Chapter 73

CHRISTIAN "What?" I was quite shocked. I hadn't anticipated receiving such news so early in the morning. “Ye-es…” My mother was crying on the phone, her voice trembling as she explained, “sh-she had ta-aken a large qu-antity of sle-eping pills.” “Christian, i-it's all my fa-ault.” She sobbed. "Mom, calm down," I said, hearing the news. I was not sympathetic at all; instead, annoyance crawled within me. That woman attempted to harm Veronica and my children, and when she was unsuccessful, now she started playing a new trick, wasn't she? She wasn't the one to die, but this was all her plan to take attention, and my mother appears to have been ensnared in a fraudulent scheme or possibly complicit in it. Upon feeling a gentle touch on my arm, I observed Veronica's concerned gaze, her expression questioning. Her presence eased my mood, prompting me to take her hand. She blinked, staring at our hands, but didn't pull away, which made me smile inside. "Christian..." Mom's voice came from the o