Zahn's voice cracked again, tears finally spilling from his eyes. "When she emailed me about her depression… I called you. I believed you. You sent me photos of her. You told me she was pretending to gain my sympathy."
Madam Neri took another step back. "I only did what was best for the family…"
"Best for the family?" Zahn whispered, his expression twisted into something devastating.
His mother swallowed nervously. "Z-Zahn, listen. You were away. I needed to maintain order in the household—"
"Order?" Zahn's voice dropped to a chilling whisper. "You call your actions 'order'? Between you and Lianna, which one is truly scheming and manipulative? Which one has the cruel heart?"
Silence.
Madam Neri's knees weakened. She gripped the garden railing for support, unable to believe her own son was condemning her for an outsider.
Zahn stared at her like she was a stranger he never knew.
"For three years, Mom." His voice trembled. "I left her alone to drown in misery you created. I let her suffer. I didn't believe her. I failed her… and all because I trusted you."
Madam Neri opened her mouth, furious. "So what?! Have you forgotten how she entered this family? Yes, I might have overdone it a bit, but isn't she fine? Is it wrong of me to make that girl understand that drugging someone is a crime? You're making it sound like I'm some domestic abuser! If I'd known my own son would turn on me like this, I should've called the police on her back then!"
Zahn let out a wry smile. He closed his eyes, exhausted.
Why hadn't he realized his mother held such deep prejudice against Lianna?
Madam Neri's voice echoed in his ears, but when Zahn opened his eyes again, they held only coldness, indifference, and resolve.
"Enough. Tomorrow, you will move back to the old manor. Stay away from my wife and my son from now on."
The words hit harder than a slap.
Madam Neri staggered, eyes wide, face drained of all color.
Zahn didn't wait for her response. He turned and walked back toward the house, each step heavy, suffocating.
Behind him, his mother finally collapsed onto the garden chair, her hands shaking violently, disbelief etched across her face.
But Zahn didn't look back.
Not once.
That night, something inside him shattered completely.
---
Zahn didn't wait for the next day.
The moment he reached his study, he called his lawyer then the police.
Chaos exploded through the mansion.
Word spread fast. The maid who had been serving tea to Madam Neri earlier rushed to the others, trembling as she whispered about the young master's terrifying change in demeanor.
But no one expected this, police sirens, officers filing inside, the once silent estate now filled with wailing, shouting, scrambling footsteps.
Panic spread like wildfire.
"W-We didn't do anything!"
"She forced us! I swear, Madam told us!"
"I only followed orders! Please! Please don't arrest me!"
Zahn listened with a cold, empty look, untouched by the begging, the hysterical shrieks, the sudden dramatic confessions.
He handed the police everything, the files, the phone recordings, the freshly extracted CCTV footage.
Every staff member involved in bullying Lianna was handcuffed and taken away.
His voice didn't waver once.
Then he remembered the Sin Mille villa.
He grabbed his phone, dialing another number. "Obtain the surveillance footage there. All of it. Anyone involved restrain them and hand them to the police."
From the second-floor landing, small fingers curled around the railing.
Sean stood there, eyes wide, face pale. He had woken from sleep by the sound of shouting downstairs.
"Sean…" Zahn called, startled to see his son awake.
The boy flinched like he had been burned and bolted. The bedroom door slammed shut, the echo slicing through Zahn's chest like a blade.
He took a step forward, hesitated, hand half-lifted.
But then his lawyer approached with more documents, and Zahn forced himself back to the grim present.
---
Madam Neri, on the other hand, couldn't process any of it.
She sat on the sofa like her spine had snapped in half, staring blankly ahead.
Her once polished, expensive, practiced composure shattered.
A maid suddenly dropped to her knees in front of her, slamming her forehead against the marble floor in frantic kowtows. "Madam, please! Please help us! Please speak to the police, please!"
Another maid, pale and shaking, pointed at her with trembling hands. "She told us to do it! She said if we didn't obey—"
Madam Neri's eyes sharpened, sanity snapping back like a whip.
"How dare you accuse me?!" Madam Neri erupted, her voice sharp enough to cut steel. "Who do you think you are? Do you think I can't make you and your entire family disappear?!"
The maid screamed as the police dragged her away.
The butler stood rooted in terror, unable to speak. He had never personally harmed Lianna but he had seen. He had known.
He had chosen silence, because between the wife and the mother-in-law, the authority of the latter had always been absolute.
Madam Neri stormed up to Zahn, face flushed with indignation. "Why are you doing this?! Have you truly gone mad?! If this goes out, the media will be knocking on our gates! The Neri family has never had a scandal, are you trying to destroy us?!"
Her voice trembled with anger, but beneath it, unmistakable fear.
But Zahn didn't even look at her.
He simply continued giving instructions to his lawyer, each one like a nail sealing the coffin of the Neri family's long-untouched reputation.
