CHAPTER 293: CHAPTER 293: UPON SEEING THE PHOTOS, JULIAN LAWSON LEARNS THE CHILD IS GONE

One after another.

From the first photo to the last one.

From the dispute in the corridor to the specific details on Serena Sterling’s critical illness notification.

His hand holding the phone trembled.

For a moment, he couldn’t comprehend or grasp the contents of the photos; his mind was blank.

Pain faster surged through his body, and his heart seemed to tear at that moment.

As if something inside him shattered, breaking into pieces.

The pain was heart-wrenching.

"Ugh..."

The next moment, a mouthful of blood spurted onto the phone Julian Lawson was holding, staining it scarlet.

Dark red blood pooled on the phone screen, over which was a photo of Serena covered in blood.

The phone screen shook continually with his hand, the blood seemingly soaking into the screen, blending with the photo of Serena.

Something was relentlessly shattering, and late-arriving pain enveloped him.

Once again, the scene from that day flooded his mind.

In that corridor, he accidentally pushed her down the stairs.

The corridor’s sensor lights flickered; in the final silence, the green glow from the "Safe Passage" sign cast an eerie and terrifying light.

"Julian..."

Her voice seemed to come through layers of time, arriving staggered.

Like a dagger, cutting him thousands of times, torturing him.

Why didn’t he turn back that day?

Why didn’t he even glance at her?

The child.

Their second child...

A child he had always wanted so desperately.

After she truly left him, after she repeatedly told him she wouldn’t look back.

He always thought that if they had a child, maybe she wouldn’t be so determined... That child.

"Julian Lawson, we can never go back," her voice resonated again.

The air around seemed to be siphoned out, leaving Julian Lawson feeling suffocated with pain.

He couldn’t accept any of this.

Everything he saw appeared unreal to him.

Like the world had played a massive joke.

Or perhaps, this was just a nightmare.

Once he woke, he would find her still by his side.

This was a post by user 567, Julian Lawson could still see user 567’s responses after clicking in.

[Guess why it’s not Julian Lawson’s name signed? Because he’s gone! I’ve been peeking for so long. The doctor called Julian Lawson several times but couldn’t reach anyone, and only recently was it handled urgently.]

Tears kept falling, mingling with the blood.

His heart wouldn’t stop hurting.

He remembered.

After leaving that day, Bianca Lynch called him several times.

But back then, he was on the way back with Vera Hansen. He was angry, thinking she and Bianca Lynch had teamed up to act and had silenced his phone.

Later, the night before collecting their divorce papers, he also found out she had really been in a car accident.

Wasn’t acting.

"Ha..." Julian Lawson chuckled self-mockingly.

He finally knew why he hadn’t signed her critical illness notification.

He dared not think whether due to the time he missed the phone calls and did not sign the notification, it delayed her rescue.

"Ugh..."

Julian Lawson spat blood once more.

Blood stuck onto the phone, the blanket, the bed, and... the password box.

"President Lawson!" Jude Chaucer, who had been notified by phone, had already rushed over.

"President Lawson, what happened to you?" The assistant, seeing the blood and mess, was ready to call for an ambulance.

But he waved his hand.

"Take me to Vivian’s Floral Studio," Julian Lawson commanded.

He knew, with her character, she would be there today.

To end it all personally.

"But President Lawson, you..." The assistant was genuinely panicked, as Julian Lawson had vomited so much blood, with it everywhere on the bed and his body.

Even the quilt folded up beside him, which Julian Lawson needed beside him every night to sleep, was covered in blood.

Is this really okay?

Seeing the assistant still hesitating, Julian Lawson roared, "Take me over!"

Finally, the assistant nodded, "Yes!"

Julian Lawson glanced at the bloodstained safe beside him.

He seemed to know the safe’s password already.

Ethan Lynch and Bianca Lynch knew, but he didn’t, about the child.

The matter in which he hurt her deeply.

He knew that date.

But, did he dare open it?

Everything he knew now had almost destroyed him, whatever was in the safe, could he really bear it?

...

On the other side.

In the car, Serena also saw the photos posted by user 567.

Until now, she still didn’t know who user 567 was.

Thinking about it now, it’s probably not important who they are; perhaps just a patient or a family member who happened to witness everything at the hospital.

The important thing is those photos.

The events of that day...

The day she never wanted to recall in this lifetime.

She wanted to bury everything in her heart and take it to the grave.

She knew if Julian Lawson knew that secret, perhaps it would change some of his thoughts.

But she didn’t want to mention it.

Didn’t want to remember.

She didn’t need his pity or his love.

She had long made her decision.

Serena looked towards the bustling street outside the window and the crowd gathered outside Vivian’s Floral Studio.

Now, what she needed to do was to end all this, reclaim the Sheridan Family’s belongings, uncover the real cause of her father’s death, restore the Sheridan Family’s glory, and live out the rest of her life well with Seraphina and Silas Hawthorne.

Her hand was held, Serena looked back, seeing Silas Hawthorne’s steady face beside her.

Silas moved his gaze upward and reached out to tidy her hair.

Hiding the strands of her white hair.

This was from recent days... Her hair had turned white.

She was only 25.

Serena didn’t resist, she simply re-lifted her eyes, looking toward Vivian’s Floral Studio.

It was time.

...

Online chaos ensued; offline, outside Vivian’s Floral Studio, the crowd quickly spread the word about what user 567 posted.

The crowd was in an uproar.

The morning’s charity sale, along with Vera Hansen’s announcement of her rapidly advancing illness, not lasting more than half a year, had originally improved her image, gaining sympathy from many, but the revelations from user 567 threw everything into a haze.

"Vera Hansen, what’s really going on?" Someone immediately asked at the scene, "The pictures user 567 posted, what did you and Julian Lawson do that day!"

Vera instantly looked at those photos, appearing innocent while her mind raced.

Then, she said helplessly, "I don’t know..."

Tears started flowing; Vera said, "I didn’t know she miscarried."

"That day... was complicated. I argued with Bianca Lynch over some matters, and our fight was intense when Julian and Serena came to pull us apart."

"Later, amidst the chaos, Serena just fell down."

Vera insisted, "It wasn’t me; I didn’t know she was pregnant."