Capítulo 329: Chapter 321:

The Moment of Truth

“If you keep being disobedient, I’ll have to ask the bodyguards to take you out.” Evan Palmer’s voice was as cold as ice. He gestured with his hand, and two men in black immediately stepped forward.

Maria Carter looked hopelessly around and finally cast a pleading glance towards the silent doctor in the corner: “Doctor, please… you must save my sister-in-law…”

“Ignore her.” Evan Palmer waved impatiently. “She’s just a child. In the Carter Family now, my word is law.”

“The Carter Family—” a cold, female voice suddenly rang out, “is not for you to decide.”

The female doctor with a mask moved forward slowly, and amidst the shocked gazes of all present, she took off her mask. Tears instantly welled up in Maria Carter’s eyes: “Mom!”

Evan Palmer was struck as if by lightning, stumbling back two steps: “You… how could you…” His face turned deathly pale, cold sweat oozing from his meticulously groomed temples.

Mrs. Carter—the woman who was supposed to be lying in the intensive care unit—now stood in the middle of the hallway wearing a white coat.

Her face, though pale, had eyes as sharp as knives: “Surprised?” She gently stroked her daughter’s hair. “If I hadn’t pretended to be comatose, how could I have seen your true colors?”

Mrs. Carter’s fingertips trembled slightly as she recalled the nightmare-like scene from a few hours earlier—when the news of her son’s death arrived, she only felt the world spinning and everything collapsing in an instant.

“Mom!” In her daze, she heard Emily Parker’s anxious call, followed by the cold touch of silver needles.

Those hands were horrifyingly steady, drawing her back from the edge of darkness with each needle.

“Mom, you have to cooperate with me…”

Emily Parker’s voice was as light as a sigh, “Feign a coma, watch the show.”

At that time, she didn’t understand the weight of those words.

Until she was quietly sent to the hospital, dressed in a white coat, and hid in a corner to witness—

Evan Palmer, fake-tears streaming down his face over her “coma,” then turning around, eager to put Emily Parker to death. The most ironic was an illegitimate child she had never known, publicly calling him “Dad”…

Years of marriage, years of affection, shattered in that moment.

Mrs. Carter raised her hand to her eye, only to find that tears had long since run dry.

When the heart dies to the extreme, even sorrow becomes a luxury.

The Hopeful Dawn

“And my sister-in-law…?”

Maria Carter’s voice trembled, tears welling up in her eyes.

Just at this critical moment, the door to the operating room slowly opened—

Emily Parker, with her bulging abdomen, walked out slowly with the support of Senior Sister Long.

Her complexion was pale, but her eyes were exceptionally clear, as if she had seen through everything.

Sunlight streamed through the corridor’s glass windows, casting a soft halo around her.

“Sister-in-law!” Maria Carter rushed forward, her trembling hand gently brushing her sister-in-law’s cheek. “You’re alright now?”

Emily Parker smiled faintly, her gaze sweeping beyond the crowd, “The child… is fine.”

At her words, Evan Palmer abruptly raised his head, his eyes flashing with incredulous shock.

The Confrontation of Truth

Adam Willow’s pupils contracted suddenly, his eyes behind the gold-rimmed glasses fixed onto Emily Parker. He suddenly let out a low laugh, tinged with self-mockery: “I see now… it was all your scheme.”

His long fingers unconsciously rubbed the cuff of his suit, where the fold from the earlier tussle remained. The woman standing before him, pregnant as she was, appeared both familiar and strange—once the gentle and charming Doctor Parker, now with eyes as sharp as daggers, seemingly piercing through all his disguises.

“I’ve uncovered everything.” Emily Parker’s voice was light, yet it pierced into Adam Willow’s heart like an icicle, “Including how your mother seduced a married man back then, including how you posted a bounty on Prisoner’s Web…”

Adam Willow’s Adam’s apple moved slightly, and the eyes behind his glasses flickered: “Does Carlos know?”

“He knows.” Emily Parker’s fingers lightly brushed over her abdomen, where the last connection between her and Carlos lay. “But considering Mrs. Carter and Maria’s feelings, he chose to keep it a temporary secret.” Her voice suddenly choked, “It was this kindness… that killed him.”

The last sentence stabbed into Adam Willow’s chest like a knife.

He abruptly raised his head, only to meet Emily Parker’s eyes filled with hatred—there was none of the gentleness he used to know, only bone-piercing coldness.

“The killer?” Adam Willow suddenly laughed, his laughter echoing eerily in the empty hallway, “You all drove me to this.

Emily Parker. You hid so much from me. If you had told me everything earlier, told me you were Deity Owen, told me you…”

“Enough!” Mrs. Carter interrupted fiercely, pulling Emily Parker protectively behind her. “I’ve already called the police, and the law will take you, the murderer, away!”

The sound of sirens approached from afar, yet Adam Willow seemed unaware. His gaze remained locked on Emily Parker, as if to engrave her image into his very bones.

When the cold handcuffs clicked onto his wrists, he suddenly said softly, “Emily Parker, I have no regrets. Carlos deserved to die!”

Emily Parker didn’t reply, just turned to walk toward the window.

Behind her, the image of Adam Willow being led away by the police faded into the distance, just like the lives that were destined to diverge.

The End of a Marriage

Evan Palmer’s face turned an ashen grey. He quickly walked towards Mrs. Carter, habitually reaching out to grab her wrist—as he had done so many times over the past thirty years whenever he made her angry.

“Lana, listen to my explanation…” His voice deliberately softened, tinged with a familiar wheedling tone.

Mrs. Carter recoiled as if avoiding a poisonous snake, her well-maintained face full of disgust: “Don’t touch me!”

This reaction froze Evan Palmer on the spot. In the past thirty years, no matter how big a mistake he made, just a few humble words of coaxing would soften his wife’s heart and elicit forgiveness. But now, there was no longer any warmth in Mrs. Carter’s eyes toward him, only a bone-chilling coldness.

“Maria…” Evan Palmer turned to his daughter, his voice carrying the last trace of hopefulness.

Maria Carter stood there, motionless, her perfectly manicured nails digging deep into her palms. Looking at the father she once idolized, she suddenly found him utterly unfamiliar. The father who would hoist her on his shoulders to watch fireworks, the father who taught her to ride a bicycle, was from the beginning an elaborately disguised demon.

“Evan Palmer,” Mrs. Carter took a deep breath, her voice chillingly calm, “let’s get a divorce.”