Ned looked at his father with resolute eyes. "No matter how this turns out, I will never marry Lara. She's so young, yet her mind is already this vicious." His face twisted into an expression close to disgust. "She used such despicable means against someone whose life was hanging by a thread. Even if she didn't do it directly, she indirectly pushed a person to the brink of death. That's unforgivable."
"Your mother won't be so easily persuaded. You'd better brace yourself," Jonathan said, clapping his hands once before rising from the sofa. "Alright, that's how things stand. From now on, we each do what we have to do. Son, are you ready to step right into the eye of the storm?"
"Yeah! I've been waiting for you in the eye of the storm for a long time, haven't I?" Ned replied, a rare joking tone in his voice. "So I suggest we both head to C&C tonight and grab a guest room to rest. Keeping our nerves strung tight like this will break us eventually. Tomorrow night, the two of us go to battle together…"
"You little punk, you're really not worried at all, are you? What if Sophie really is my daughter…" Jonathan started.
Ned cut him off. "Even if she turns out to be my blood sister, I'll still love her—just as an older brother loves and protects his little sister. It's perfectly natural, and it would be even more rightful and proper, wouldn't it?" His eyes shone with unyielding determination.
"Good. Let's go—off to C&C to recuperate!" Once the tension eased, Jonathan's steps became noticeably unsteady.
"I'm old. Really old," he sighed. "Back in the day, I could negotiate with government officials and rival companies for five days straight, sleeping only two or three hours a night, and still be full of energy, handling everything with ease. Now, just two consecutive sleepless nights and I'm done for."
Supported by Ned's arm, Jonathan climbed into the business car and they headed toward C&C.
..................
Back in her small apartment, Sophie had barely set down her backpack when her phone started ringing. She frowned, surprised—who would call at this hour?
The caller ID showed an unfamiliar landline number. She hesitated, then rejected the call.
But the phone kept ringing, persistent and unrelenting. With a sigh, she finally answered. "Hello? Who is this?"
Silence on the other end.
"Hello?"
"Please… I'm begging you," Lara's voice came through, faint and fragile, almost pitiful. "Can you just leave Ned? Stop clinging to him?"
Hearing Lara's voice, Sophie went quiet for a long moment before replying, "After everything despicable you've done, you still have the nerve to ask—no, order—me to do anything? Don't call me again."
She was about to hang up when Lara cried out, "Wait! Don't hang up!"
Her voice was weak but urgent. "Just think about it calmly. Ned and you… you're from completely different worlds. Your family backgrounds are worlds apart. It's impossible for you two to be together! And Aunt Victoria will never, ever agree to it. If you don't listen to me, you'll only end up getting hurt."
Those words lit a fire in Sophie. "Haven't my mother and I been hurt enough already? Who gave you the right to cause a scene at the hospital? She has brain cancer—she's dying—and what you did was practically murder. I could take you to court for intentional harm, even attempted murder. The hospital has cameras everywhere."
"Why won't you listen to me? Why do you have to be so stubborn?" Lara's voice rose, trembling with frustration. "Don't you realize your stubbornness is making everyone suffer? Because you insist on doing this, you're making everyone miserable. Your sins are piling up—and in the end, there will be retribution!"
"Only God decides retribution," Sophie answered flatly. "Have you said everything you wanted to say?"
Lara finally lost control and shouted into the phone, "Why are you so selfish? So incorrigible? Your happiness is built on our pain—don't you understand that? Mine, Aunt Victoria's… even your own mother's!"
All she got in return was Sophie's silence.
"Sophie Davies! I've said every nice thing I possibly could to you. A selfish person like you will get struck by lightning from the heavens. God Himself will help me punish you!" Lara was practically hysterical. After screaming, all that came through the receiver was her ragged breathing…
"Fine then," Sophie replied coldly. "Let's just see who God punishes first—you or me."
Beep-beep-beep. The call ended.
Lara hurled the cordless phone across the room. A few seconds later, she let out a piercing scream:
AHH— AHH— AHH—
"What's wrong! Lara, baby, what happened?!" Hearing the screams, Isabella and her husband rushed out of their bedroom and raced upstairs to their daughter's room. When they saw Lara's state, Isabella nearly collapsed from fright. She could only clutch her precious daughter tightly, tears streaming down her face as she wept with her.
"Mom… Mommy—" Lara collapsed into her mother's arms, sobbing uncontrollably. "Why, why doesn't Ned love me? I've loved him so much… ever since we were little…"
"There, there… Mommy understands how you feel…" Isabella comforted her helplessly.
Charles stood at the foot of the bed. He didn't need to ask—he already knew this had to be about Ned and that girl again. Otherwise, his daughter would never break down like this.
That night, the house was in turmoil until nearly dawn. Only when Lara finally passed out from exhaustion did they find a fragile peace.
"No, I have to go find that girl," Isabella declared. She hadn't slept a wink. Back in their bedroom with her husband, her face was etched with exhaustion and heartache.
"That girl? Sophie Davies? Why on earth would you go see her?"
"Yes, her. She's a first-year at LSE. You're a professor there—don't you know her?"
"I didn't know before. Now I do." For two nights in a row he'd watched his daughter wake up screaming from nightmares, and now this breakdown. He was beyond shocked.
Isabella recalled the way Sophie had looked at Ned's birthday party not long ago…
Then, word for word, she told her husband everything—exactly why Lara was suffering so terribly and losing her mind.