Chapter 382 Burden Of Guilt

    Chapter 382 Burden Of Guilt

    She stopped, eyes heavy with guilt, and stared at the headstone.

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    Despite Serena’s insults, Quinn still had to seek a truce and even plead for the girl who had mocked her parents.

    As they left Hero’s Memorial Garden and steered the car toward Jexburgh, Leander’s phone vibrated with an iing call from the Fane family. Moments after he answered, the blood drained from his face.

    “Everett Fane heard we visited the Memorial today. He wants us to meet him the moment we reach Jexburgh.” He turned to Quinn after hanging up.

    “Us?” Quinn echoed, thrown off bnce.

    “Yes. He wants to meet you,” Leander said.

    Quinn pressed her lips together. iPerhaps /iit iis /iitime /iito /iimeet /iithe /iipatriarch /iiof /iithe /iiFane /iifamily/i.

    “I’ll go,” she said. “But what about you? Will you stand before him as Leander Fane–or as Rowan Bridger?”

    Leander fell silent for a moment, then spoke. “Years ago, Lady Margaret saved me. Her support paid for my treatment. Without it, I wouldn’t have survived a single month. Somehow, somewhere along the way, Lady Margaret fixed an idea in her heart. She decided I belonged to the Fane bloodline–that I was Mr. Everett Fane’s son. Perhaps the illusion came from resemnce. Photographs of Everett in his youth look almost like mirrored versions of me.”

    Quinn stared at him, astonishment widening her eyes. “But you’re not. A simple DNA test would settle everything.”

    He let out a quiet breath, then said, “Yes, everyone in the Fane family knows I’m not. But no one dares speak the truth. Lady Margaret lost her daughter years ago. The shock damaged her mind, and age only deepened the haze. She can’t bear Everett’s being childless, so tearing away the lie would worsen her illnessb./bb” /b

    “So you let thembel you Everett’s illegitimate son?” Quinn asked.

    Leander dipped his head. “I gave Everett my word. The Fane family saved my life. Until the day Lady Margaret closes her eyes forever, I will answer to the name Leander Fane.”

    Besides, after Lena fell gravely ill, the family’s wealth became the only anchor he had to keep her treatment going.

    17:31 bWed/bb, /bbSep /bb10 /b

    Chapter 382 Burden Of Guilt

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    In that instant, rity dawned for Quinn. Now she finally sensed why her brother clung so fiercely to the borrowed identity even after reading the DNA test report that proved he was

    Rowan.

    By the time the two of them returned to Jexburgh, night had already draped the capital in velvet shadows.

    Inside the suite’s reception lounge, Quinn came face–to–face with Everett, the family patriarch whose elegance was said to sheath a ruthless core.

    “You must be Quinn,” Everett began, voice mild but carrying steel beneath it. “When I heard you took a bullet for Leander in Doria, I knew I had to meet the person brave enough to shield him.”

    Quinn met his gaze without flinching, her back straight, her expression unreadable.

    Though he had crossed into his sixties, the man did indeed look like Rowan.

    Seen side by side, no stranger would doubt they were father and son.

    She imagined that in Everett’s youth, the resemnce must have been even sharper–almost unsettlingly so.

    “I don’t need the Fane family’s gratitude,” she said, her voice firm. “I saved my brother. That was nothing more than my duty.”

    “Your brother?” Everett’s eyes narrowed, a’sliver of cold light glittering beneath hisshes.

    “You and I both know the truth,” Quinn continued. “He is Rowan Bridger–my brother.”

    Everett shifted his gaze to Leander. “And you? Do you see yourself as Rowan Bridger or as Leander Fane?”

    Leander drew in a steadying breath. “I am Rowan Bridger, son of Montague and Arlene, Quinn’s elder brother. My memories may be gone, but that fact will never change.”

    A shadow crossed Everett’s face. “So you intend to live as Rowan?”

    “I will not forget my promise,” Leander said. “The Fane family saved both me and Lena. Until Lady Margaret’s final day, I will answer to Leander- but only in front of her.”

    After listening to Quinn recount fragments of the childhood he had lost, he found the mask of Leander Fane growing unbearably tight.

    He could no longer pretend to be someone else entirely.

    …

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    Chapter 382 Burden Of Guilt

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    His parents and sister had never stopped searching for him, refusing to give up even when hope seemed thin. Montague and Arlene had died with one great regret–never reuniting with their lost son.

    Everett’s tone sharpened. “Only before Lady Margaret? So, everywhere else you’ll be Rowan? You underestimate how quickly news reaches her. Within a month, she will know.”

    “Then we must find another way to assure her I’m still Leander,” he replied.

    Rolling the prayer beads between his fingers, Everett spoke slowly. “Ms. Bridger, if you will ept the Fane family’s gratitude, we can provide fifty million as a token of thanks. If you refuse…”

    17:31 Wedb, /bSep 10