"The meeting dragged on until 10:00 pm.
Everyone waspletely drained, and even Grace herself answered candidly
when asked about thepany''s future. What they needed now were profitable
projects. Without them, thepany would continue their slow death march until
they inevitably copsed.
After all, under the executives were still thousands of employees relying on a
paycheck. The monthly expenses were astronomical. Once the cash ran dry,
bankruptcy would be inevitable.
By the time Grace got home, her eyes were burning from exhaustion. All she
wanted now was to crash and get some sleep.
Unbeknownst to her, someone was already on their way to Carmen that very
night.
After Quentin''s funeral, Carmen chose to leave the world behind and be a
nun at a convent nestled four hours outside the city.
Someone made the long drive through the night to reach her, ready to twist the
truth.
"Your beloved son was led astray by her," the visitor said in a steady, patient
voice.
"All the old executives who built thepany alongside Quentin-she fired them
all. Don''t you want toe out and set things right? Don''t you want to see your
son, who''s been suffering?"
Carmen kept her eyes closed, slowly rolling her rosary beads between her fingers
while continuing to mutter verses under her breath.
The visitor wasn''t fazed by the cold reception and kept going.
"Mrs. Lambert, you''re Quentin''s wife. The public trusts you. If youe forward
and tell everyone that Grace orchestrated all of this out of greed for the Lambert
family''s fortune, then Liam might still have a chance.
"People won''t me him; they''ll just pity him for being betrayed by his own sister."
Still, Carmen''s eyes remained shut, and her lips moved in constant prayer.
The visitor sneered, "Why don''t you try calling Liam yourself? Everything I''m
telling you is real. I''m not lying. Oh, right. I almost forgot. Even if you want to
reach him, you can''t. Grace has already got him locked down. Until she secures
her spot as CEO, there''s no way she''s letting him out."
No matter what that person said, Carmen continued praying, unmoved.
Finally, the visitor''s patience cracked. "Mrs. Lambert, I''ve been speaking all this
time, and you''ve been keeping your eyes closed. Don''t you think that''s a little
disrespectful?"
Carmen had shaved off all her hair and now wore only coarse, in robes.
"When Quentin was alive, he was really nice to her. She used to wear luxury
brands, dine on the finest delicacies, and live a life most could only dream of.
They had started from nothing together, and he had never once let her down.
She had loved Quentin more deeply than she had ever loved anyone-or
anything. Now that he was gone, life itself had lost all meaning for her.
And after seeing Alice''s true colors, Carmen could no longer tell what was real
and what was false.
In the silence of the convent, with only her prayers and the distant echo of hymns
forpany, she found a bittersweet kind of peace.
She slowly lit a candle beside her and made a cross with quiet reverence. Only
then did she speak.
"I know why you came. In the past, I
was blind-blinded by my own
prejudice. I forgot that Grace was
my daughter too. The rift between
us was my failure as a mother. I
tried to make her life harder, thinking
it would somehow make up for what
I owed Alice all these years.
"But in the end, it was all a lie. Every
word Alice said was a lie. And
because of it, I lost everything-my
husband, my father... Even my
daughter. I have nothing left. When
your own daughter can deceive you
sopletely, tell me, why should I
believe a single word you say?"
Her voice was calm, almost detached as if she had truly seen through the illusions
of the world.
The visitor grew more desperate. "You don''t even care about your own son? Liam
is locked away right now. Only you can save him!"
Carmen lit another candle, kneeled down again, and resumed her prayers. She
gave a small, almost sorrowful smile.
"Save him? For what? He crossed a
line no one should cross. Wrong is
wrong-and he should be punished. I
know my son. If he truly felt
wronged, he would''ve crawled here
on his hands and knees to plead
with me. But if he''s hiding. It''s
because he knows he''s guilty."
The visitor was speechless, his anger ring uncontrobly. She knocked over a
stand of prayer candles, the sound echoing sharply through the quiet convent.
"Now you want to y the saint, Mrs. Lambert? Fine. When you lose your son
too, maybe then you''ll finally realize how wrong you are. Keep turning a blind eye
to Grace''s ambition and you''ll end up an old woman, abandoned and alone!"
But Carmen remained still and undisturbed, her fingers moving even faster over
her rosary beads as she whispered her prayers without pause.
The one who had rushed in to convince her was none other than Joanne. Shaking
with rage, Joanne let out a coldugh and stormed toward the door. But just as
she was about to step out of the hall, Carmen''s voice called out from behind her.
"Keep walking down the wrong road and it''ll destroy you. Take that as my parting
gift to you," she said steadily.
Joanne froze, her hand gripping the edge of the doorframe so tightly that her
knuckles turned white.
"Mrs. Lambert, there are no gods in this world. My life is mine to shape. Fate has
nothing to do with it. I''m going to build the life I want, and no one can stop me.
You''ve given up, so now, you pin all your hopes on gods that don''t even exist.
"If there really were some higher power watching over us, the Lambert family
wouldn''t have ended up like this. From what I''ve heard, your husband spent his
life doing good... And look where that got him."
She let out a dryugh.
Even as she turned to leave, Joanne still wanted to break Carmen''s faith.
But Carmen only trembled slightly as if something had struck her deep inside.
Then, her fingers moved even faster along the rosary beads, her prayers steady
and unwavering.
Outside, Joanne climbed into her car, her chest still tight with frustration. She had
arrested was Liam, to watch him and Lambert Group burn beyond repair.
But Grace had beaten her to it. Not only had she defused the entire crisis, but she
had even turned the narrative in her favor.
Now, the public wasn''t attacking Liam; they were starting to pity him.
Joanne inhaled sharply and mmed her fist against the steering wheel. Still, she
wasn''t the kind of woman to fall apart over one setback. In less than ten minutes,
she had pulled herself together.
She had nothing but disdain for people like Carmen, those who acted like they
had seen through the world when really, all they had done was run from it.
Fate wasn''t something you waited on. It was something you took. And Joanne had
never once forgotten what she was after."
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