Want My Womb? I'll Make You Childless novel Chapter 82

Chapter 82

“What did you say?!”

A shrill voice cut through the air after Clara’s words.

Margaret, having rushed to the scene after hearing about James’ accident, had overheard the accusations and her initial panic transformed into a burst of fury.

Charging forward, she made to shove Clara aside, practically screaming, “What were you even doing in Grandpa’s room?”

Clara recoiled, pushing her back with a defensive gesture.”What do you think you’re doing?”

“Things aren’t even clear yet, and you’re accusing me without any proof. Aren’t you afraid I’ll sue you?”

Margaret was taken aback by Clara’s sudden boldness, but the memory of the equity transfer agreement she’d seen in the old man’s room reignited her fury. This was a direct threat to her interests; there was no way she could let it go.

“Clara Bennett, do you even have a conscience?! Did you find out that Grandpa’s will left you shares in Carter Group, so you couldn’t wait for him to die so you could inherit them?!”

“Shares?”

Ethan turned to Margaret, a flicker of disbelief crossing his face.

He glanced at Clara before speaking, his tone casual yet laced with an undercurrent of chilling coldness that was unnerving.”Mom, are you saying Grandpa left Clara shares?”

Without realizing it, he had switched from calling her “Clara” to “Clara Bennett” again.

In his mind, although the old man was fond of Clara, he wouldn’t joke around with the Group’s shares. How could he possibly have given Clara any?

Watching the scene unfold, Clara couldn’t help but curl her lips into a sardonic smile.

See? This was Ethan all over. When his own interests were on the line, he could be more ruthless than anyone.

The warmth and pleading he’d shown her over the past few days? Gone, just like smoke in the wind. Anyone who believed it was a fool.

Everyone was reeling from the revelation that the old man had left Clara shares in Carter Group, except for Lucas, who blinked from his

corner.

Great-Grandpa actually gave Mom shares in Carter Group?

That meant as long as Mom and Dad didn’t divorce, he’d be the sole heir to those shares. Wouldn’t that mean the shares would eventually be his anyway?

But if Mom and Dad divorced, she might end up giving those shares to someone else…

The way he saw it, he had even more reason to stop Mom and Dad from divorcing!

Clara leaned against the wall, watching Margaret’s face contort with fury, and Ethan’s cold, indifferent eyes.

“I’m only going to say this once.”

“I never did anything to hurt Grandpa, not in the slightest.”

“I did spend some time with him, but when the nurse arrived, I went downstairs to check on Lila.”

“Later, Lila said she wanted to know how Grandpa was doing, so I thought I’d come up to check. But I ran into Luke before I even got to the

room.”

She looked at Ethan, her eyes calm and without a trace of pleading. She no longer hoped that he would believe her.

She wasn’t that stupid. She wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

“Then, you arrived. I had no time alone with Grandpa, and no time to harm him.”

“Also, I didn’t know Grandpa would leave me shares.”

“But since Grandpa left them to me, I’m definitely taking them.”

“No reason. Except that the Carter family owes me.”

Hearing this, Margaret Carter completely lost it. Clara actually dared to demand the shares!

She had the nerve to ask for shares?!

Margaret Carter went ballistic. This was like stealing money right out of her pocket. She knew she hadn’t misjudged Clara. That woman would do anything for money. She must have killed the old man to steal their Carter family’s money.

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“You mentioned a nurse? Where is she now? Did you bribe her to run away?”

Clara’s heart sank.

The nurse had been gone for over half an hour. Even if she just went downstairs to buy something, she should have been back by now.

She glanced towards the end of the hallway, but it was empty, without a soul in sight.

“I ran into her when I came up. She said she was going out to buy something…”

Stopping mid-sentence, Clara turned to Assistant Evans.”Evans, send someone to find the nurse. Finding her is the only way we’ll know what really happened.”

“Maybe she’s the one who did this to Mr. Carter.”

Assistant Evans stood to the side, his face ashen.

Although he’d been by James Carter’s side for years, he didn’t know Clara Bennett well. But based on Mr. Carter’s trust in her, he didn’t think she was capable of hurting him.

But if it wasn’t her, it was even less likely to be the nurse.

“I personally selected these nurses. Their backgrounds have all been checked. They’re absolutely trustworthy. There’s no way she could do something like this.”

“Besides, she’s been taking care of Mr. Carter for so long. If she wanted to hurt him, she’s had plenty of chances. There’s no need to wait until now…”

Clara cut him off coldly.”I told you to find her, so find her.”

“Don’t you want to find out how Mr. Carter died?”

“Or what?” Clara smiled faintly, taking a step forward, deliberately trying to smear Assistant Evans. These days, to protect herself, there was nothing she wouldn’t do.”Are you and the nurse in this together, Evans? Did you two plot to kill Mr. Carter? Are you scared? Is that why you don’t want to find her?”

