Chapter 41

After Lucian went on a business trip, Allison returned to her old life, bouncing between the hospital and school daily.

Grace was suffering from severe kidney failure. Even though the Flanagan family was footing the medical bills, the only cure was a kidney transplant, but they couldn’t find a suitable donor.

As Grace’s condition worsened, her dialysis frequency increased from once every two weeks to once a week.

At this point, a light rain began to fall.

Allison stood before Joshua’s tombstone, carefully cleaning the weeds around it. She bent down and placed some fresh flowers in front of it.

She gently stroked the picture of the middle–aged man on the stone, her eyes brimming with tears.

A lot had happened recently, and she was feeling the pressure. Still, she couldn’t save her mother.

Speaking softly, she asked, “Dad, what would you and Ricky do if you were still here?*

Allison still remembers the day her father died. He was supposed to be handling some business for the Flanagan family. Initially, it was supposed to be Christopher, but for some reason, it was her father and her brother, Ricky.

Ricky was only 15 that year. Facing the crushing weight of a heavy truck, he must have felt desperate.

Not long after her father and brother’s death, the Flanagan patriarch was deeply affected and passed away shortly after.

Christopher felt guilty about the whole thing, but what good did his guilt do?

Her mother suffered a mental breakdown because of all this and was insane for a while. Back then, Leah arranged for Grace and Allison to move into a small house behind the Flanagan mansion. It became their new home.

After Joshua’s death, the family’s source of income was cut off. Grace gradually recovered and started doing some housework for the Flanagans.

Christopher gave Grace some money as compensation, but she never touched it. She said that it was blood money, earned with her husband’s and son’s lives, and she couldn’t use it.

Sometimes, Allison would overhear some of the Flanagan servants gossiping in the kitchen:

*Joshua’s death was strange, they say…”

“They say Christopher was supposed to go that day. He should’ve been the one who died.”

“Poor Grace. She lost her husband and son when she was young. Now she has a daughter to take care of. It’s not easy to remarry”

“Shush, the little girl is here.”

“What’s there to be afraid of? She’s too young to understand.”

But ten–year–old Allison did understand.

A few days later, those gossipy servants were fired.

Allison once asked Grace if Christopher was responsible for the deaths of her father and brother. For saying that, she got a slap from Grace.

*Rubbish! Uncle Christopher is our benefactor!”

After that, Allison never mentioned it again, but it was always buried deep in her heart.

Alone in the rain, Allison sat by the tombstone, keeping her father and brother company, seemingly oblivious to the cold that was seeping into her.

This was an expensive cemetery in the Northfield district. Connor Flanagan was devastated by the deaths of Joshua and Ricky and decided to bury them here. He even arranged for a caretaker to maintain the grave site regularly.

As dusk approached, she picked a flower from her father’s grave, carefully placed it in her pocket, and prepared to leave.

Just a few steps away, she noticed a young man in a wheelchair about to descend some steps. She walked over and held onto the chair, “Sir, let me help you‘

The man in the wheelchair furrowed his brows, seeming slightly resistant to Allison’s help.