The Flower That Grew from Ashes novel Chapter 78

That earth-shattering question dropped at the dinner table acted like a massive boulder thrown into a deep abyss, sending monstrous waves crashing through Clarissa's mind.

For the first time, it dawned on her that Annelise—the docile, sheep-like woman she had kept leashed to her side for four years—was beginning to grow fangs she had never anticipated.

No.

She couldn't wait any longer.

She had to lock everything down permanently before Annelise fully realized what was happening and did something irreversible.

Early the next morning, Clarissa went straight to Lizzie's room.

She wore zero makeup and dressed in a simple, understated white loungewear set. Her hair was loosely pinned back, making her look incredibly frail and exhausted.

The moment she walked in, she dropped to her knees right in front of Lizzie.

Startled by the sudden gesture, Lizzie immediately stood up to help her.

"Clarissa, what on earth are you doing? Get up!"

But Clarissa refused to budge. She looked up, her beautiful eyes brimming with tears, weeping in a way that was perfectly designed to elicit maximum pity.

"Mom, I've wronged you. I've wronged Elias."

Between heart-wrenching sobs, she launched into the brand-new, meticulously fabricated story she had spent all night rehearsing.

"Mom, I'm pregnant again."

"It's... it's Elias's."

She pulled a crumpled, forged medical report from her pocket and offered it to Lizzie.

"This was the very last vial of frozen sperm Elias left behind. I... I went and had another IVF procedure done recently."

"I didn't dare tell you because... because I was terrified it wouldn't work, and I couldn't bear to give you false hope again."

"Next month, on the sixteenth, it will be Elias's birthday. I am going to host a belated wedding ceremony at the estate for Elias and Clarissa."

Everyone froze the second the words left her mouth.

Hosting a wedding for a couple where one person was already "dead"?

It sounded utterly absurd.

But Lizzie's follow-up explanation somehow made this lunacy sound perfectly "reasonable."

"Back then, because of Elias's military deployment, their wedding was incredibly rushed and bare-bones. We couldn't even invite most of our family and friends."

"As a mother, this has always been my greatest regret."

"Now, Clarissa has given this family Manuel, and she's carrying another one of his children. She is the official, undeniable eldest daughter-in-law of the Lehman family."