Madam Neri stared at him in disbelief. Her perfect world… collapsing in one night.
---
The Next Morning
When Yeri stepped out of the school gate, she spotted the familiar black car waiting, Shin's men, punctual as always. Ever since she moved out of the dorm, Shin had insisted someone drive her around. Such excessive privilege for someone who lived barely minutes away.
But before she reached the car, another vehicle suddenly swerved in front of her, stopping abruptly.
Shin's chauffeur and the second bodyguard instantly stiffened, stepping out on alert.
Yeri's steps halted.
"Doctor Neri?"
Zahn sat there, unshaven, haggard, suit wrinkled as if he hadn't slept in days. The once immaculate, composed doctor now looked like a man dragged through hell and back.
"I need to talk to you," he said, opening the passenger door like she had no option. "Get in."
Yeri blinked, stunned.
The chauffeur's voice was strained. "Young Master Neri… is our Boss aware of this?"
Zahn didn't even spare the man a look, just turned those hollow, devastated eyes on Yeri.
Yeri tilted her head, then got in.
The two men looked at each other, troubled.
"It's fine," Yeri said through the window before it rolled up. "I'll let him know."
The car pulled away.
The two left behind instantly made frantic calls.
---
Inside, the car hummed in tense silence. Zahn gripped the wheel tightly, the light overhead turning green, then red, then green again before he finally spoke.
"What do you often talk about with Lianna?"
Yeri shifted. "Talk? You mean back at the hospital?"
Zahn's jaw clenched.
Last night, he had gone through the investigation report again. With the Neri family's influence, the investigators were not only fast but painfully thorough. They had even traced the occasions Yeri and Lianna met.
"Lianna approached you first," Zahn said quietly. "She followed you to the park after you left your family's café."
Yeri blinked. It wasn't hard to guess he had dug deep, and judging by how hollow he looked, whatever he found must have came crashing him down.
"I'm hungry. I want a spicy chicken bucket." Yeri smiled.
Zahn: "…"
The light turned green, and the car rolled forward again.
"Yeri Zhi," he reminded, "if I remember correctly, I was the one who advised your parents that you can't eat anything heavy and too oily, especially fast food for a month."
Yeri's mouth twitched. Exactly. It was this man's fault she'd been suffering for days. Why should she make things easy for him?
This was a two-way street. If he wanted answers, he had to give her what she wanted too.
She shot him a knowing smile.
Zahn, unwilling to go against his medical judgment, compromised reluctantly. "Chicken is fine. But not spicy."
"Fine. A bucket." Yeri agreed immediately.
Zahn glanced at her like she was some starving ghost, but chose not to comment.
Soon, the car pulled up in front of a high-end restaurant.
"You don't mind this place, do you? Fast food is not an option," Zahn said flatly.
Yeri frowned at the elegant restaurant through the window, then offered a gentle smile. "Is it okay if I eat here in your car instead?"
Zahn: "…"
Just like Shin Keir, Zahn Neri was a well-known public figure. If anyone recognized him, wouldn't she be dragged into trouble? And on top of that, he was married. Yeri almost rolled her eyes.
Zahn seemed lost in thought, then finally sighed heavily and stepped out of the car without a word.
While waiting, Zahn's phone rang on the dashboard. Yeri glanced over unintentionally and saw Shin's name flashing on the screen.
She wasn't about to answer someone else's phone even if it was Shin Keir. When the call went unanswered, her own phone rang a moment later.
"Where are you?" Shin's cold, magnetic voice came through.
Yeri simply told him the truth: Doctor Neri wanted to ask her something about Sister Lianna, and she'd be back before dark.
"You have no obligation to entertain that idiot," Shin replied sharply. "If he threatens to blacklist you from any hospitals in the future, tell me."
Thinking of her long-awaited chicken bucket, Yeri assured him she wasn't being forced into anything.
Just then, Zahn came out of the restaurant with a take-out bag in hand and slid into the driver's seat.
Yeri's eyes sparkled. The tempting smell of freshly fried chicken made her stomach audibly rumble.
"You can't eat it here. The car will smell."
Zahn's stern tone made her smile collapse. What kind of torture was this?
"How about if I open the window halfway?" Yeri bargained.
"No. Just wait a moment, we'll be there soon." Zahn said, expression firm and non-negotiable.
Yeri almost ground her teeth in irritation. Hugging the take-out bag, she could only inhale its aroma like a pitiful beggar.
Soon, the car entered an exclusive community and parked in front of a sleek, modern-looking house.
Inside, the place felt so quiet it was almost eerie, as if no one lived there.
"Can I eat now?" she asked.
Zahn pointed to the right. "The kitchen is over there. Go wash your hands. No one's competing with you. Put it on a plate."
Yeri: "…"
Is he her father?
Pouting, she obediently followed his instructions.