Chapter 20
Magnus didn’t die.
The bullet grazed his skull, taking half his life and his identity as heir to Everhart Corporation.
He lay in intensive care for three full months. When he woke, though he’d survived, he was left with severe complications.
His right leg’s nerves were damaged, leaving him with a permanent limp. His hands trembled constantly-he couldn’t even hold a
pen steady.
More importantly, old Mr. Everhart was completely disappointed in him.
An heir who would seek death over a woman, disregarding family interests, was the Everhart family’s greatest shame.
After Magnus was discharged, he was completely stripped of power.
Old Mr. Everhart adopted a capable grandson from a branch family, who officially became Everhart Corporation’s new heir.
Magnus was forgotten by the family, returning to live alone in the empty ancestral home, accompanied only by endless silence.
Odessa’s verdict also came down.
Multiple crimes should have meant immediate execution.
But Odessa showed severe mental breakdown symptoms in prison. The court finally commuted her sentence to a two-year suspended death penalty.
She was sent to New York’s most secure psychiatric hospital.
Everyone thought she could at least survive two years.
But they forgot that though Magnus had lost power, his inherent ruthlessness remained unchanged.
He hated Odessa-that hatred even exceeded his self-hatred.
He bribed the psychiatric hospital’s doctors and nurses.
He told them: “I don’t want her to die too easily. I want her alive, but I want her to truly go insane.”
Thus began Odessa’s “good days” at the psychiatric hospital.
Daily, she was strapped to a bed for maximum-intensity electroshock therapy.
At first, she tried pleading, crying “Magnus, save me.”
Later, she didn’t even have strength to cry, her eyes becoming vacant and hollow.
Eventually, she truly went mad.
She would hold a pillow, calling it “Magnus,” crying and laughing at thin air.
She would wake at midnight screaming “Sierra, don’t touch me,” then wet the bed in terror.
Magnus occasionally received videos from his subordinates.
In them, the once-beautiful Verrier heiress had become emaciated and filthy, like a truly rabid dog.
He watched expressionlessly, feeling no satisfaction.
He’d gotten revenge on Odessa, but Sierra would never return.
One year later.
Magnus had recovered enough to walk slowly with a cane.
Using a false identity, he quietly started a new life in California.
He didn’t disturb Sierra, only watched from afar.
He rented a car, parking daily at the street corner opposite Sierra’s home.
He saw how each morning, Thane would drive Eli to school while Sierra stood at the door, smiling and waving goodbye.
Her smile was bright and warm.
He saw how each evening, the family of three would shop at the nearby supermarket.
Eli sat in the shopping cart holding a lollipop, Thane pushed the cart, Sierra carefully selected vegetables.
Like any ordinary family, they were filled with simple happiness.
He saw how on weekends, they’d take Eli for picnics on the park lawn.
Thane played soccer with Eli while Sierra sat nearby, watching them tenderly.
Eli had grown considerably taller. He would loudly call Thane “Daddy.”
Each time Magnus heard that “Daddy,” his heart felt flayed alive.
Like a pathetic voyeur, he greedily spied on the happiness that should have been his, while being tormented by it repeatedly.
That evening, Sierra and Thane strolled through their yard.
Eli chased a butterfly on the distant grass.
Walking side by side, they spoke of something that made Sierra suddenly laugh. She stood on tiptoe and planted a gentle kiss on Thane’s lips.
Thane was momentarily stunned, then smiled too. He lowered his head, tenderly and preciously deepening the kiss.
The sunset stretched their shadows long and intertwined.
Magnus sat in his car across the street, quietly watching this scene.
He had the driver start the engine, turn around, and slowly drive in the direction completely opposite to that sunset.
In the rearview mirror, those two kissing figures grew smaller and more blurred.
