Chapter 21
Maximo’s words had barely left his lips before a figure barged through the two bodyguards and grabbed him by the collar. The fists came down with the force of a jackhammer, brutally pummeling his face.
Maximo was defenseless, tasting blood from the vicious attack. “Ugh—”
“Mr. Owens, if you keep this up, you could kill him,” Timothy Clark could only plead softly for his boss, afraid to intervene as he dropped to his knees with a thud.
Vivian Owens held onto Maximo’s shirt, her eyes cold as she glared at his swollen face. “Maximo Myers, you had this coming!”
Maximo’s vision was fading, his head drooping. Yet he still sought her gaze, a crazed grin of renewed hope pulling at his lips.
“Arlette, I don’t blame you for faking your death and leaving, nor for teaming up with my enemies.” He insisted, “That nut job, Winnie, I’ve had her locked away in a mental institution. She won’t bother us anymore.”
“Arlette, I choose you now. Please, come back. You’re my wife.”
“Thud—” Vivian delivered another blow that nearly crushed Maximo’s eye socket. “She is not your wife; she’s my sister, Vivian Owens!”
“You want my wife, Vivian!” Maximo spat back, “Arlette isn’t your real sister! There’s no blood relation! You care so much for her; dare you say you’ve never thought of her as more than a sister?”
Maximo saw the mocking smile on her lips and felt powerless to refute her accusations with certainty.
Indeed, he had always insisted he thought of Winnie as a true sister, ignoring the fact that they weren’t biologically related. His lack of boundaries had given Winnie false hope and harmed Arlette, ultimately leading to tragedy.
That evening, Arlette helped Mr. Owens, the patriarch, to his room. The elder, afflicted with Alzheimer’s, was consumed by his memories and didn’t recognize Vivian, only responding to what “Rose” said to him.
After tucking him in snugly, Arlette quietly exited the room, still hearing his soft murmurs.
“Rose, Grandpa is…”
“Rose…”
Arlette gently closed the door, noticing Vivian standing on the terrace nearby. In the frost-like moonlight, his shadow stretched far and long, surrounded by the glittering city lights, yet somehow filled with a lonely melancholy.
Arlette joined him, hesitating before breaking the silence. “Mr. Owens, is your conflict with Maximo because of Miss Owens?”
“He never mentioned her to me before,” she added.
Vivian’s gaze was fixed in the distance, on a family of three enveloped in warm, golden lights. His throat constricted as he began to speak, “When I was six, my mother left behind a divorce agreement and took my three-year-old sister far away.”
“For years, there was no word.”
“When I finally learned where my mother and sister were, they were already… gone.”
His voice trembled as he spoke those final words.
Arlette listened quietly, her expression softening with empathy.
“Mother died shortly after leaving for abroad,” Vivian continued, “and my sister ended up in an orphanage. She looked so much like our mother, and she was so strong, but…”
Arlette placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as Vivian’s tears began to fall uncontrollably.
“It was Winnie,” he croaked. “She saw Maximo as her own and systematically eliminated every woman close to him.”
“Gossip! Isolation! Bullying!”
“My sister was so gifted, but she had no one…” Vivian’s voice was raw, as if scraped by sandpaper. “She had no family, no support, and was driven to her death.”
Arlette’s eyelashes fluttered, aware that many years had passed since Viviana had died. Yet Winnie had, even as a teenager, developed an obsessive possessiveness toward her adoptive brother, leading to tragedy.
Viviana should have been the Owens family’s cherished daughter, the little princess everyone adored.
Her grandfather and brother had loved her dearly and searched tirelessly for her.
Her young life had tragically been cut short forever.
“Our parents’ marriage fell apart because of a childhood acquaintance’s interference,” Vivian continued, “He loved my mother deeply but couldn’t manage the misunderstandings between her and his childhood friend.”
“After mother and sister left, he finally saw the truth.