Chapter 267

"No," Henry replied evenly.

"Are you absolutely sure?" Evelyn pressed, searching her son's face for any hint of deception.

"No," Henry repeated, his expression unreadable.

Evelyn exhaled, forcing herself to drop the matter. If she kept questioning them, Lily and Henry might think she doubted their honesty.

Henry took Lily's hand and led her to their bedroom to put away their school bags.

Once the door closed behind them, Lily whispered, "Henry, why did we lie? We shouldn't lie to Mom."

Lily had only kept quiet because Evelyn hadn't known—but now that she was asking directly, guilt prickled at her conscience.

"Dominic is probably losing his mind right now, realizing that box is missing," Henry said coolly. "If we give it back now, he’ll just punish us for taking it. Let him sweat a little longer."

"Oh... Okay!" Lily agreed. Between their terrible father and her brother, she would always choose her brother.

They had originally hidden the box under Henry's bed, but after discovering its contents—a single, crucial piece of paper—they had moved it. Two days ago, they buried it beneath the old oak tree in the backyard.

Good thing they did, or it would have been found by now.

"But what if Dominic gets so worried he gets sick?" Lily fretted. "He’s still our dad!"

"Don’t worry," Henry said flatly. "People like him don’t break that easily."

Lily finally relaxed.

After dinner, Evelyn sent Dominic a message: (I asked the kids. They said they didn’t take the box.)

She assumed he was resting, but he replied immediately: (Understood.)

She typed back: (You’re still awake?)

When Dominic read it, he didn’t respond. He didn’t know how to. It had been thirty-six hours since he’d last slept, and exhaustion was gnawing at his sanity.

In the depths of his despair, a bitter thought surfaced: So what if someone exposes what’s in that box? I’ll lose money. Friends will abandon me. And as for love… I’ve already lost that. I’ve made enough to last a lifetime. And friends? They were never real anyway. At least Sophia won’t leave me.

Resigned to the worst, Dominic finally surrendered to exhaustion and fell asleep.

Evelyn waited for his reply, but three days passed with nothing.

Then, during a call with Sophie, she got the news.

"Did you hear? Dominic’s been hospitalized! No one knows why, but he’s refusing to eat. Can you believe it? A man like him, starving himself!" Sophie exclaimed.

Evelyn shot to her feet, her pulse spiking.

No wonder she’d felt uneasy these past few days. She hadn’t realized that box meant so much to him.

I shouldn’t have believed him when he said it wasn’t a big deal. If it wasn’t, he wouldn’t have stayed up all night searching for it.

"How is he now?" Evelyn moved toward the door but stopped short.

"He’s on an IV drip," Sophie said. "Adrian just got back from the hospital. Said Zoe’s been taking care of him. Evelyn, do you want to go see him?"

She did want to. But with Zoe already there, what was the point? Even if she went, Zoe would never let her near him.