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Chapter_776
Leopold and Matthew had just finished loading the Abernathy family into the van, including Cormac,
when the stench inside hit them like a wave, almost driving them back out the door. But seeing
Vivienne and the others frozen by the bedside, Leopold steeled himself and stepped inside.
The woman on the bed was a shadow of her former self, her hair tangled and matted like weeds
upon the pillow. Her face was streaked with dirt, and it looked like the Abernathys hadn’t bothered to
clean her in ages. If it weren’t for the faint rise and fall of her chest, Leopold might have mistaken
her for a corpse.
Wait a minute!
Those features…
How come she looked a bit like Percival?
Realizing this, Leopold’s pupils dilated, his finger pointing shakily at the woman on the bed.
Then he glanced at Percival, whose stony face was unreadable, and noticed the air around him
growing colder and heavier. Leopold took a step back, feeling as if his throat had been seized. He
couldn’t manage to utter a complete sentence.
Finally, it was Vivienne who broke the silence. “Mr. Wolf, let’s get her out of here first.”
She was genuinely shocked. They had only come to fetch a witness back to Rivenwood, and here
they were, stumbling upon the very person Percival had spent years searching for.
Mr. Wolf’s aunt, the Ellington heiress—Holly Ellington!
“Gavin Abernathy!”
The torrential rain outside devoured any trace of light, leaving their car in the darkness, save for the
occasional flash of headlights that flickered before Vivienne’s eyes.
Percival, with lips pressed together and eyes as cold as ice, stared into the abyss beyond the
window.
Time seemed to crawl by.
At last, the man spoke. His voice was hoarse, almost eerie in the pitch-black setting, yet Vivienne
heaved a sigh of relief as she said, “Mr. Wolf, trust me, I will heal your aunt.”
Percival’s grim expression softened slightly. He shifted, leaning his head against Vivienne’s
shoulder. “Vivienne, I do trust you. It’s just… I can’t control…”
He couldn’t control the hatred bubbling up inside him toward Gavin and the entire Abernathy family.
He had assumed that even if Gavin didn’t care for his aunt, out of respect for her status as the
Ellington heiress, she would be placed in an unknown hospital with professional care to at least
keep her alive.
But the reality was starkly different! In this remote village, there were only a few, including Cormac!
The moment Percival had pulled back the covers, even he couldn’t suppress the rising bile in his
throat.
He now understood where that foul stench lingering around the Abernathy property came from!
Beneath that soiled and stained blanket was Holly’s withered body, wounds festering and crawling
with maggots!
At that moment, Percival felt a murderous rage!
The last shred of his sanity reminded him that those people were still useful. But the agony he felt
for Holly and the hatred for the Abernathys set his heart ablaze with fury!
Percival allowed himself to bury his head deeper into Vivienne’s stomach, his clenched eyes hiding
the torrent of hatred.
Feeling the warmth through the thin fabric, Vivienne swallowed hard, her hand gently caressing his
hair as a chill flashed in her eyes. “Mr. Wolf, the dead do not deserve our hatred.”
Matthew glanced up through the rear-view mirror at Vivienne and pursed his lips.
He couldn’t recall the last time he had seen such a chilling expression on Vivienne’s face.
The ancient warrior lineage was formidable, but was Vivienne afraid?
If someone hurt a person Vivienne cared about, they couldn’t just hand their life over to the Grim
Reaper without her consent.
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His phone rang then, and he glanced at the caller ID before saying, “Vivienne, it’s Draven.”
“Hand it over.”
Matthew passed the phone to her.
Vivienne answered. Draven’s voice, cool yet tinged with anger, came through, “Young Master,
there’s been trouble!”
“What has the Abernathy family done now?” Vivienne didn’t need to guess; she knew Gavin must
have stirred up more trouble.
Anna, having calmed Kaitlyn, joined Draven, “Ms. Vivienne, Gavin had people dig up Mrs. Littleton’s
parents’ graves. They’ve taken the ashes and are threatening that if we don’t hand over the secret
recipe within three days, they’ll scatter her parents’ ashes to the winds!”
Vivienne’s grip on the phone tightened as she inhaled deeply. “How is Kaitlyn holding up?”
Anna looked at the figure shivering on the couch, her expression bordering on hysterical, and shook
her head. “Not well. She’s been muttering about running out of time. She’s probably been triggered
by the Abernathys. Ms. Vivienne, what do we do now?”
In the darkness, a cold light flickered in Vivienne’s eyes. “Stay at the villa. We’ll be right back.”
After a pause, remembering Holly in the car, she added, “Have Brody prepare a secure room in the
lab. I need to put someone in there.”
Anna acknowledged, “Alright.”
“What’s wrong?” Percival’s voice was muffled against her, his head still buried in her abdomen,
which suddenly tensed, the muscles quivering slightly.
Vivienne set her phone down with deliberate slowness, her voice tinged with disbelief. “Gavin dug
up Kaitlyn’s folks’ graves, threatening to scatter their ashes if the family secret isn’t handed over.”
“Damn! That’s downright diabolical!”
Leopold, who was driving, couldn’t hold back his outrage. “Is Gavin even human? Back in the day,
he and those other ancient warrior lineages wreaked havoc, leaving nothing but ruin in their wake.
And now, for some mythical recipe, he’s stooping so low as to desecrate someone’s parents’
remains?”
Matthew furrowed his brows. “The Abernathys sure play the lapdog well, don’t they? Have they no
fear of karma?”
“If they feared karma, they wouldn’t be colluding with the Grimshaws.” Percival rose from where he
sat beside Vivienne. Rubbing his temples, he continued with disgust, “The Abernathys are a
cesspool of vile deeds, and Gavin is the foulest creature lurking within.”
“This time, it looks like the Grimshaws have really given them an ultimatum.” Percival’s analysis was
calm, his eyes hiding all the negativity. “They’re nothing but opportunistic trash!”
Vivienne’s gentle hands began to soothe his tense back. “If they’re trash, then they belong in the
dumpster. But, we’ve got another score to settle before that. Not all Abernathys are Grimshaw’s
dogs.”
Percival blinked in surprise. “You mean Victoria?”
Leopold was astonished. “You can’t be serious, Vivienne. Hasn’t Victoria always been her daddy’s
little girl, doing all sorts of dirty work against the Littletons? You told me she forced Kaitlyn into
donating blood for their twisted purposes.”
Vivienne replied, her tone contemplative, “I can’t be sure why she did what she did, but I’ve got a
hunch she’s not the villain here.”
She recounted the episode where Victoria was supposed to have kidnapped Kaitlyn but ended up
dropping her off at the Rivenwood Shopping Center instead.
Matthew chuckled skeptically. “So, what you’re saying is, all those things she’s done might’ve been
an act due to circumstances beyond her control?”
Leopold jumped in, “You don’t think it’s got something to do with Percival’s aunt, do you?”
