Chapter 447: Death
Samantha opened the door to the cottage, her movements stiff and mechanical.
It had been a week since Mr. Wallace’s attack at the baby factory — a week since his death, and a week since Xander slipped into a coma. A week that had shattered everything she thought she knew. And yet, time moved on like nothing had changed.
She stepped inside. The air was heavy with the scent of blood and something else — death, maybe. Her eyes immediately found Bruce on the couch. He was lying motionless, his bandages soaked crimson, the pale stretch of his skin stark against the fabric. If not for the faint rise and fall of his chest, she would have thought he was already gone.
The floor creaked beneath her as she approached, the sound startling Bruce just enough to flutter his eyes open. They met hers— hollow, tired, yet filled with something she never thought she’d see in them: sorrow.
After Mr. Wallace’s death, Bruce had sent his last loyal henchman to find her. Even at death’s doorstep, he wanted to see his daughter — something she still found hard to believe.
"Why did you call me here?" she asked, her voice clipped, void of affection.
Tears welled in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.
"I thought..." Bruce’s voice was a rasp, thick with pain. "I thought I was doing you a favor... letting you see me one last time before I die. But now I realize... maybe I was wrong."
Samantha said nothing.
She hadn’t told anyone she was coming. The tension from the past week hadn’t eased. No one truly trusted her — and if they knew where she was going, they would’ve followed. But this wasn’t a conversation she wanted witnessed. Whatever Bruce had to say, she needed to hear it—alone.