“Mrs. Carter… how could you say something like that?” Evans stammered, his face draining of color at the accusation.

“I’ll send people to find the caregiver right away.”

With that, Evans hurried away, phone in hand. Ethan caught a bodyguard’s eye, who nodded and stepped aside to make a call.

Clara, lost in thought, spoke again, “What about the security footage?”

“Someone must have visited during that time. We can check the hallway cameras outside Grandpa’s room.”

“Mrs. Carter, I already reviewed the footage. It shows you entering Grandpa’s room, but there’s a gap in the recording.”

“I investigated the cause, and someone tampered with the system.”

Margaret’s voice rose shrilly, “It must have been you! Isn’t that what you do with your AI work?”

“Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. She destroys the evidence herself and then asks us to check the security footage.”

Clara ignored her, turning to Ethan.”Is there a computer I can use? I can try to recover the data.”

Ethan’s expression was conflicted. He didn’t believe Clara was capable of harming his grandfather.

But the central control system had been altered, and Clara’s work involved precisely that kind of manipulation. She certainly had the skills. The damaged footage, Evans’s testimony, and the missing caregiver-all the clues seemed to point to Clara.

After staring at Clara for several seconds, he said, “Let’s go to the central control room.”

The group made their way to the central control room.

Hospital security had already received instructions from above. When they saw the group enter, they vacated their positions in front of the central console.

“Mr. Carter, we’ve already been trying to recover the data, but the surveillance footage from the time of Mr. Carter’s incident is gone.”

“Gone?”

Clara walked to the main console, her fingers flying across the keyboard. As she pulled up the storage logs, her brow furrowed.

“The main hard drive isn’t damaged, and there’s no sign of physical deletion.”

She pulled up a chaotic electromagnetic wave spectrum, pointing to the most intense fluctuation range.”This is a typical electromagnetic interference signal. The frequency is precisely aligned with the receiving band of the monitoring system.”

“Someone used a professional jammer to block the signal. The footage from that time wasn’t recorded at all, so there’s no way to recover it.” She also tried to access data from the backup cameras and hallway sensors, but the results showed the same signal vacuum during that time.

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“The jammer had a high output, covering all the monitoring nodes in the area. There’s no data residue.”

During that time, the entire hospital’s surveillance system had been compromised. Even the footage of her going downstairs to Lila Walker’s room was gone. Was there any other way to prove she hadn’t been in James Carter’s room during that time?

Ethan stared at the blacked-out monitor screen, his knuckles rapping against the desk in a restless rhythm, a palpable tension radiating from

him.

Standing beside him, Lucas felt a shiver crawl down his spine, triggered by the oppressive atmosphere his father was exuding.

If he hadn’t quite grasped the gravity of the situation before, he understood it now.

The figure he’d glimpsed outside his great-grandfather’s room must have been the one who severed the oxygen tube, the one trying to kill Great-Grandpa!

But it wasn’t Clara.

“Luke, what’s wrong?”

Ethan squeezed his son’s frigid hand, his gaze piercing. He knew his son too well; Luke definitely knew something.”Do you know something?” Lucas stiffened, his eyes darting nervously to Clara, a sudden thought striking him.

He’d seen it clearly these last few weeks: Dad loved Mom, but Mom was determined to divorce Dad.

Now, Mom couldn’t prove she wasn’t the one who hurt Grandpa.

But what if everyone thought Mom did it?

It dawned on him then: giving his dad a chance, helping him keep Mom around meant that to atone for her sins against the Carter family, Dad would never divorce her.

And Mom, consumed by guilt, would have to spend her life atoning for her sins, never leaving the Carter family.

As long as Mom didn’t leave, her shares would still be his, and his position in the Carter family wouldn’t be affected.

Besides, even if Dad wanted to divorce Mom, after what she did to Grandpa, she wouldn’t be able to take the Carter family’s shares with her, definitely not give them to another kid.

But as long as the shares stayed within the Carter family and didn’t go to outsiders, he’d still have a chance.

He couldn’t let anyone threaten his position in the Carter family.

The thought took root and spread like a vine in his heart, impossible to suppress.

He looked at Clara, thinking of all the things she had done for him, and a flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes.

Seeing Lucas hesitate, Ethan frowned and pressed, “Lucas Carter, speak!”

Clara looked at him, too.

Lucas swallowed hard, raised his head, met Ethan’s gaze, then quickly glanced at Clara, and in the end, the desire for profit overcame reason.

He gritted his teeth and began, “I… when I was playing near the hospital room door, I saw…”

“I saw Mom standing next to Great-Grandpa’s bed, doing something.”

He kept his head down, his voice deliberately timid, yet it penetrated everyone’s ears with chilling clarity.

