Chapter 266

She Is Dead

“I’m glad you understand then.” Kathleen sounded a little exasperated at that point.

In response, a stiflingly grim aura started exuding from Samuel as his gaze turned frosty.

He was reluctant to let her go.

Kathleen soon poured herself another glass of wine, seemingly more annoyed than usual.

Ugh. D*mn it! I can’t believe that old bat is eyeing Samuel!

“Stop drinking,” Samuel ushered while grabbing her wrist.

That sparked even more displeasure in Kathleen, who snapped, “I want to.”

Even so, Samuel did not loosen his vice-like grip.

Kathleen shot a sideways glare at him, her lustrous eyes reddening by the second. “What gives you the
right to order me around, Samuel? Who do you think you are?”

That stunned Samuel into silence.

Still, her sardonic words did not stop here. “Don’t assume there’s hope for you just because I’m smiling
at you. Did you know? One year ago, on the night Nicolette restrained me to the operating table, I
dreamt of my kids. They were crying, begging me not to kill them. Do you have any idea how much I
wanted all of you to die as compensation for what you guys did to my kids?”

All the muscles in Samuel’s body tensed up as he listened to her words.



“Still, you never listened to me. All you ever concerned about was your precious Nicolette’s ramblings
about how she desperately needed to live…” Kathleen continued before sighing and chuckling coldly.

At that moment, she could feel waves after waves of despair crashing over her.

Samuel gazed at her, his eyes full of worry.

Kathleen got to her feet, but the moment she did so, she started swaying due to her drunken state.

“Stop involving yourself in my life, Samuel. Do you know how incredibly lonely I get when the daily
hustle and bustle ends and I’m left all alone?” She sniffled before continuing, “If I hadn’t married you
back then, I could’ve gotten myself a loving husband and birthed him a baby. We could’ve lived happily
ever after.”

By then, Samuel had also stood up. He stretched out his arms protectively, fearing that Kathleen would
fall over.

However, she swatted his hand away. ”Samuel, my heart is bruised and battered. I can no longer find it
within me to love you anymore. Please understand. I’ll meet with Isaac alone tomorrow, so you don’t
have to accompany me.”

With that, she turned to leave with wobbly steps.

A moment later, however, Samuel closed in from behind her and grabbed her waist.

His lowered voice echoed in her ear with a solemn weight. “I’ll stay out of your life starting from
tomorrow. I promise.”

“Good,” Kathleen replied, nodding.

Samuel’s gaze hardened bleakly as it locked onto Kathleen’s eyes.



Does Charles’ godfather have something to do with her sudden change of attitude? I don’t want to
force her to tell me. If any issue arises, I’ll resolve it for her in the dark. She won’t have to know.

“Since we can’t see each other when tomorrow comes, I want you to follow me for now,” uttered
Samuel as he led her away.

Since there was no strength left in Kathleen’s body, Samuel wrapped his arm around her and guided
her to the door.

Once they got there, he helped put her coat on before leading her outside.

At that moment, Kathleen felt a pounding headache ripping through her skull.

She cast a perplexed gaze at Samuel, not knowing what he was up to.

From her current angle, she had the perfect view of Samuel’s chiseled jaw.

Some time passed before she lowered her head and burrowed deeper into his embrace.

“Kate, look at the sky.” Samuel’s baritone voice suddenly rang out.

The sky?

Kathleen looked up at once.

She noticed the many floating lanterns rising in the distance, their luminance brilliantly sparkling across
the inky sky.

Her jaw fell agape as her eyes widened in shock.

Samuel hugged her from behind before speaking in his husky voice, “I remember that one time after
our wedding when you watched the floating lantern scene in Tangled. You couldn’t keep your eyes off



the main characters as they watched the lanterns in their boat, so I figured you’d like to see the star-like
lanterns tonight.”

Tears sprang to Kathleen’s eyes.

Upon seeing that, a miserable feeling rose within Samuel.

