Chapter 498: What the Dead Left Behind

Yunice had been rambling for a while, and Freya was starting to get impatient. “But you still haven’t said what Lily was really after?”

Yunice paused for a few seconds before replying. “She got greedy.”

“She fell for Mr. Carl.”

“It was the day I was born. Mr. Carl had just made a fortune in business, and he gifted me a jewelry set worth two hundred million.”

“A set of jewelry was all it took to dazzle her heart. She thought Mr. Carl was powerful and capable. To her, he was this polished, successful man… and my father? Just a doctor who smelled like medicine.”

Freya frowned. “But even if your dad was just a doctor, he was the most successful one in Silverburgh. Mr. Carl always says Mr. Saunders was the most skilled person he ever met in the pharmaceutical business.”

“Mr. Carl also said that when he was starting out, smuggling generic drugs, it was Mr. Saunders who helped him avoid risks and get established. He always called Mr. Saunders his benefactor. He respected him deeply…”

Yunice’s gaze grew somber as she looked at Freya. Freya met her eyes and suddenly understood the twisted knot between those three people.

Feelings fade over time. Maybe Lily had truly loved Will once – enough to bear him three children.

But people always want more. When you have something good, you start craving something better. A happy marriage wasn’t enough; she also wanted wealth and status.

Carl and Will were like brothers. Lily watched the man who once trailed behind Will slowly surpass him. It twisted her sense of balance. She started to resent Will.

While she was pregnant with Yunice, she argued with Will constantly. She asked for money, demanded to buy this and that. Will gave her what she wanted, but she was never satisfied.

She hated the nonstop surgeries. Hated the smell of blood and antiseptic on him. Hated his small clinic and the way he patiently talked to crying families.

She idolized Carl, imagined his grand office. Saw him calmly commanding subordinates, wearing a light cologne, attending glittering parties, surrounded by wealthy elites – not like Will, who had desperate patients showing up at the door begging for free treatment.

After enough time comparing the two, anyone’s heart would drift.

Lily caused so many fights, she eventually threatened suicide. Will couldn’t take it anymore and promised to divorce her after she finished postpartum recovery.

Lily thought she saw her chance. She messaged Carl, trying to test the waters, but he ignored her.

She panicked. She didn’t want Will to mock her if he found out, so she stormed out of the house in a rage.

She thought Will would worry and come running after her. She thought he’d bring her back.

She never came home.

When Carl later found out what happened, he blamed himself. If he hadn’t appeared in Will’s life, maybe it wouldn’t have happened. He couldn’t face Will after that.

So he left Silverburgh, went abroad, and only returned to pay respects after Will died.

Much later, when he heard Yunice was getting married, he realized she’d have no father to protect her, and that’s why he came back: to fulfill Will’s duties.

Carl never married or had children because of Will. Because Will’s life had been ruined, in part, by his presence. Carl couldn’t let himself have a complete family, not after that.

Freya frowned, confused. “But you had just been born. How could you possibly know all this about your parents?”

Yunice answered calmly, “Because I dug up my father’s grave. He was buried with one of Lily’s old phones. I just restored the chip. I have all the messages. Audio files too.”

Freya stared at her, speechless.

You dug up your father’s grave… All right then.

After listening to Yunice’s story, Freya’s phone lit up with news about the fire at the Crawford estate.

Uneasy, she didn’t linger.

“Yunice, that fire was probably Mr. Carl’s doing. Don’t worry. I’ll go back and check things out.”

Yunice nodded. After Freya left, she reached into the nightstand drawer and took out her gun.

She stared at it for a long while.

Then she removed the magazine and began counting the bullets – one by one.