Chapter 266
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Briar was still frozen in place, her face filled with disbelief.
After a long pause, she finally found her voice. “Connor, did Freddie show any evidence?”
Without evidence, she couldn’t just blame her grandpa based on his word alone.
When Zeke was alive, his greatest focus was finding the culprit behind her mom’s death.
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Even on his deathbed, Zeke kept reminding her uncles to find the culprit and avenge her mom at all costs.
Zeke had spent the latter half of his life relentlessly searching for the real culprit behind her mom’s death.
He secretly hid in the study every day, looking at her mom’s photo album and reminiscing.
And he did everything to protect Briar, just because she was her mother’s only child.
He was the one who had always treated her with boundless kindness, protected her with unwavering care, and lit the beacon that guided her on the road to vengeance.
On the other end of the line, Ian cleared his throat. “Briar, the evidence is in the safe deposit box Zeke opened at Shrewy Bank before he died…”
Briar knew Zeke had opened a permanent safe deposit box at Shrewy Bank.
‘But if that box holds the evidence of what led to my mother’s death… Briar trembled at the thought.
Ashton didn’t know what the safe deposit box meant to Briar, but he could make a rough guess.
Ashton quickly pulled Briar close, worried she couldn’t handle the shock.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. We don’t have solid evidence yet, do we? We can’t convict Zeke based on Freddie’s statement alone. Let’s talk to your uncles first and decide on the next step.”
Briar nodded, her voice hoarse, “Okay.”
Ashton also instructed Connor over the phone to have Brandon return to Dasmieca to track down Brody, insisting that he must be found before they got back.
They couldn’t let them get away this time.
Connor and Brandon took their orders, hung up, and went to work immediately.
Briar was still in a daze, muttering, “Impossible… This is impossible…”
Ashton’s eyes filled with concern. If Rosalia’s death was truly connected to her father, he feared the blow to Briar would be devastating.
No one could accept that a relative who raised her was an accomplice in her mother’s murder.
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Chapter 266
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But Ashton knew that Connor wouldn’t have reported the information to him without verifying its authenticity.
In other words, Edgar might not have been the only one behind Rosalia’s death.
Her own father, whom she trusted most, might have also been secretly involved.
But as he thought about it more closely, something didn’t seem right.
Back then, Rosalia had run away from home for no apparent reason.
She was the daughter of the prestigious Grant family in Shoneport. Zeke would have sent people to protect Rosalia after discovering Edgar’s despicable behavior?
The fact that Rosalia was sent to a psychiatric hospital was also highly suspicious.
Before leaving home, Rosalia was not in high spirits, but she showed no signs of mental instability.
So, she was perfectly normal before she left home.
Ashton thought, ‘Why did she lose her mind shortly after leaving home? More importantly, who sent her to the psychiatric hospital?
‘She was a young woman who went missing, and many people in Shoneport at the time recognized her.
‘Who would find Rosalia and, instead of calling the police, send her directly to a psychiatric hospital?
‘When a normal person encounters someone who is lost and recognizes them, what is their first instinct?
‘To call the police? Or contact her family directly for a handsome reward? But Rosalia was sent directly to a mental hospital.
‘Besides, the psychiatric hospital where Rosalia was staying was a top–tier facility in Shoneport. It offered the best medical care in the city, and the fees were not cheap.
The hospital would not perform such acts of ‘charity! They would surely try to find the patient’s family to have them pay for the treatment.
‘But none of that happened. Oh, right. There’s also another important factor.
Ashton asked in a deep voice, “Honey, do you know who was the first to find Rosalia back then?”
Briar, having regained her senses, naturally thought of the same suspicious points as Ashton.
Her voice trembled as she closed her eyes in despair. “It was my grandfather. He was the first one to find my
mother.”
A sharp weight struck his heart. “So, was Rosalia already so far gone that she couldn’t recognize anyone at that
time?”
“Yes. She didn’t recognize anyone. Besides her personal lawyer, no one could keep her lucid.” Briar’s voice was
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Chapter 266
hollow and helpless.
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She gripped Ashton’s hand, her nails digging so hard into his skin that they drew blood.
“Ashton, my mother didn’t recognize anyone at the time, but she could recognize her personal lawyer…”
Briar’s voice choked with sobs. “In her last moments, she used the little lucidity she had left to give her fortune and the Jennings Group to me…”
His heart aching, Ashton pulled Briar into his arms. Her muffled sobs came in broken gasps from his chest.
“So, she knew who was harming her. She knew. Ashton, just how desperate do you think my mother was then?” she sobbed.
Ashton said nothing, only holding Briar tightly and letting her cry out all her pain and hatred.
After receiving a call from Ashton, Ruben and Larry rushed back to see Briar breaking down and crying in his
arms.
Larry instinctively started to rush over and comfort Briar, but he froze at the thought of what Ashton had told them over the phone.
“Briar, I’m back. It’s fine, my dear. We’ll get through this together.” Briar’s crying made Ruben’s
eyes
too.
well up
If what Ashton said on the phone was true, her two uncles would be too ashamed to face Briar.
They knew better than anyone how much suffering and injustice Briar had endured since she was a child.
If Zeke was truly one of the accomplices in Rosalia’s death, Ruben couldn’t even imagine whether Briar would be able to stay strong.
Briar’s crying subsided when she heard Ruben return, but she kept her head down, not even knowing how to face them.
After a moment, Briar mumbled, “Ashton, I want to go home,”
Ashton immediately agreed, “Okay, let’s go home.”
Then, he picked Briar up and said to her uncles, “I’m taking Briar home first. We can talk later.”
Ruben said, “Okay, take Briar home. We’ll talk when you’re free,”
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Chapter 267
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