Kathleen wiped her tears while stating, “We can’t go back to how things were, Samuel. Why are you
talking about the past suddenly? Haven’t you heard of the saying ‘it’s too late to amend things?”‘

“I was too arrogant back then and assumed I could control everything in the world. Now, it seems that
I’m nothing more than an ordinary person,” Samuel replied self-deprecatingly.

Tears kept flowing from Kathleen’s eyes as she gazed at the glowing lanterns.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Just then, fireworks broke out amidst the darkness, taking Kathleen by surprise.

He even prepared fireworks?

A grin grew on Samuel’s face as he watched her dazed expression. “Happy New Year, Katie.”

With that, he leaned in to kiss her cheek.

Kathleen remained as still as a statue.

The fireworks went on as Samuel hugged her tighter.

“In this coming year, I’m going to fulfill all your wishes. Since your first wish is to never see me again, I
won’t appear before you starting tomorrow.”



Kathleen simply nodded in response to his words.

Still, his tone remained gentle as he said, “But there’s one thing you need to remember. I’m only a call
away if you ever need me, Kate. I’ll rush over in an instant. Don’t ever forget that.”

Kathleen nodded again.

To that, a satisfied grin spread across Samuel’s face. “All right. You should head back to bed now that
the fireworks are over.”

It was only then that Kathleen turned around, revealing her tear-streaked face.

The sight of that made Samuel’s chest lurch in pain.

These days, even a sorrowful look without tears from her was enough to make his heart ache.

“I’ll be on my way then.” Kathleen then walked away.

Left behind, Samuel watched her departing figure with a sharp twinge in his chest.

At this point, all he could do was keep an eye on her from afar until things unfolded themselves.

It did not take long for Kathleen to return to her room before she lay sprawled out on the bed.

While she was the one who insisted that Samuel keep his distance from her, she could not deny the
grueling ache she felt.

After drowning in her sorrows for some time, she fell asleep.

It wasn’t until noon the next day that she woke up with a raging headache.

Gosh. I shouldn’t have drank so much last night…



Kathleen sat up on her bed when her phone coincidentally rang.

She picked it up and saw Charles’ name as the caller ID.

“Charles? What’s up?” she asked while massaging her temples.

“K-Kate…” Something sounded odd about Charles’ voice as he failed to finish his words.

“What is it?” Kathleen’s brows drew close.

“V-Vivian is…” Grief overwhelmed Charles so much that he sounded like he was on the verge of tears.
“S-She’s dead.”

“What?” The news shocked Kathleen, who instantly probed, “How did she die?”

“She hung herself… in her room…” Charles’s hoarse voice rang out from the other end of the line.
“Caleb’s emotionally unstable right now, and we need you here.”

“Okay, I’ll be right there!” Kathleen hurriedly got ready.

An hour later, she arrived at the Lewis residence dressed in a simple outfit.

There, the housekeepers replaced all cheerful decorations from the gate with dark-colored decorations
as an indication of mourning.

Kathleen soon entered the residence, noticing that a mourning section had already gotten set up
inside.

“Get lost!” Caleb’s ferocious snarl came from the second floor, adding, “My sister’s not dead! Get out of
our home!”

What came next was a series of hurried footsteps.



The butlers and all the housekeepers had frantically scurried down the stairs in that instant.

Seeing that, Kathleen approached them to ask, “What’s the matter?”

“Since Ms. Lewis has passed away, we asked Mr. Lewis to pick a funeral portrait of her. But he kicked
us out…” explained a helpless-looking butler.

Once Kathleen heard that, she reached out. “Let me see.”

The butler then handed over a few photos of Vivian to her.

These seemed to be from long ago. But I guess there’s nothing we can do about it now.

“This should do.” Kathleen picked out a sophisticated-looking photo of Vivian from the bunch.

“All right.” The butler nodded without a trace of objection to her choice.

Following that, Kathleen headed upstairs.

Charles, who stood at the study’s door, soon came into her view.

She found it hard to speak. “Charles…”

In front of her, a red-eyed Charles said, “You made it.”




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