"Our family has wronged you and your foster family. I truly am ashamed..." Penelope said.


    Anneliese gently shook her head again, then looked straight at Derek.


    "No, it''s not your fault. We must settle the score with the right person. Where is Gerard now, Old Mr. Fullbuster? And, if you''d already discovered everything back then, why did you bury the truth about the fire?"


    Under Anneliese''s sharp gaze and questioning tone, a look of guilt and unease flickered across Derek''s weathered face.


    He swallowed ufortably before he finally spoke. "After setting the fire, Gerard fled the scene and holed up in a small motel in Baytree. But he was eventually found by his debtors. He was struck by arge truck while trying to escape them and died on the spot."


    Gerard had tried to burn his son and grandson to death. Derek himself was no saint there was no way he would have spared Gerard''s life.


    It had only taken a few subtle maneuvers to make sure Gerard perished in a "traffic ident".


    Anneliese paused slightly, but honestly, she wasn''t particrly surprised by the answer either.


    Just the messy, sordid affair between Gerard and Elizabeth alone was enough to warrant Gerard''s death-let alone the fact that Jonathan had nearly lost his life in the fire.


    "Concealing the truth of the fire was indeed a selfish and improper decision of mine. But people are inherently selfish." Derek nced at Anneliese, his eyes brimming with remorse. "In that situation, I simply had no other choice. Even if I were taken back to that moment again, I would still make the same decision."


    If he had handed Gerard over to the authorities, Elizabeth''s scandal would have exploded into a nationwide sensation.


    It would no longer be a secret that the Fullbusters had a promiscuous daughter-in-w—one who had conspired with her lover tomit arson, nearly killing her own husband and son in the process.


    Not only would the Fullbusters'' reputation have been utterly ruined, turning them into apleteughingstock, but Jonathan—who had only just survived a brush with death—would also have been thrust into the spotlight, bing an object of gossip and ridicule for having such a mother.


    Moreover, at the time, the Fullbusters were managing two ongoing major government-backed projects. With numerous rivals on their backs, they simply could not afford any mistakes.


    It would have been aplete disaster if their family had been linked to an arson case during such a sensitive period.


    For all these reasons, Derek could not allow the truth to be exposed. He chose instead to deal with Gerard privately and used his connections to bury the cause of the fire entirely.


    A nket of silence fell over the living room.


    The blood had drained from Anneliese''s face. At this moment, she wasn''t sure how to digest everything she had just heard.


    Even the reasons Derek had not explicitly revealed-she could guess most of them.


    Still... none of them justified how a


    person in power had arbitrarily buried the truth. Her foster father had sacrificed his life to save another. Did he not even deserve the


    truth to know the real cause of the


    fire?


    A bitter taste filled her mouth as she stood there, frozen.


    Penelope instantly became anxious to see Anneliese in such a state, her panic sing by the second, She hurriedly shot Jonathan a pleading look, urging him tofort his wife.


    But Jonathan remained rooted to the spot, eyes lowered, his entire body shrouded


    in a gloomy aura, clearly lost in thought.


    Even when she red at him so fiercely that her eyes ached, he remained as unresponsive as a block of wood.


    It wasn''t that he hadn''t sensed her cues; it was that his heart felt incredibly heavy. Shame and guilt wrapped around him like creeping vines.


    He felt as though he had no right or standing to embrace Anneliese, to offer herfort or warmth.


    After all, his family had been the one to swing the knife that had wounded her family so deeply.


    "Gerard''s dead now-as dead as a doornail! He''s the one who started the fire. It had nothing to do with me! Besides, he''s already paid for it with his life."


    At that moment, Elizabeth—still


    slumped on the floor, hands smeared with blood-suddenly interrupted, her voice sharp and piercing. It''s been so many years. Can''t we just forget about it now?"


    She was bubbling with a mixture of anger and resentment. Her hands were injured


    and bleeding, yet no one had cared or even shown concern.


    They were cautiously watching Anneliese''s expression instead.


    It made her feel even more humiliated and disgraced, causing her anger to boil over.


    She had been a victim that night, too. It wasn''t as though she''d instigated Gerard to start the fire.


    He was already dead anyway. What more did they want?


    Was the truth really that important? Even if Gerard had gone to prison for arson, he might not have been sentenced to death anyway.


    Seeing Elizabeth still trying to cause further trouble at a time like this, Derek angrily roared at her. "Shut up!"


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!