped up, shovel by shovel.
It felt as if someone had torn a piece from Eddy’s heart. Ignoring Jacob’s shouting and the chaos between the guards, he marched straight outside. He yanked the driver from one of the excavators and climbed in himself, gently returning the tulip bed to its place.
Dropping to his knees, Eddy pressed his pale, trembling hands into the earth. Hist mind filled with memories of Blanche tending these flowers–her laughter, her joy as she worked in the garden.
Jacob’s furious shout rang out from the house. “Are you out of your mind? You dare lay a hand on my men?”
Chapter 176
But Eddy didn’t even hear him. An unbreakable obsession gripped him as he carefully repositioned each flower, as if, by restoring the garden to its former beauty, he could somehow bring his wife back home.
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