Chapter 163 Do You Miss
Her
Corrine entered her grandfather’s car.
She stole a glance at him, noting the slight sternness in his expression. She obediently greeted, “Good evening, Grandpa.”
“Something so serious happened, and you didn’t even think to call me?” Carl huffed, but despite his scolding tone, his eyes held an unmistakable glimmer of concern.
Corrine could tell he wasn’t truly upset, so she flashed a bright, disarming smile. “I didn’t want to worry you, Grandpa. Besides, look at me now–I’m perfectly fine.”
As she spoke, she wrapped her arm around his and rested her head on his shoulder, her voice laced with playful affection. “Grandpa, don’t be mad. I promise it won’t happen again.”
Carl looked down at his granddaughter snuggling up to him, and for a moment, it was as if he were seeing his beloved daughter instead.
His cloudy eyes softened, and he gently ran his fingers through her silky hair. “You really do take after your mother.”
Corrine’s smile faltered slightly.
It had been a long time since anyone had spoken of her mother.
Both her uncles and grandfather avoided the topic, as if silence could erase the painful
truth of her absence.
“Do you miss her, Grandpa?” she asked softly, her fingers gently clasping his hand.
To her surprise, Carl shook his head. “I’ve never felt like she’s gone. She’s always been
with me.”
Not long after they arrived back at the Ford family’s mansion, the other three men of
the household returned as well.
They gathered in Carl’s study.
Carl sat with his hands resting on his cane, his gaze fixed on an oil painting hanging on
the wall.
It depicted a forest bathed in the golden light of the setting sun, a lone deer standing at its entrance, as if silently guiding–or perhaps warning–those who dared to step
forward.
The painting’s beauty held a strange, almost haunting allure.
It wasn’t the work of a renowned artist, but that of Kiley, the cherished daughter of the Ford family.
In the quiet, Jayden, the eldest, ‘spoke first. “I’ve erased everything to keep Corrine out
of trouble.”
“Have you figured out who’s behind the reporters?” Carl asked, his gaze sweeping
across his two sons and grandson. His voice was steady but sharp.
Waldo answered, “They admitted they were following Leah Burgess‘ orders.”
Carl reclined in his chair, setting his cane aside. He toyed with the jade ring on his
thumb, his expression hardening. “Now that we know, you understand what needs to be done, right?”
With the Ford family’s vast influence, the Burgess family was a small concern, not even worth a second glance.
But Leah’s reckless targeting of Corrine meant there would be consequences.
She thought she was acting in the shadows, but in Lyhaton, under the Ford family’s
watchful eyes, there were no secrets.
Waldo nodded. “By tomorrow, the Burgess family will be all over the front
page.”
His voice was unnervingly calm, carrying a chilling certainty.
In the cutthroat business world, no one was naive, and the Burgess family had survived the financial crisis not by chance, but by experience.
Carl turned his attention to his grandson, Jules. “Handle Brevard quickly, so we don’t face more complications.”
“Understood!” Jules responded.
