The Flower That Grew from Ashes novel Chapter 89

It turned out that all of it was just packaging for cold, calculated business maneuvers.

Her marriage, her womb, her love.

In the eyes of the Lehman men, they were nothing more than assets to be appraised and liquidated at any given moment.

Annelise sat on the cold stone steps of the flowerbed, unmoving for a very long time.

The freezing autumn wind whipped her hair, but she felt absolutely no cold.

Her heart had already grown colder than this late autumn night.

After a long while, she picked up her phone and dialed Zachary's number.

Her voice was completely level, devoid of any fluctuation.

"Mr. Coleman, I need to complete full property verification and legal notarization for all my premarital assets—including the equity, the real estate, the cash, and the insurance—in the shortest time possible."

"I need a document with absolute legal authority proving that these assets belong solely to Annelise Sargent, and the Lehman family has absolutely no claim to them whatsoever."

On the other end of the line, Zachary seemed to have anticipated her move.

"Not a problem, Ms. Sargent."

"All the documents will be ready within three days."

Hanging up, Annelise exhaled a long, deep breath.

She knew that the war between her and the Lehman family had evolved from a revenge plot over emotional betrayal into a life-or-death struggle for survival and money.

That same afternoon, as Harriet was taking out the trash at the estate's back door, her eyes were suddenly drawn to something wedged in the corner of the bin.

It was a shredded envelope.

The material was high quality—imported Dowling paper—and even torn to pieces, its refined texture was obvious.

And at the very bottom of the page, right where a signature should be, she pieced together a name that made her heart stop. The name was written with sharp, forceful strokes that nearly tore through the paper. Even from just a fragment, she could sense the rigid, uncompromising aura of the man who wrote it.

—'Elias'"

Harriet's face drained of color instantly.

She carefully wrapped the scraps in her handkerchief and sprinted toward the back garden like a madwoman.

Annelise stared at the garbage-stained puzzle pieces Harriet handed her, her pupils shrinking sharply.

Elias Lehman.

He really was alive.

And he was really going to return at this "wedding" being held in his honor.