Chapter 30: THE HYPOCRITES COME KNOCKING

In the days before the final net was cast, the Blackwood estate suddenly became unusually busy.

Everyone could see what was happening.

Victoria was on the verge of losing everything.

Meanwhile, Evelyn, once trampled into the mud, had become the woman closest to Karen’s heart and the single greatest force behind the group’s resurgence.

So one performance after another began.

Old acquaintances started arriving at the door.

The first visitor was Sebastian’s wife.

The executive’s wife, who had once looked down on Evelyn in every possible way, now arrived carrying expensive gifts.

Her eyes were red and swollen.

She dropped to her knees in the living room.

“Miss Thorne, please show mercy!”

“Sebastian was used by Victoria.”

“For the sake of his wife and children, please speak to Mr. Blackwood.”

“Ask him to reduce his sentence by a few years…”

Evelyn sat calmly on the sofa and looked at her.

“When he took my belongings and called me a ‘dependent with no master,’ Mrs. Roy, you never said a single word for me.”

Sebastian’s wife turned red, then white.

“The law will decide his sentence.”

“I won’t kick someone when they’re down.”

“But I won’t beg for mercy for a parasite either.”

“Please take your gifts back.”

The second visitor was Martha’s son.

He looked miserable.

His mother had been fired and was now facing legal action.

He begged Evelyn for a letter of forgiveness.

“When your mother damaged my father’s belongings, withheld my living expenses, and spread rumors about me, she never thought this day would come.”

Evelyn’s expression did not change.

“Everyone has to pay the price for their own malice.”

Distant relatives and socialites who had once stared coldly at her funeral and mocked her at tea parties also began sending lavish gifts.

They wanted to “repair the relationship.”

Even those who had once insulted her most viciously now shamelessly claimed that they had “always known she was destined for greatness.”

The speed of their transformation was nauseating.

Evelyn did not explode in anger.

Nor did she play the saint and forgive everyone.

She had the assistant return every gift unopened.

Everyone who came seeking favor was politely but firmly kept outside the door.

“People naturally praise the powerful and trample the weak.”

She told her assistant,

“But I’ll never forget who handed me a knife when I was at my lowest…”

“And who reached out a hand.”

What she wanted had never been their approval.

She wanted to stand so high on her own strength that none of them could ever hurt her again.

Late that night, the noise finally faded.

Evelyn entered the study alone and checked every piece of the final operation one last time.

Mark’s testimony.

The deliberately cut brake line.

The backup drive containing the vehicle data.

The financial transfers between Cross and Victoria.

The confession about hiring killers.

The recording of the boardroom infighting…

Every piece connected perfectly.

The evidence was overwhelming.

There was only one thing left.

Victoria had to confess in her own words.

And that was precisely the final piece Evelyn had designed for the annual board meeting.

“Is everything ready?”

Karen pushed open the door.

He gently draped a coat over her shoulders.

Evelyn turned and looked toward the deep darkness outside the window.

Then she slowly nodded.

“Tomorrow is the family’s annual board meeting.”

“Victoria believes it’s her final chance to turn everything around.”

“She’ll definitely bring every card she has and gamble everything.”

Karen walked behind her and gently pulled her into his arms.

His chin rested against the top of her head.

His voice was low and certain.

“After tomorrow, everyone who has hurt you will pay the price.”

“The injustice done to Arthur.”

“The hatred your father carried.”

“Every grievance you’ve suffered.”

“All of it will be settled tomorrow.”

Evelyn leaned against his chest.

The tension that had been stretched tight for days strangely began to ease.

She closed her eyes.

“Karen…”

“Thank you.”

“Silly girl.”

“I’m the one who should be thanking you.”

“Thank you for not really leaving me in that storm.”

Outside the window, the night over the northern city was as thick as ink.

A storm was quietly gathering.

Tomorrow’s annual board meeting was destined to be written into the history of this powerful family.

It would be the judgment seat where the guilty finally faced justice.

And the final battle in which Evelyn Thorne would personally bury every last piece of darkness.