Chapter 247: The Weight of a Name
Seeing Lily refuse to admit it, Oscar said, “Fine. I’ll let everything else go. But I don’t accept Elsie’s identity. She’s not a daughter of the Saunders family, and she has no right to Yunice’s name. I’m giving you three days. If Elsie doesn’t cancel that ID, I’ll publish a statement in the newspaper explaining exactly how we switched the records back then.”
Smack. Lily’s handbag dropped to the floor. She was stunned. She lost control and shrieked, “Are you insane?! You and Owen were the ones who signed off on that identity change. If you go public with this, you’re telling all of Silverburgh that you and Owen tampered with government documents. That’s a crime—do you understand that?!”
Oscar said, “Exactly. That’s why I have to come clean. I was the one who made the mistake.”
Lily was practically unraveling. “Yunice is gone. Why won’t you let this go… Elsie only borrowed the name. It didn’t hurt you…”
Oscar said, “Even if Yunice is gone, she was still my sister. Elsie can act all she wants, but she’ll never be her. I’m just doing what I should’ve done from the beginning—getting justice for my sister. Is that so wrong?”
He looked at both Lily and Owen one last time before turning and heading upstairs.
Lily collapsed onto the sofa, sobbing harder than she ever had in her life. Her howls echoed loud enough that Oscar surely heard them from upstairs, but he never came down. Never softened. Never said a word.
When crying didn’t work, Lily couldn’t sit still anymore. Oscar wasn’t like Owen. He was stubborn, and he still resented her for leaving the family years ago. He wasn’t going to listen to her.
Lily wiped her tears and called Freya. It was one in the morning. Freya was jolted awake. Seeing Lily’s name flash on the screen, she sat up, already furious, but forced herself to answer. “Madam Lily, is something wrong?”
Lily was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. “Freya, I’m really sorry to call so late, but could you please let me talk to Carl for just a minute?”
Freya sighed and pressed her hand to her forehead, doing her best to keep it together. “Madam Lily, do you even know what time it is? What makes you think I can contact Mr. Carl right now?” She added coldly, “And by the way, Mr. Carl doesn’t belong to me. You don’t need my permission to see him, understood?”
She hung up immediately. Pulling up Lily’s number, Freya hovered over the block button. But in the end, she hesitated. She’d dealt with enough people to spot what was real and what wasn’t. Lily was either stupid—or doing this on purpose just to get under her skin. Freya could see right through her. But for Carl’s sake, she didn’t press block.
The next day, Yunice went back to Carl’s office. She didn’t have much else going on lately—aside from shadowing Wyatt in public, she spent most of her time learning company operations from Carl. Carl rarely wanted to do things himself. He usually had Victor guide her instead.
The two of them were quietly discussing a project when Carl’s desk phone rang. He picked up—and heard a string of soft, tearful sobs on the other end. The voice was pitiful and helpless. Even Yunice looked up from her paperwork, recognizing the sound immediately. It was Lily.
Carl looked at the receiver and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Lily choked out, “It’s nothing serious. I just had a fight with one of the kids… I really don’t know what to do anymore…” Then she paused before asking, “I didn’t bother you, did I?”
Carl said, “A fight? With which one—Oscar or Owen? What was it about?”
Lily said, “It was Oscar. He was misled by someone outside the family and now insists that Elsie cancel Yunice’s ID. I didn’t stop him. I understand that’s the right thing to do. But now he’s saying he’ll publish everything. That means telling the whole world how he and Owen altered her registration. Isn’t that the same as turning themselves in?”
She sobbed again. “If I had known it would end like this, I never would’ve let Elsie take on Yunice’s identity in the first place.”
Carl said, “I get it now. Both Oscar and Owen are brave enough to admit when they’ve made a mistake. You should be proud of them.”
Lily went quiet. She couldn’t tell if Carl was praising them or mocking her.
3:30 PM
go to prison. After all, hadn’t he helped hide the surveillance footage when Owen hit someone?
Lily cried harder. “If this gets out, all three of my children could be charged. Then I’ll be left all alone. I don’t know how to survive. I don’t understand anything. I can’t do anything. I’d rather die than face Will with this shame…”