Family on Their Knees Heart Turned to Ice novel Chapter 1299

"Didn't she always look down on people who wore knockoffs?

And now, here she is, parading around in fake designer trash."

Ethan chuckled, shaking his head. "A cheap fake. Unbelievable.

She's out there desperately trying to maintain her wealthy socialite facade.

Fascinating, isn't it? Her clothes are absolutely soaked in blood. Ms. Mercer, what do you think she actually did?"

Lillian offered a chilling smile. "What did she do? Nothing good, that's for sure.

The fact that she panicked and tried to incinerate the evidence tells me she's in deep trouble.

But honestly, whatever mess she made doesn't directly involve us. All it means is we get front-row seats to her spectacular downfall."

Leonard reached out, gently interlacing his fingers with Lillian's. "It's late, sweetheart. Let's not waste our energy on them tonight.

Your health comes first. You need to sleep.

Come back to bed? I'll hold you."

Ethan, showing impeccable situational awareness, immediately backed him up. "Exactly. It's the middle of the night.

You should go get some rest. Dr. Celine's DNA results won't be ready until morning anyway."

Lillian nodded, feeling the exhaustion finally catch up to her. "Alright.

Ethan, make sure the study is completely sanitized."

The mere thought of Bella's tainted, blood-soaked belongings being in her space, even briefly, made her skin crawl. It needed to be sterilized immediately.

"Consider it done, Ms. Mercer. Go sleep," Ethan assured her.

Waking up at 1:00 AM to deal with a bloody conspiracy had left Lillian wired, making it nearly impossible to drift off.

But Leonard knew exactly how to soothe her. He pulled her flush against his chest, gently stroking her back until the tension melted from her muscles. Within minutes, she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

By early morning, Dr. Celine had the results.

Old Mrs. Blake had been a titan in the corporate world; she only stepped back because her physical stamina couldn't keep up with her ambition.

As Lillian forwarded the data to the lab, Ethan strode into the room.

"Ms. Mercer, Mr. Blake from the Blake Group just called.

He requested permission to bring the young master over to apologize to you. Do you want to accept the visit?"

Lillian's mind clicked into gear.

Just moments before, she had opened a text from Brandon Mercer promising a "surprise."

The timing was entirely too perfect.

If she refused, she might miss out on a highly entertaining collision of events.

Against all odds—especially after Noah's vicious tantrum yesterday—Lillian made the unprecedented decision to agree.

Even Leonard was caught off guard. "Lillian, are you setting a trap?"