?Chapter 1326:


    The question caught Sadie off guard. Her brows knitted together in confusion.


    What kind of criminal mastermind cared about her personal life? Since when did a notorious crime boss worry about something as ordinary as whether or not she had kids?


    The idea was almostical.


    Reading her suspicion, Emerson paused, an unexpected sorrow flickering in his eyes. For a moment, they shimmered with tears. He said nothing more, simply pushed open the door, and motioned for her to go through.


    After twenty minutes had passed, Emerson guided Sadie along winding paths lined with perfectly pruned flowers, eventually halting outside a secluded area set apart from the rest of the estate.


    Inside, the space was warm and inviting, like a bedroom filled with gentlemplight and the faint scent of flowers.


    Sadie’s eyes swept across the room, finallying to rest on a photo frame sitting atop the nightstand.


    Inside the frame was a photograph of a much younger Emerson with her mother. Her mother was beaming up at him, every bit the image of someone deeply and effortlessly in love.


    There was no caution in her mother’s eyes, only adoration.


    A wave of shock crashed through Sadie, leaving her frozen and numb. With trembling hands, she approached the nightstand, picked up the picture, and stared at it as her voice shook. “What… what were you to my mother?”


    Emerson chose not to reply. Instead, he moved across the room in silence, stopping in front of a shrine where he struck a match and lit a single candle.


    Sadie’s gaze drifted to an elegant white jade urn ced at the center of the shrine.


    Etched across its surface were the words: “Here rests the love of my life, Brenda Stewart.”


    What?


    Sadie’s thoughts spiraled into chaos. Her brain simply refused to process what she was seeing.


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    None of this made sense. How could her mother possibly have been in love with Emerson?


    Red-rimmed eyes glistening, Emerson’s hand hovered over the smooth urn. He spoke softly, each word weighed down by longing. “Brenda, our daughter is here. Can you see her?”


    Every movement radiated a gentle reverence, as if he were still reaching for a love he’d never let go.


    Sadie instinctively took a step back, her mind whirling with confusion, wild suspicions crowding out reason.


    Suddenly, she surged forward, seizing Emerson’s arm and refusing to let go. “Who are you? What is all this? I want the truth, now!”


    Kindness is never handed out for free. People don’t just help others out of the blue. Unless—


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