Chapter 231

Nolan didn't spare Lainey another look.

Instead, he gave Erick a faint nod, who immediately caught the signal and lifted the small remote in his hand and pressed it.

With a faint whir, a white screen unrolled at the front- of the hall, and the projector blinked to life. Soon enough, a video appeared, clear for everyone to see.

It showed a hospital room, where Lainey was holding a woman by the hair and slashing her face again and again with a dagger.

Her crazed grin and twisted expression made her look nothing like the refined socialite everyone thought she was.

Watching the scene, gasps exploded through the mourners.

"Is that Lainey?"

"Did she actually kill someone?"

Lainey's eyes locked on the screen, her blood running cold.

No,this couldn't be real.

Where did this come from?

Who fiImed it?

Her mind screamed denial, but her lips faltered before she shrieked, "No! No, this is fake! It's a setup!Someone used Al to create this!"

Before the murmurs could settle, another voice boomed across the hall.

"And what about the fire in my house?" Everyone froze.

The voice belonged to Jeff. The man who was supposed to be dead walked through the doors, calm and commanding.

As the guests instinctively stepped back, a path opened wide.

And down that path came not just Jeff, but Hilda... alive, radiant despite everything. And behind them was Eleanor.

The three of them, alive and breathing, walked straight into the hall.

The room exploded with disbelief. How? The fire had consumed everything. How could they have possibly survived?

Lainey's head spun, and her mouth worked faster than her brain. Before she could stop herself,she blurted,"Dad... Mom...you're supposed to be dead!"

The words dropped like a bomb in the hall.

Her face drained instantly when she realized what had just slipped out.

Scrambling to cover her tracks, she shot a finger at Eleanor and shrieked like a madwoman, "This is all your doing!"

Then, as if to erase her blunder, she stumbled forward and clutched Jeff's hand with a pitiful expression."Dad,thank heavens you're alright."

But Jeff recoiled instantly and yanked his hand away as if her touch burned. The look he shot her was pure disgust. "You really wanted me and Hilda gone, didn't you? So you could snatch everything we worked for!"

"Dad, what? No,what are you even saying?" Lainey stuttered, trying to keep her composure.

Jeff gave a cruel laugh, his voice cold and sharp. "Lainey Gilbert, your acting's gone on long enough. It's pathetic." =

Right then, Hilda, her eyes blazing with anger, came forward. She pulled out a stack of papers from her bag and flung them at Lainey. They smacked her square in the face.

"DNA results," Hilda spat. "They prove you're not our daughter. Eleanor is. Always was."

Her chest heaved as she glared at Lainey. "And I heard you on the phone with the bastard who set our house on fire."

Eleanor moved up beside her, her tone cutting and cold. "Horace from the Fist Guild already spilled it all. He admitted you paid him to mess with the DNA reports. Lainey, you've run out of excuses. Everything's out in the open now."

The hall broke out in shocked whispers.

"She's been lying this,whole time?"

"She didn't just pretend to bé Jeff's daughter, she actually tried to burn them alive. What kind of monster does that?"

"Exactly. If Jeff and his wife had really died, Lainey would've gained everything. The way she plotted it all out is terrifying."

"And that video earlier... she killed someone! She's insane!"

Lainey's ears buzzed as the room closed in around her.

Her carefully built life, being Nolan's wife, inheriting the Bentons' wealth, being envied by everyone-it was all slipping through her fingers.

And in her mind, one name burned brighter than anything else. Eleanor.

That bitch had ruined everything.

In that moment, her grip on reality snapped.

Her eyes went bloodshot, her face contorted with madness. She let out a wild, piercing scream and charged straight at Eleanor with a knife.

"If I can't have it, neither can you! Eleanor, I'll end you right here!" Eleanor's gaze hardened.

She braced herself, ready to move, but before she could react, a figure darted in front of her, shielding her completely.

It was Hilda.

Eleanor froze, horror ripping through her chest. Her cry tore out, raw and desperate."No!"