Clara stared at Lucas in disbelief, her blood seeming to freeze instantly, a suffocating feeling washing over her, leaving her breathless.

After a long moment, she closed her eyes.

This was the son she had carried for ten months!

Now, he had become a dagger aimed at her!

“What do you have to say for yourself?!”

Margaret, hearing Lucas’s words, became even more enraged. She raised her hand to strike Clara across the face.”Luke saw it with his own eyes! What excuses do you have left?!”

“You must have found out that the old man left you shares, and you were so desperate to get the money that you resorted to such a cruel act!”

“Everyone knows Anderson Industries is having financial problems. If you get Carter Group’s shares, with Carter Group backing you, you can attract investment.”

Clara turned her head to dodge the blow, then grabbed Margaret’s wrist, flung her hand away, and stared at her with cold eyes. “Anderson Industries’ affairs are none of your concern!”

“Grandpa had already arranged for people to help Anderson Industries manage things. Even if we really needed funds, I could have asked him directly. I wouldn’t resort to such an extreme measure!”

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Chapter 2

She turned to Ethan, “I was downstairs with Lila the whole time. If you don’t believe me, you can ask her, or the nurses in the ward. They can all vouch for me.”

Yes, Lila Walker could vouch for her!

Ethan’s brow furrowed even more, his gaze shifting back and forth between Clara and Lucas with a complicated expression.

He had to admit, the Clara he knew was the type who would report him to the police for coercion rather than debase herself to climb the Carter family ladder. She wouldn’t do something like that.

As for Lucas, this wasn’t the first time he’d made up stories.

After a moment of silence, he said to the bodyguard in a deep voice, “Go downstairs and bring Lila Walker up here. We’ll meet at the emergency

room entrance.”

The bodyguard acknowledged and left, and the rest of them headed towards the emergency room.

“Eth?”

A soft, delicate voice cut through the tense atmosphere.

Natalie Parker, her face filled with worry, hurried to Ethan, her voice choked with emotion, “I was at the hospital for a check-up and heard about what happened to Grandpa Carter, so I rushed over. How is he?”

Margaret was taken aback when she saw Natalie.

Margaret had always liked Natalie Parker; after all, she was a child they’d sponsored, so they knew her inside and out.

With the Carter family’s status, they didn’t need to sacrifice their children’s marriages for alliances. Besides, Ethan had seemed quite fond of her back then.

Unfortunately, the old man had vehemently opposed it for some reason, and after Ethan was drugged and ended up with Clara Bennett, he’d forced him to marry her.

At the time, she’d regretted that Ethan had married someone as scheming as Clara, missing out on Natalie. She hadn’t realized they’d been in contact all along.

This was perfect. As long as they could prove Clara had harmed the old man, Ethan definitely wouldn’t stay

Once they divorced, he could marry Natalie, fulfilling their destiny.

“What do you think? It’s all because of this woman!”

with her.

Margaret pointed at Clara, as if looking at an enemy.”I don’t know what sins our family committed to marry such a viper!”

Natalie lowered her eyes, hiding the triumph within.”Auntie, please don’t get worked up. Maybe there’s been a misunderstanding?”

Clara watched the two of them, their words a ridiculous, chilling performance.

Just then, the bodyguard rushed over with Lila Walker.

The little girl, dressed in a hospital gown, her face still pale, was startled by the tense atmosphere in the hallway, She immediately ran to Clara, clutching her arm with her small hand, peering out, her eyes scanning the crowd warily.

“Auntie, what’s wrong?”

Are these people bullying Auntie again?

“Lila, tell your uncle, was Auntie with you downstairs the whole time?”

Ethan knelt down, trying to keep his voice gentle.

Right now, he was desperate to get the answer from Lila. He needed to confirm that Clara hadn’t done anything to James Carter.

Only then could their marriage continue.

Lila nodded, her voice clear and bright, “Yes, when I woke up, Auntie was in the room with me, and she even gave me a good luck charm!”

As she spoke, she pulled the charm out of her clothes and handed it to Ethan.

Ethan’s gaze fell on the charm, and his pupils constricted.

He had braved a minstorm that night, gone to the Convent, knelt on 99 steps, and kowtowed 99 times to get it.

Clara actually dared to give the good luck charm to someone else!!

And she gave it to that man’s daughter. What exactly was Clara trying to do? What did she take Ethan Carter for?

Ethan’s eyes turned cold, and his grip on Lila’s shoulders tightened involuntarily, the veins popping out in his wrist revealing his fury.

Clara didn’t notice the change in Ethan’s expression; she was only worried he might scare Lila.

She yanked Ethan’s hand off Lila and stood the little girl behind her, shielding her.

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She looked at Ethan, her voice even, “Call the police. If we can’t figure things out, let the police investigate.”

“I refuse to believe the police can’t prove my innocence!”