Chapter 4
Lucian didn’t agree. He simply watched me unravel into hysteria, then tossed out a cold remark.
“Catherine, think about yourself for once. Or better yet,” he paused, letting the cruelty sink in. “Think about
your mother p>
Yes. My mother. Still clinging to life in the intensive care unit, her condition critical.
The entire medical team had been brought in by Lucian himself to care for her.
Even for my mother, I had to endure. I could only endure.
I had kept silent all this time. I had tolerated everything until today, watching the messages keep pouring in
from Jessica. I opened the latest video.
Lucian was clearly drunk, holding Jessica in his arms.
“Catherine won’t leave me. Even if she doesn’t do it for me p>
“She’ll stay for her mother. Because of her mother, she’ll swallow whatever I dish out p>
A dull ache spread across my chest.
Even though I had long understood that Lucian and I could never return to the past, being reminded that my
weakness could be used against me still stabbed me deeply.
I listened as Jessica asked him why.
He only let out a quiet, bitter laugh. “There’s a secret. Catherine has never known it p>
“Catherine,” Lucian waved, and Jessica leaned closer. “Her mother always had a fighting chance p>
“Just by going abroad, there was an eighty–percent chance of recovery. But I didn’t allow it p>
“I even blocked all the information p>
A chill ran through me.
The phone trembled in my grip, and then Lucian’s icy voice reached my ears.
“I buried that news. So Catherine would never find out p>
“So that Catherine would never be able to leave me in this lifetime p>
His voice faded into a meaningless buzz. Tears blurred my vision. A raw, choking sob tore from my throat as
I clamped a hand over my mouth.
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I remembered my mother, who had fallen while gathering herbs in the mountains with the villagers to help
me pay for college. She had been in a coma ever since.
So many lost years. My mother had always been my greatest pain.
I could still remember that moment of utter collapse, when the weight of it all made me wish for oblivion.
Then Lucian appeared. The untouchable heir, descending into my world, holding me tightly and saying,
“Catherine, don’t be afraid p>
“I’m here now. You don’t have to face any of this alone p>
Lucian had been the one to shore up my fragile world, to catch me in my free fall, a rebuild my life from the
ruins.
It was Lucian who brought the best medical team for my mother. It was Lucian who paid my tuition.
It was Lucian. He made the Catherine I had become.
The phone rang incessantly. From the hospital.
My heart clenched painfully. I didn’t even have time to press answer before I first saw Jessica’s message.
[Too bad. After your mother learned the full truth, she seems to have lost the will to live p>
She sent me a photo. It was my mother, her eyes red and filled with tears.
My finger stabbed at the answer button, a frantic, desperate motion.
I heard the doctor speak. “Mrs. Sterling, your mother p>
Silence stretched on the line. The world didn’t just fall silent–it dropped away entirely.
All I could hear was my own heartbeat and the words that suddenly escaped me.
“My mother… What happened to my mother p>
“I’m very sorry to inform you that your mother passed at 18:35 this evening. Please accept our deepest
sympathies p>
Lucian hadn’t been drunk for the first time. Everyone knew the Sterling heir appeared calm and gentle on the surface, but inside, he was colder than anyone.
But he had one weakness. Catherine.
“Catherine…” Lucian suddenly opened his eyes.
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He raked his hair with frustration, grabbed the incessantly ringing phone, glared at the incoming call, and
shouted furiously into it.
“You’d better have a reason p>
The voice on the line stammered, unable to speak a full sentence.
Lucian’s eyelids twitched. His heart clenched. He couldn’t even react in time.
Finally, the assistant’s trembling voice managed to form the words.
“Mr. Sterling… it’s about Mrs. Sterling. Her mother… she passed away last night p>
Chapter 4
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