Chapter 7

For the next few days, I stayed at the old manor.

Grandma’s birthday fell on a weekend, and the invited guests arrived early.

Grandma purposely kept me and Liam by her side.

Rain tried to approach Liam several times but was scolded by Grandma, making her angry enough to run upstairs to sulk alone.

Passing Grandma’s bedroom on the second floor, Rain saw the door was open and walked in.

Grandma had many valuable pieces of jewelry; some were just kept in her cabinets, as Rain had seen when she played there as a child.

With so many people here today, if one or two pieces went missing, Grandma wouldn’t know who took them.

And why should Grandma have been so rude to her earlier?

Rain grew angrier the more she thought about it and started rummaging frantically.

But instead of jewelry, she found a document first.

It was in the nightstand drawer.

*Share Transfer Agreement?*

Rain opened it, and her eyes instantly widened.

**Transferee: Harper Lennox.**

Grandma was transferring ten percent of her Lennox Group shares to *me*?

No wonder the old woman had said she had something to announce that day, promising she’d never let me suffer injustice.

Oh, she wanted to bind Harper and Liam tightly together with shares.

Rain gripped the agreement tightly, her teeth grinding with hatred.

Just then, a sharp reprimand suddenly came from behind her.

“What are you doing here?”

Rain gasped in fright. She turned to see Grandma rushing towards her, her face furious.

“Who gave you permission to rummage through my things?”

Grandma reached out and grabbed the agreement from Rain’s hand.

Rain, coveting those shares, subconsciously tightened her grip on the document.

Grandma pulled hard, but couldn’t wrench it free. Enraged, she let go and raised her hand to slap her.

“You beast! What do you think you’re doing?”

As the slap came, Rain reacted quickly, raising her hand to grab Grandma’s wrist.

Calling her a beast.

This old hag had never liked her.

It had been okay when she was little, but as she grew up, Grandma always kept an eye on her, telling her not to get too close to Liam.

With this old woman around, Rain never had an easy day.

Rain’s anger flared, and she violently flung Grandma’s hand away.

Grandma, being elderly, couldn’t withstand the force and fell heavily to the ground.

*Thump.*

Her head hit the floor with a dull thud. Grandma’s eyes immediately closed, and she fell silent.

Seeing this, Rain was also terrified.

She stood rooted to the spot, not daring to move. After waiting a long time and seeing no reaction from the person on the ground, she cautiously moved closer and knelt down, reaching a hand under Grandma’s nose.

No breath.

Dead?

Rain fell back onto the floor in fright.

Just then, the sound of high heels echoed in the hallway.

Her heart tightened. She glanced at the agreement in her hand, quickly folded it, tucked it into her pocket, and then got up.

“Grandma…!”

The moment I walked in, I saw Grandma lying on the ground. Terrified, I rushed over, but before I could reach her, Rain grabbed my arm.

“You actually pushed Grandma down! Are you even human?!”

Rain shrieked.

I had been so focused on Grandma on the ground that I hadn’t even noticed who was next to me. Now, I saw it was Rain.

“What are you talking about?!”

I shook off Rain, knelt down, and gently shook Grandma.

After calling her name a few times and realizing something was wrong, I quickly reached for Grandma’s nose.

At the same time, Rain ran out.

“Dad, Mom, Brother! It’s terrible! Something happened to Grandma!”

My fingertips rested beneath Grandma’s nose. After a few seconds, my heart sank to rock bottom.

But I refused to give up, frantically trying to open Grandma’s eyelids.

“Grandma, Grandma, don’t scare me…”

I collapsed onto the floor, clutching Grandma’s arm in disbelief.

Liam was the first to rush up, followed by everyone else.

Soon, guests crowded the second-floor hallway.

“What happened to Grandma?!”

Lost in shock and grief, I didn’t answer. Rain cried,

“I don’t know either. I was resting in the next room and heard an argument here. I ran over and saw Harper and Grandma struggling.”

“I heard Grandma tell Harper to prioritize the big picture, saying so many people were here today, and asking her not to make a scene. But Harper didn’t listen, yelling that Brother had wronged her, and she was going to ruin his reputation or something.”

“I wanted to go over and mediate, but before I could even reach them, Harper pushed Grandma to the ground.”

Rain’s tearful accusation made my head spin.

I couldn’t understand how someone could be so shameless.

Before I could even speak, Liam rushed over and roughly pulled me to my feet.

“Harper Lennox, are you going to cause trouble endlessly? What kind of day is today? Causing a scene with me is one thing, but pushing Grandma?! Are you even human?!”

He hadn’t even asked; he just believed Rain.

Grandma’s death had already shattered my heart. Now, I felt utterly frozen to the core.

Tears streamed down my face instantly, and I could no longer suppress the pain in my heart.

“You believe everything she says! You don’t care about me, fine, but you don’t care about Grandma either?!”

“One is your own grandmother, and the other is a sister with not a drop of your blood! Instead of investigating the truth and getting justice for Grandma, you blindly believe her lies?! I’m not human?! What about you?! You’re worse than an animal!”

The more I spoke, the more it hurt. My body trembled as I screamed.

I was a tearful mess, staring at Liam, and then I saw Rain, still looking smug, hiding behind him.

“Grandma was as foolish as me. She even begged me not to leave you, saying if I left, your precious sister would ruin you. She cared for you wholeheartedly, and what about you? All you cared about was sneaking off to hotels with your precious sister!”

The words “sneaking off” silenced the noisy crowd and flushed Liam’s face scarlet.

“You—what nonsense are you talking about?!”

“Nonsense? Did I make it up? You two begged me to perform the procedure to remove the baby she was carrying! What nonsense am I talking about?!”

“You…”

Liam was enraged. He just wanted this woman, who was humiliating him, to shut up, so he slapped me.

*Slap!* The sound cut off my accusations.

My cheek burned. A dampness seeped from the corner of my mouth. I touched it with my finger—blood.