?Chapter 118:


    Eloisa’s devastation had plunged her into a state of utter delirium. Whether confronting the Evans family or the president himself mattered not—she had transcended concern.


    “Ruben Evans!” She jolted everyone by directly bellowing Ruben’s full name. “I once respected you as an elder, believing you embodied fairness and decency. Now your true nature stands revealed. You’re nothing but a corrupt old scoundrel, a callous beast! You permitted your grandson to kill my daughter!”


    Eloisa’s voice intensified, her eyes glowing crimson with unbridled fury. “You brandish your wealth and influence, behaving as though my daughter’s existence were inconsequential! If we cannot reach you through justice, I’ll ensure this opulent residence of yours is painted with blood!”


    With that deration, Eloisa hurled herself headfirst toward the table’s jagged edge.


    Ruben’s eyes widened in horror. “Restrain her!”


    But the intervention came toote. Eloisa had resolved to make her statement through self-sacrifice. She crashed her forehead against the table with terrible force, blood cascading from the wound as she copsed to the floor, unconscious.


    “Mom!” Charles Henderson, Eloisa’s firstborn son, struggled to maneuver his wheelchair toward his fallen mother.


    “Eloisa!” Gatlin Henderson, Barbara’s father, sprinted to Eloisa’s side. Elliana, still positioned on the staircase, scrutinized Charles in his wheelchair with a furrowed brow.


    Cole had once revealed that when Barbara plummeted from that building, Charles had positioned himself directly below. His attempted rescue resulted in his own crushing injuries, robbing him of lower limb function. The wheelchair had been his prison for two years.


    Charles had once stood as the Henderson heir, handsome and intellectually gifted. That catastrophic ident had decimated his potential.


    Cutler Henderson, Eloisa’s second son, had gone missing as a child and was never found. Chances were, Cutler was long gone.


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    With Barbara’s demise and the remaining younger generation either presumed dead or irreparably damaged, the Henderson legacy had crumbled to dust.


    Eloisa’s mental deterioration suddenly becameprehensible. For someone bereft of all hope, no financialpensation could mend her fractured spirit.


    Eloisa’s desperate action silenced the entire assembly.


    Irene, who had been verbally assaulting Eloisa moments before, slunk back into the background. Should Eloisa expire here, the implications could be catastrophic.


    Ruben summoned the family physician to examine Eloisa. Upon receiving assurance of her survival, he exhaled profoundly with relief. Turning to Gatlin, Ruben said, “Mr. Henderson, our families share generations of history. Barbara’s passing torments me deeply, and I seek atonement. State your conditions—anything within my power.”


    Gatlin’s lipspressed, his expression a tableau of sorrow and uncertainty.


    Ruben had watched Gatlin grow up, their families intricately connected. Gatlin acknowledged Ruben’s fundamental decency, yet with the Henderson lineage literally extinguished, he could pacify neither Eloisa nor his own torment.


    What request could Gatlin possibly articte when his hearty in fragments? No fortune would restore his tranquility.


    Suddenly, Eloisa’s eyes flew open. She emitted a causticugh. “Atonement? Preposterous! Can you resurrect my daughter? Can you restore my son’s ability to walk?”


    Ruben found himself rendered mute. Barbara’s death had created an irreversible void.


    Eloisa, disregarding the crimson rivulets streaming from her head wound, staggered upright and lunged for Jeff. “I don’t want any financialpensation! I demand this demon pay the price for my daughter’s life!”


    “Ah!” Jeff attempted to flee in panic.


    Desperately, Jeff clutched Trinity’s arm. “Trinity, protect me! I beg you!” Eloisa, with disheveled hair and bloodshot eyes, resembled someone possessed—ferocious and utterly terrifying.


    Trinity, fearing entanglement in this vtile situation, wrenched her arm free and retreated hastily.


    Jeff, having counted on Trinity as his salvation, froze in disbelief at her abandonment. In that momentary paralysis, Eloisa captured him.


    “You worthless miscreant! Enter that coffin, kneel, and implore my daughter’s forgiveness!” Eloisa’s voice pierced the air like a banshee’s wail. She dragged Jeff toward the coffin, hauling him to its edge with surprising strength.


    Consumed by vengeful rage, Eloisa failed to notice that Elliana had quietly approached the coffin.


    Eloisa thrust the coffin lid open, seized Jeff’s cor, and prepared to hurl him inside.


    Withiny Barbara, motionless, eyes sealed. Her emaciated frame and ashenplexion, worn by prolonged illness, were horrifying. Jeff glimpsed the still form and trembled violently. “No! I refuse confinement with a deceased person! I’m petrified!”


    Jeff struggled desperately against Eloisa’s grip, but terror hadpletely drained his physical strength.


    In his frantic thrashing, Jeff inadvertently grasped Elliana’s leg. “Help me, Elliana! Rescue me! As matriarch, you must ensure my protection!”


    Elliana nearly erupted inughter. Jeff finally spoke sensibly when his survival hung in precarious bnce.


    Eloisa, immersed in grief for years and barely paying heed to the outside world, remained clueless about Elliana’s recent marriage to Cole. “Identify yourself,” she demanded, fixing her gaze on Elliana with suspicious intensity.


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