Chapter 688: One Last Chance
Annabelle Linton scoffed. "Do I need to explain myself to you?"
A look of confusion appeared on Mrs. Yates’s face, making her even more perplexed. "If you can have us killed without any evidence, then why do you want me to tell you what happened back then?"
’Because I want to know if what happened back then was exactly as it appeared in Leona Grant’s dream.’
’Even though everything in Leona’s file made sense, I still want to know what happened that year—if it was really just like her dream.’
’People are so contradictory. Part of you chooses to believe, while another part wants to dig deeper.’
’Besides, I need this recording to force Vivian Yates out into the open.’
Annabelle Linton sat in her chair, her fingers tapping lightly on the tabletop. Her expression was blank as she said, "I’m giving you one last chance. Think carefully. You’re a dead woman either way. Are you going to save your daughter’s life before you die, or will you take her down with you? The choice is yours."
Mrs. Yates lowered her gaze, lost in thought.
’Annabelle Linton was right. I’m as good as dead. After offending the Grant Family, there’s absolutely no way I’ll get off easy, especially since what I did back then was so severe.’
’I don’t know if Annabelle Linton will kill Vivian after I die, but any life is better than none, right?’
’My daughter is still so young. Because of this bitch and that heartless man, she’s gotten nothing. She hasn’t even had the chance to live the life she’s always wanted. How can she just die like this?’
’I refuse to let my daughter die. I don’t care if she’s tortured by Annabelle Linton after I’m gone; she has to live.’
’Death is coming for me anyway. Every extra day she lives is a victory. The future is full of possibilities. As long as she’s alive now, who’s to say things won’t turn around later?’
At this thought, tears streamed down Mrs. Yates’s face.
’Vivian, this is all Mommy can do for you. My daughter, you have to take good care of yourself from now on.’
With that, she wiped fiercely at the corners of her eyes and said to Annabelle Linton, "I’ll talk. I’ll tell you everything."
Annabelle Linton wasn’t surprised by her answer in the slightest. She gave a faint nod and held the voice recorder out to her.
Mrs. Yates told her everything about the kidnapping. It was exactly as Leona Grant had described in her dream.
They had conspired to erase Leona Grant’s memory. Using drugs, they put her in a comatose state and kept her in another city for a year, telling everyone she had gone away for high school.
Then, as the one-year mark approached, Mrs. Yates decided it was time and stopped administering the drugs.
Leona had actually been comatose for ten months; the remaining two were for her physical recovery.
Two months later, once her body had mostly recovered, Mrs. Yates and Yvonne Miller brought her back to Lynton.
No one cared about her, except for her grandfather.
Back then, they had deliberately kept the grandfather in the dark, so he knew nothing about it.
Upon waking, her only thought was to find a certain someone. As for the kidnapping—whether due to the drugs or from having been bedridden for over a year—she had long forgotten it and never pursued the matter.
Much, much later, she only recalled the incident by chance...
’Some things from the past can’t be forgotten just by never speaking of them.’
Annabelle Linton sighed as she left the police station. She walked slowly down the street, an inexplicable weight pressing down on her.
Autumn was already half over, and the weather had turned a little cold.
A gust of wind blew past, scattering leaves and carrying with it a feeling of empty loneliness.
She wandered aimlessly down the road for a long, long time before stopping at a claw machine on a street corner. She stood there for a while, feeding it countless coins.
Her efforts paid off, though.
Annabelle played on numbly. By the time the sky had darkened, the phone in her trench coat pocket had been ringing for a long time before she finally, blankly, answered it.