Family on Their Knees Heart Turned to Ice novel Chapter 1296

Lillian grabbed her phone and squinted at the glowing screen.

It was the middle of the night. If he was demanding an audience at this hour, it meant things had gone critical.

Despite the heavy exhaustion pulling at her limbs, Lillian pushed herself out of bed.

"Give me a second. I'm on my way. Bring him to the study," she called out.

There was only one person she had given that level of clearance to.

After slipping into a silk robe and quickly twisting her hair up, Lillian walked down the hall to her study. Just as she expected, Ethan was waiting there with Marcus Parker.

"Marcus, it's late. What happened?"

Marcus knew that Lillian had been prioritizing her health and rest lately.

If this were standard intel, he would have gladly waited until morning.

But tonight's discovery was far too volatile to sit on.

He had rushed over the second his men reported in. Because Lillian had pre-cleared his access, he bypassed the outer security of Halfridge Villas with ease.

The night staff, terrified of waking Leonard, had intercepted Ethan instead. Ethan then took it upon himself to wake Lillian.

"Lillian, you need to see this," Marcus said, his expression grim.

Lillian hadn't immediately noticed the large, soot-stained duffel bag resting against the wall.

At his words, her gaze dropped to it.

Marcus unzipped the heavy canvas, revealing a heap of charred, blackened material.

A harsh, acrid scent of burnt synthetic fibers hit the air. Lillian waved a hand in front of her nose, trying to fend off the smell.

"What... what am I looking at?"

It was impossible to identify the ruined mess of ash and scorched fabric in the dim light of the study.

"If the clothes are drenched in blood, then the carpet must be too. But why bring this to me? Does this have something to do with my situation?"

Marcus sighed. "Whether it connects back to you, I can't say for sure yet.

But I've had eyes on Debbie Harris and Bella Ward, just like you asked.

Recently, my crew picked up a few massive contracts, so our surveillance was a bit stretched.

But today, my guys spotted Bella checking into a hotel with that male model of hers.

Knowing her messy history with Sebastian, I told my team to keep the stakeout going for another twenty-four hours to see if anything interesting shook loose.

I definitely didn't expect the guy to sneak out in the middle of the night, drive to an abandoned lakeside park, and try to torch this.

He must have been panicked. The second he lit the match, he bolted.

My guys moved in immediately, smothered the fire, and salvaged this."