The Flower That Grew from Ashes novel Chapter 128

On the very same night Annelise's flight soared into the sky, the Lehman Estate was in total ruins.

The aftermath of the absurd wedding remained completely untouched.

The white daisies across the floor had been trampled beyond recognition, and the air was filled with the sweet, sickeningly thick smell of rotting flowers.

All the lights in the banquet hall were still on, illuminating rows of empty, messy tables.

The staff had been terrified into absolute silence, hiding in their rooms or the servants' quarters, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

The entire Lehman estate felt like a massive, ornate tomb.

Lizzie had been taken by ambulance straight to the secure psychiatric ward at Cresthaven General Hospital.

Even in the ambulance, she had suffered severe hallucinations and violent outbursts due to extreme overstimulation, repeatedly screaming three names over and over.

"Elias..."

"Clarissa..."

"Annelise..."

But the tone in which she screamed those names was entirely different from a few hours ago.

It was a chaotic babble filled with fear, anger, and absolute despair.

The doctors were forced to inject her with a heavy dose of sedatives before she finally passed out into a deep sleep.

Barnum Lehman finished the hospital paperwork but didn't leave.

He sat entirely alone on the cold plastic bench in the psych ward corridor, staying there all night.

No one knew what the Lehman patriarch, having just suffered the emotional loss of a son while facing the imminent collapse of his business empire, was thinking about that night.

Clarissa Sherwood was ultimately "invited" to leave the Lehman Estate.

Elias Lehman had given the order himself.

He didn't waste any extra, humiliating words on her.

He simply stood on the cold front steps of the estate, looking down at his wife in name only, his voice as calm as a frozen pool of dead water.

"Our marriage has long been dead in everything but name."

"I'll have my lawyer contact you with the divorce papers ASAP."

"As for the child..."

His gaze landed on the sleeping child in Clarissa's arms for a second, totally devoid of emotion.

"He's not mine. I have no obligation to provide for him."

With that, he turned and walked back into the golden cage that would never welcome her again.

Holding Manuel, Clarissa stood alone in the biting cold wind outside the gates for a long time, still wearing the wedding dress whose original color was now indistinguishable.

She wanted to call a car, but when she reached into her pockets, she realized her phone and wallet were still inside the "bride's" dressing room.

And every single Lehman driver, having received a call from Felix, had all "conveniently" clocked out half an hour ago.

She had been thoroughly and completely abandoned.

Hackett Lehman spent the entire night in the second-floor bedroom he had shared with Annelise for four years.

He didn't turn on the lights.

He just sat alone, perfectly still, on the massive bed they had slept in for years.

Moonlight poured in through the uncurtained floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a cold, pale glow on the floor.

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