Rebirth Into My Second Chance novel Chapter 207

I stood behind Helen, barely recognizing the man Richard had become.

I couldn't help but ask, “Richard, so you knew all along that the child was Max's, and it was you who lured me to that infamous bar, using me to frame Max. You thought if Max had an illegitimate child, his family would turn against him, right? And you hoped to drive a wedge between Claude and me, making him despise and hate me. This whole elaborate scheme, it was all your doing, wasn't it?”

I wanted to ask him if his betrayal, spanning over two lifetimes, was genuine.

But then I thought, if I revealed my rebirth to him, would he drag me to a psychiatric hospital, curious if there was something wrong with my brain?

"Claire, I admit I planned all of it," Richard said, no longer bothering to hide the truth.

Tears blurred my vision as I said, “So, you never genuinely saw me as your sister. Your kindness was just a ploy to harm me, to gain my trust, making it easier for you to manipulate me without ever raising my suspicion.”

My heart felt like it was tearing apart at that moment.

Hearing his admission, all I wanted was to collect my parents' ashes and get as far away from him as possible: “Give me my parents' ashes. I'll forgive everything you've done to me, but there's no future for us.”

Richard, without further argument, hung his head low and slouched, signaling his aide to hand over my parents' ashes.

The aide, while passing the urn to me, muttered, “These were hard-won from the Hilton family elders by our young master…”

Before he could finish, Richard sharply cut him off, “Enough!”

Holding the urn, regardless of how Richard obtained my parents' ashes, it marked the end of any relationship we had.

“Take care, Richard.”

As we drove towards the beach, I rolled down the window, letting the summer breeze caress my face and lift my hair, as if my parents were softly comforting me.

Standing atop a cliff overlooking the sea, Max joined me, taking one of the urns from my hands, “You made the same choice as me.”

I turned to him, puzzled, “The same choice?”

He gazed out at the vast expanse of water and said, "Yes. The year my mother passed, I was on the opposite shore, releasing her ashes into the sea. She loved freedom, and the sea could carry her to distant places."

The year his mother died, Max must have been just a teenager, likely enduring a pain even greater than mine at the moment.

Silently, we scattered the ashes into the sea, and it felt as if a weight had been lifted from our hearts.