Chapter 464

The helicopter blades sliced through the air as Dominic Sterling and his team returned. Through the window, Dominic spotted Isabella Montgomery and her security detail rushing away in vehicles. He immediately pulled out his phone to contact Nathaniel Blackwood.

The call jolted Nathaniel awake. “Sir, Benjamin appears to have lost consciousness. They are currently en route to the hospital with great urgency.” Nathaniel’s voice was sharp with command. “Contact Grace Memorial Hospital. Instruct them to prepare a full medical team and a trauma bay immediately. Now.”

Across the city, at Montgomery Manor, Victoria Kensington’s phone lit up with a message from Takashi Yamamoto. (Beautiful, I’ve expended significant effort on your behalf. You owe me a visit. Make it soon. A compensation is in order. Yes, Isabella retrieved Benjamin, but he has been poisoned. He is essentially a corpse at this point.)

Victoria’s heart hammered against her ribs. A cold dread washed over her. He had been saved? She had anticipated this possibility, but not so quickly. The timeline was accelerated. If Takashi confirmed the poison, then Benjamin should already be dead. Deceased. Gone.

A wave of nausea hit her. She had never been responsible for a death before. Her hands trembled. It took several minutes of controlled breathing to steady her nerves. She then placed a call to a contact she knew only as ‘Rex’. “I require visual confirmation. Photographs of Benjamin Kensington in critical condition. Send them to me.”

Minutes later, her phone chimed with several images. They showed a gurney being rushed into an emergency room. Victoria’s brow furrowed in confusion and rising panic. Why was he still alive? The poison should have been fatal. Why was he in the ER? A new text from Rex appeared. (Rex: My sources indicate Isabella performed emergency resuscitation on site. She stabilized him enough for transport. He remains unconscious. His survival is not guaranteed.)

Unconscious. Not dead. That meant he could potentially wake up. If he regained consciousness, everything would unravel. Her entire scheme would collapse. A desperate, calculated idea flashed in her mind. She sprang from her bed and ran into the hallway.

She rushed toward Theodore Montgomery’s private wing. Her frantic knocking echoed in the quiet corridor. “Grandfather! Wake up! It’s a catastrophe!” she cried, her voice cracking with manufactured hysteria.

The door was opened by the head butler, Reginald Thornton. “Ms. Kensington? What is the meaning of this disturbance?”

“I must see my grandfather! Immediately!” she sobbed, pushing past him. “Grandfather! Please!”

The commotion drew Theodore from his bedroom. He emerged, concern etched on his aged face. Seeing him, Victoria threw herself forward. Her knees hit the polished floor with a sharp thud. She clutched at the fabric of his pajamas, her body wracked with theatrical sobs.

“Grandfather, it’s horrible! Isabella… she… she has harmed Benjamin! She did it to frame me! To turn everyone against me! She… she has killed him! Oh, God!” she wailed, her performance flawless.

Theodore recoiled as if struck. “What? What are you saying? What has happened to Benjamin?!”

“My… my friend just called me!” she choked out between sobs. “Benjamin has been taken to the emergency room at Grace Memorial! He’s unconscious! The doctors say he might not… he might never wake up!” Her cries were raw and desperate.

The color drained from Theodore’s face. He staggered backward, his legs buckling. Reginald lunged forward, catching the old man before he could fall. Theodore’s lips trembled. His grandson. His only grandson. Harmed.

The noise had alerted others. Eleanor Kensington and Richard Montgomery rushed into the room. “Benjamin? What’s wrong with Benjamin?” Eleanor demanded, her voice shrill with fear.

“It’s my fault! All my fault!” Victoria cried, kneeling on the cold floor, her head bowed in a show of utter remorse. “The pressure… everyone in this family looks down on me! I made a terrible mistake! I lied to Grandfather! I told him I had kidnapped Benjamin to force him to transfer thirty percent of the family shares to me!”

Gasps filled the room. The shocking admission hung in the air. The motive for the sudden share transfer was now horrifyingly clear.