Leopold and Matthew had just finished loading the Abernathy family into the van, including Cormac, when the stench inside hit them like a wave, almost driving them back out the door. But seeing Vivienne and the others frozen by the bedside, Leopold steeled himself and stepped inside.
The woman on the bed was a shadow of her former self, her hair tangled and matted like weeds upon the pillow. Her face was streaked with dirt, and it looked like the Abernathys hadn't bothered to clean her in ages. If it weren't for the faint rise and fall of her chest, Leopold might have mistaken her for a corpse.
Wait a minute!
Those features...
How come she looked a bit like Percival?
Realizing this, Leopold's pupils dilated, his finger pointing shakily at the woman on the bed.
Then he glanced at Percival, whose stony face was unreadable, and noticed the air around him growing colder and heavier. Leopold took a step back, feeling as if his throat had been seized. He couldn't manage to utter a complete sentence.
Finally, it was Vivienne who broke the silence. "Mr. Wolf, let's get her out of here first."
She was genuinely shocked. They had only come to fetch a witness back to Rivenwood, and here they were, stumbling upon the very person Percival had spent years searching for.
Mr. Wolf's aunt, the Ellington heiress-Holly Ellington!
"Gavin Abernathy!"
the darkness, save for the occasional flash of headlights that flickered before
to crawl
last, the man spoke. His voice was hoarse, almost eerie in the pitch-black setting, yet Vivienne heaved a sigh of relief as she said, "Mr. Wolf, trust me, I will heal your aunt." Percival's grim expression softened slightly. He shifted, leaning his head against Vivienne's shoulder. "Vivienne, I do trust you.
couldn't control the hatred bubbling up inside him toward Gavin and
an unknown hospital
Percival had pulled back the covers, even he
understood where that foul stench lingering around the Abernathy
stained blanket was Holly's withered body, wounds festering and crawling
that moment, Percival felt
were still useful. But the agony he felt for Holly and
bury his head deeper into Vivienne's
warmth through the thin fabric, Vivienne swallowed hard, her hand gently caressing his hair as a chill flashed in her eyes. "Mr. Wolf, the dead do not deserve our hatred." Matthew glanced up through
time he had seen such a chilling expression
was formidable, but was Vivienne
about, they couldn't just hand their life
phone rang then, and he glanced at the caller ID before
"Hand it over."
the
voice, cool yet tinged with
need to guess; she knew Gavin must have stirred up more
They've taken the ashes and are threatening that if we don't hand
as she inhaled deeply.
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