Chapter 383

Caden visited Jerald the next day, a contract in hand. He grasped Jerald's limp hand, pressing it onto the paper, leaving a clear red fingerprint. Jerald trembled, glaring at him. Caden glanced at the mark.

“You always intended the Yates family business for your younger son,” Caden said. “But now he’s in prison, the responsibility falls to me, his older brother.”

Jerald’s body shook with rage. His eyes widened as he muttered through clenched teeth, “The car accident… the car accident…”

Caden responded coldly, “The accident? Fate’s punishment for a lifetime of sins, Dad.”

Jerald refused to believe him, staring with seething hatred. Caden’s cold smile remained. “I spoke with the doctor. You’ll never recover. You’ll be a lifeless shell, confined to bed forever.” He paused. “But don’t worry, you’ve at least twenty years left. I even arranged for Shelia, your favorite nurse, to be released. Enjoy.”

His smile widened, growing sinister. Jerald felt a chilling fear.

Caden left. Shelia entered soon after. Weeks of medication had ravaged her mind. She stood by the bed, drooling, her eyes glazed. Though her intellect was reduced to that of a child, she understood simple commands. Caden had given her one instruction: “Take good care of him.”

She giggled, spotting a fruit knife on the table. She eagerly grabbed it. “Slice the apple. I’m gonna slice the apple…” she chanted, seizing Jerald’s trembling hand and beginning to slice through his fingers, one by one. “Slice the apple…”

As Caden walked from the hospital, the morning light bathed him. He shielded his eyes, and the sunlight felt like his mother’s gentle touch.

In the car, he handed the equity transfer papers to Hank. “Announce the Yates Group’s bankruptcy when the time is right.”

“What about their assets?” Hank asked.

“Give it all away,” Caden replied. Everything connected to Jerald disgusted him. He wanted it gone.

Caden gazed out the window, the sunlight reflecting on his face, though his expression remained blank. Hank, noticing his demeanor in the rearview mirror, drove toward Alicia’s gallery, hoping to lift his spirits. But Alicia was happily conversing with another man.

Caden’s eyes narrowed, his mood darkening. Had Blake gotten close to Alicia already? Blake opened the car door for her, seating her beside him.

Anticipating Caden’s wrath, Hank quietly asked, “Mr. Ward, do you know that man?”

Blake slowly drove away. Caden’s gaze remained fixed on his car. Without answering, he ordered, “Follow them.”

Hank was startled. Was he to discreetly trail them, or… something else?