Chapter 12
“Honey? Olivia?” Harrison’s voice echoed through the grand estate as he moved from room to
room.
But with every door he opened, the dread in his chest deepened–like walking into a mausoleum built by his own denial.
Everything inside the mansion was exactly the same as the last time he’d been home. Not a single LEGO brick on the coffee table had been touched.
His dirty clothes were still piled in the hamper.
Olivia never let anyone else near his laundry–especially his shirts. She insisted on hand–washing each one the moment he took them off. Yet the dress shirt he’d tossed in over ten days ago was still there, untouched.
A dreadful chill crept up Harrison’s spine. His vision blurred for a moment as a terrifying thought took root.
No. It couldn’t be. Olivia wouldn’t just leave. She must still be in the hospital, recovering from her injuries. That had to be it.
He jumped in the car and sped to Rivermont Mercy General, tearing through every floor, demanding answers from every nurse,
but…
She was gone.
The moment the realization hit, Harrison remembered what the bodyguard had reported earlier
that week.
She had gone missing that very afternoon.
Panic surged through him like a tidal wave. He grabbed his phone and dialed Olivia’s number.
No one answered.
He started sending messages–one after another.
[Olivia, this is getting out of hand. Come back now–we can pretend this never happened.]
[Stop it. Come home.]]
[I’m at the hospital. Let’s visit Lily together. If you don’t show up, I’ll cancel Lily’s treatment. Don’t
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push me.]
[Dean and Mrs. West’s bodies haven’t been cremated yet. Show up now, and I’ll allow you to attend
the funeral.]
But every message disappeared into the void. No response.
Only now did it hit him–Olivia Bennett was truly gone.
The world seemed to tilt beneath him.
He dialed his assistant. “I don’t care what it takes. Find her. I want her found tonight.”
Then he thought of Lily.
He sprinted to the ICU.
But when he reached her room… the bed held someone else.
“Where the hell is Lily?” Harrison stormed into the physician’s office. “Where’s my daughter?!”
The doctor blanched. “Mr. Lowell… Lily’s been gone for over a month.”
“What?” Harrison’s voice cracked, fury rising. “You’re lying!”
Shaking, the doctor pulled up all of Lily’s medical records.
The cardiac arrest. The day she was denied a ventilator because an elderly man with minor injuries was given priority. The day in the ICU when she crashed, but every nurse and doctor had been pulled away–on orders–to tend to a child with a facial scrape. The day she was declared brain–dead. The unauthorized organ donation.
Every unthinkable detail–coldly recorded in black and white.
Harrison staggered back, slamming into the cold wall behind him. The chill of it seeped into his
bones.
She told him.
Olivia had told him.
She told him Lily was gone. That she’d been sacrificed.
He hadn’t believed her. He’d thought she was jealous. That she was smearing Emily.
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He grabbed his phone again and ordered a full investigation into the assault on his sister–the event Olivia had accused Emily of orchestrating.
When the truth landed, Harrison slapped himself–twice–hard enough to ring in his ears.
Every single file Olivia had gathered… it was all real.
Emily had arranged the gang assault. Then framed Olivia by hiring someone to wound her sister. She made Harrison believe Olivia was the monster.
“Damn you, Harrison Lowell!” he shouted, his voice raw.
“This is all your fault. You pushed away the one person who truly loved you!”
He slid down the wall like a puppet with its strings cut, hands over his face, sobs tearing through
his chest.
Utterly defeated.
Utterly alone.
The doctors in the room stood frozen, exchanging uneasy glances. None of them dared say a word.
They’d all assumed Harrison knew. That he’d made his choice. To side with Emily anyway.
But now…
It seemed he’d been just as blind as he was cruel.
Some felt a flicker of pity.
But most just thought only one thing: He deserved every bit of it.
Everyone in that hospital knew what kind of person Emily Ross was.
Everyone–except Harrison Lowell.
Chapter 12
