?Chapter 2923:


    There was no mistaking it—that was Eric’s voice.


    “Eric?” Linda whipped her head around, scanning the room for any sign of him. Then it hit her. The sound wasing from the surveince system.


    “They’re actually here?” she asked, eyes narrowing at Hadley.


    “Yes.” Hadley nodded without hesitation.


    “Eric and Ernest are right next door, watching everything from the monitoring room.” They were really there—so close she could sense them just beyond the wall, yet neither one stepped through the door to face her.


    “Ernest! Eric!” Linda cried out, her voice breaking as she tried to sit up. The restraints held her back though, cuffs biting into her wrists.


    Desperation crashed over her.


    “You’re here, aren’t you? Please,e in! I just want to see you—just once.”


    “Linda.”


    Eric’s voice cut through the room, steady and utterly unreadable.


    “Yes?” Tears streamed down her face as she nodded frantically.


    “I can hear you, Eric… If you have something to say to me, please juste tell me to my face!”


    Still, he never came. Only his voice reached her.


    “Linda, no matter why you did it or how you went about it, both Ernest and I are grateful.”


    He waited, letting the words settle, and then spoke again with quiet conviction.


    “You saved our lives, and for that, we thank you.”


    Linda pressed her teeth into her lip and kept nodding, silent tears tracing down her cheeks.


    “However…” Eric’s voice grew colder, the warmth from before slipping away.


    “You helped us with a price in mind. If you expected something in return, you should have been honest about it from the start.”


    His words hit Linda like a p.


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    She broke down, calling out through her tears, “Eric, Ernest, let me see you! After everything I’ve done, how can you be so cruel to me now?”


    “Cruel?” Eric echoed, voice quiet but sharp.


    “If things had gone ording to your wishes, Ernest and I would have paid you back in full by now. You could have had a decent life, but you…”


    “Are you saying I was wrong?”


    Linda’s voice climbed to a desperate pitch.


    “Is it such a crime to want control over my own life?”


    “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to shape your future,” Eric replied, his tone t and icy.


    “But you crossed too many lines along the way. You didn’t care who paid the price as long as it wasn’t you. What did Hadley or Elissa ever do to deserve your schemes?”


    He didn’t let up.


    “Why should their happiness be sacrificed for you to get what you want?”


    Linda stood frozen, words failing her for once.


    “You wanted wealth, and you wed your way to it. Then, you expect all of us to give you our absolute love and loyalty?” Eric’s words cut through the silence, leaving no room for argument.


    “You’ve always been hungry for more, never satisfied with what you already had, and your jealousy just made you hurt innocent people repeatedly!”


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