Chapter 325
The office remained thick with tension long after Elder Master Goldmann's departure. Nathan pulled a cigarette pack from his desk drawer.
He hadn’t smoked in ages, yet an inexplicable craving seized him.
Placing the cigarette between his lips, he flicked the lighter open and inhaled deeply.
Standing before the floor-to-ceiling window, he exhaled a slow stream of smoke, watching it curl into the air.
His fingers tightened around the cigarette.
The hatred he harbored for those responsible for his mother’s death was bone-deep.
Yet, if not for his great-grandfather’s actions, she might never have been dragged into that nightmare.
Even if the de Armas were the masterminds, Evelyn had no part in it.
Lost in thought, he barely noticed the cigarette burning down to his fingertips.
He tapped the ashes into the tray, deciding this secret would stay buried—Evelyn must never know.
Rosalind splashed cold water on her face in the restroom, trying to steady her racing heart.
No one knew the truth of that night.
As long as she stayed silent, it would remain hidden forever.
She had no connection to it—none at all.
"Help me!"
The memory flashed before her eyes, vivid as yesterday.
Victoria’s desperate plea, the two men dragging her away, the distinct tattoos on their hands—she remembered everything.
It had been his people.
Rosalind had been there. She could have intervened.
But fear had paralyzed her.
Fear of expulsion from the Night Banquet. Fear of Theodore and Nathan’s disappointment.
So she lied.
And because of that lie, Victoria was lost forever.
That man had found her afterward.
His voice slithered into her mind like poison. "You saw everything, didn’t you, Rosalind? But it doesn’t matter. Without your silence, we wouldn’t have succeeded."
Her reflection in the mirror was ghostly pale.
A sudden touch on her shoulder made her jolt.
The female staff member recoiled at her reaction. "Ms. Summers, are you alright?"
Rosalind forced a brittle smile. "Just a bit lightheaded. I’m fine now."
Stepping out, her eyes darkened with resolve.
Nathan’s hatred for his mother’s killers was absolute.
No one could ever discover her role in it.
Victoria’s death had nothing to do with me. If the world blames the de Armas, then let them.
#BREAKING: Evelyn Vanderbilt, Nathan Goldmann’s fiancée, identified as the mystery woman seen with Adrian Boucher.
#EXCLUSIVE: Sources reveal Evelyn Vanderbilt is Zara, the elite jewelry designer. Whispers of illegitimate children surface—father’s identity unknown.
By afternoon, the internet exploded again.
Sharp-eyed netizens recognized the child in the photos as the girl who played Adrian’s daughter in the show.
Some claimed the twins were Evelyn’s.
Speculations about the father ran wild. Many believed Nathan had secretly fathered them, pointing to his past sightings with the children.
But skeptics flooded Liam and Daisy’s social media with venom.
#Fatherless kids? How tragic.
#Not Mr. Goldmann’s. He’s never confirmed having children. Probably some random guy’s, and now she’s pinning it on Adrian.