He Gave Me Hearing, Then Taught Me What Silence Really Means novel Chapter 410

Juniper was extremely pale. Even in her sleep, she seemed to sense Nelson's imposing presence and groggily opened her eyes.

Nelson violently jerked his head away, refusing to meet her gaze.

He turned to Jasmine instead, his voice tight. "Can she stay here for a month?"

Jasmine's immediate instinct was to refuse, but after a second's thought, she nodded. "Fine. But you're responsible for keeping the Saint family off my back."

She absolutely despised dealing with messes.

Nelson's jaw clenched, his eyes dark with suppressed emotion. He didn't spare Juniper a single glance as he turned and walked out the door.

Standing on the porch, he stared at the bloody trail leading up the driveway. He didn't need to guess who had left it.

His hands were shaking. He reached for a cigarette, only to remember his pockets were empty.

The suffocating pressure in his chest demanded the burn of nicotine. A nearby bodyguard quickly handed him a lit cigarette.

Nelson slumped onto a nearby stone bench, staring blankly at the horizon. He took one drag and simply let it burn down until the cherry scorched his fingers, jolting him back to reality. Only then did he realize he had been sitting there for ten minutes.

He immediately stood up, barking at his men, "Clean up the blood at the entrance."

He got back into his car, but his mind was entirely consumed by what Macy had said about Blackwood Institute.

He floored the accelerator, driving straight to Oakley.

He abandoned every single crisis waiting for him in the city. Right now, he needed to know exactly what had happened at that hospital.

But when his men asked around Oakley, they discovered that while Blackwood Institute had indeed existed, it had shut down years ago. There wasn't a single administrator left.

Worse still, the locals had absolutely no idea what had actually gone on behind those walls.

He drove to the Lane household next. Juniper was infamous in these parts, and the moment her name was mentioned, the locals' eyes lit up with malicious glee.

And Beatrice was absolutely convinced her daughter was violently insane.

Nelson couldn't even begin to articulate the horrifying weight crushing his chest. How the hell did Juniper survive over a year inside a psychiatric ward?

Had they abused her?

He leaned his head against the steering wheel, a bone-deep chill racking his body. A violent wave of hatred toward Beatrice surged through him—how could a mother do something so monstrous to her own flesh and blood?

The Lane family had always treated Juniper like garbage. Nelson had always begged her to sever ties with them, but she could never bring herself to be that ruthless.

He had been so infuriated by her perceived weakness, never once realizing she had been locked in a literal asylum.

He called his men, ordering them to tear the world apart looking for anyone who had ever worked at Blackwood Institute.

Meanwhile, news of Nelson's aggressive investigation quickly reached Lydia Thorne's ears.