Chapter 8
After two days of recovery, Lydia was summoned to the Hayes family mansion.
“I hear you’re helping Julian arrange a wedding?” Mr. Hayes Sr. sat in the main seat, his gaze formidable and naturally intimidating.
Lydia lowered her eyes and nodded. “Yes.”
“Ridiculous!” Mr. Hayes Sr. slammed his armrest, shouting angrily.
Lydia flinched, explaining quietly, “Julian is dying. This is his final wish.”
Mr. Hayes Sr.’s body shook violently at her words, looking at Lydia in disbelief. “What did you say?”
Lydia produced the terminal illness notice and diagnosis. “I just want Julian to die without regrets.”
Mr. Hayes Sr.’s expression froze. He valued social standing above all else and despised low-born, calculating women like Vera. He would never allow Vera to become part of the Hayes family.
But now, he hesitated.
“Grandfather, please do this for Julian.”
Mr. Hayes Sr. said nothing more, waving his hand for Lydia to leave.
Lydia returned to her room with Julian. She had just lain down when the door was kicked open, and Julian stormed in, furious.
“Lydia Reed, I trusted you wrongly! You got your shares and now you’re playing games with me?” Julian grabbed Lydia’s wrist roughly, dragging her from the bed.
Lydia fell to the floor, caught off guard.
“Where’s Vera? Why did my grandfather take her away?” Julian’s eyes were bloodshot with rage that threatened to consume her.
“I don’t know!” Lydia struggled. “Julian, where’s your common sense? Do I have the power to influence your grandfather’s decisions?”
Julian’s face darkened, completely dismissing her words. “I’m giving you one day to bring Vera back to me, or you’ll be planning your father’s funeral.”
Lydia’s heart clenched as she stared at Julian, tears welling in her eyes. “What have you done to my father? You can’t hurt him!”
Julian remained unmoved, pulling out his phone and showing her a video of her father dangling from a crane, swaying precariously in the wind.
“Let my father go, and I’ll help you get Vera back,” Lydia begged, prostrating herself before Julian.
Julian’s expression flickered briefly, but his voice remained cold. “When I see Vera, I’ll release him.”
“Please get him down first-he has a heart condition. He won’t survive this,” Lydia pleaded through tears.
“Instead of begging me, you should hurry up and find Vera. You only have one hour.” Julian coldly put his phone away and left.
Lydia stumbled to her feet and knelt outside Mr. Hayes Sr.’s room.
“Please, Grandfather, let them have their way. It’s just a ceremony-we can do it privately without affecting the Hayes family reputation.”
“Grandfather, let Julian see Vera, please.”
Lydia called out and kowtowed for forty minutes before Mr. Hayes Sr, finally opened the door.
Seeing Lydia’s condition, he took a deep breath and relented. “Fine. I’m too old to understand you young people. She’s at the Hilltop Estate. Go find
her.”
“Thank you, Grandfather, thank you!” Lydia expressed her gratitude repeatedly and rose to find Julian, but collapsed from weakness.
Ignoring the pain, she crawled up. After just two steps, she tumbled down the stairs, but gritted her teeth and continued forward.
Chapter 8
“Julian, Vera is at Hilltop Estate. Where’s my father?” Lydia found Julian in the garage. Hearing this, Julian immediately started his car.
Lydia blocked the vehicle, nearly getting hit. He glared at her. “Are you insane?”
“Where is my father?” Lydia spread her arms, stubbornly standing in front of the car.
Julian’s eyes flashed with surprise, as if he’d never seen this side of Lydia before. But his mind was entirely on Vera, leaving no room for other thoughts.
“Harbor City dock.”
Lydia rushed to a nearby car and left the mansion even faster than Julian.
Arriving at the dock, she saw her father suspended in mid-air. Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face as she shakily climbed the control platform to lower him to the ground.
Her father had suffered a heart attack and was unconscious. No matter how loudly Lydia called, he didn’t respond.
“Dad, wake up, don’t scare me! Open your eyes, Dad, Dad!”
“Don’t leave me, Dad…”
With vision blurred by tears, Lydia rushed her father to the hospital.
But the doctors said she was too late…
Lydia leaned against the wall outside the emergency room, clutching her collar, trying to cry but finding she couldn’t.
Her heart was completely shattered.
Only now did she understand that when pain reaches its extreme, tears simply won’t come.
