Chapter 492

“He pressed her shoulder down, forcing her to stay. Hannah groaned in pain, feeling her shoulder about to shatter under his grip. She hadn’t expected such strength from Brandon. Helpless, she looked at Atlas.

Atlas stood at the door, looking lost in thought. Their eyes met briefly before he turned and strode away.

“Atlas!” Hannah panicked. If Atlas ignored her too, she feared no one would rescue her. She was once the respected Mrs. Bennen. Now, she was humiliated by an old man. Even her children had abandoned her.

“If you don’t want to die, shut your mouth,” Brandon said coldly, before kicking her harshly.

Hannah fell to the ground, glaring at him venomously but unable to fight back. The howling wind the previous night had left her shaken. She wanted to escape but felt helpless and abandoned. All her former friends had severed ties with her; even her son was ignoring her. Her glamorous life had crumbled overnight, leaving her trapped in a living hell. “What do you want?” Hannah asked, her face contorted with anger. She had just witnessed an exchange of glances between Windsor and Brandon and suspected they knew each other.

“All of you dead,” Brandon whispered, lowering his head and bringing his foul-smelling mouth close to her ear.

Hannah was furious. Her hands gripped the carpet tightly; her scalp felt as if it were being ripped off.

In the hallway, Caspian stood lighting a cigarette. He took a drag and listened to the curses echoing from within, a self-deprecating smile spreading across his face.

“Caspian!” Atlas ran towards him, panic in his expression as he glanced nervously around, as if the house itself were haunted. “The old man we just saw in Mom’s room seems to be the same one from the village where we filmed that variety show,” Atlas said, as if he had discovered a secret. He felt a strange sensation in his heart the moment he saw Brandon’s face. “What’s more, I feel like Dad knows him.”

Caspian took a long drag from his cigarette, slowly exhaling a plume of smoke, then leaned against the railing. He turned his head and gave Atlas a helpless look.

“Caspian, what are you smiling about?” Atlas was confused.

Caspian stared at the flickering cigarette flame and said slowly, “Last night, the apartment where Henry was staying suddenly had a water and electrical leak. It nearly caused a fatal accident. He then added: My newly purchased property was declared an illegal construction, forcibly seized, and demolished overnight. I had someone investigate. It turns out someone is pushing for this behind the scenes. They got my property’s location reclassified as a restricted area.”

Atlas was stunned, feeling like his brain couldn’t keep up. Caspian continued, “Someone is pulling the strings, cornering us until we have no choice but to move back to Bennett Villa. In the entire Crownridge, who would do such a thing?”

Atlas’s confidence faltered as he nervously asked, “Could it be the Stewart family?”

Caspian replied, “I don’t know. But what I do know is that offering Clay’s was a mistake. Look, even Mom is being targeted.”

(The final sentence fragment is unintelligible and needs further context to be corrected.)