Chapter 161: Divorce Sebastian Lancaster

Chapter 161: Chapter 161: Divorce Sebastian Lancaster

Upstairs, Asher had hidden himself away at some point. When I spotted him, he was secretly chuckling about something. But the moment he saw me looking, his smiling eyes instantly turned pitiful. "Cece... it hurts. I can’t sleep."

What could I do? With a sigh, I went upstairs to comfort him. ’I must owe him from a past life or something.’

"Cece... rub it better." Lying on the bed, Asher held out his arm for me.

My mind was elsewhere, but I reached out and started rubbing his arm.

’Master Lancaster won’t let this go. First Asher got hurt, then I did, and not long after, the Lancaster patriarch passed away. Master Lancaster is just too ruthless...’

"Cece, this hurts too," Asher said, pointing to his chest.

I was preoccupied, so I just rubbed wherever he said it hurt.

’His pecs are surprisingly firm. Where did he work out all those years he was homeless? Must be good genes. This is so unfair to guys who practically live at the gym.’

"Cece, my stomach hurts too." Asher watched me, clearly pushing his luck.

I was trying to figure out how to retaliate against Master Lancaster, since he had sent me so many of these "grand gifts" in a row.

Asher took my hand and placed it on his stomach, so I gave it a rub.

’Wow, felt pretty good. The muscle definition was incredible.’

But I was in no mood to appreciate it right now. ’Master Lancaster has connected with Victor Quinn. That’s the biggest headache of all.’

’Julian Fletcher probably made the introduction. That man is incapable of doing a single decent thing.’

The more I thought about it, the angrier I became.

’He had Asher beaten up this badly...’

’What good could possibly come from Master Lancaster getting involved with someone like Victor Quinn?’

I couldn’t remember what exactly Victor Quinn had done to me. He was part of my forgotten memories, and it seemed I was terrified of him.

"Cece, this hurts too..." Asher took my hand and guided it further down.

I was propping my head up with one hand, lost in thought, when he moved my other hand...

"..." It took me a second to realize what was happening, and I instinctively swatted at him.

I saw Asher curl up pitifully, clutching his lower abdomen in pain.

"Cece, you’re murdering your own husband."

My ears burned red. I grabbed his ear and threatened, "Shut up."

Asher obediently shut his mouth. He rolled onto his stomach and buried his face in the soft pillow, looking as if he were trying to suffocate himself.

I sighed in resignation and ruffled his hair. "Asher... what are you going to do about the old master’s funeral? It has to be a grand affair, the bigger the better. Get all the media to come. You have to cry. You have to play the part of the grieving, filial grandson."

I spoke in a low voice, knowing this would be difficult for him.

The old master hadn’t been good to Asher; it was more like cruelty and abuse.

They had completely ignored Asher’s existence, leaving him in an orphanage even though they knew he was alive. Only after discovering he was a genius did they consider bringing him back to the Lancaster family to add to their prestige.

But when he "went mad" and the halo of genius faded, they cast him aside without a second thought. They even... wanted to completely destroy him, this supposed stain on their family.

The depths of human evil were on full display with the Lancaster family.

"The funeral... it can’t happen," Asher said, his voice low and muffled by the pillow.

Perhaps because of his injured throat, his voice was cold and laced with hatred.

"Can’t happen?" I paused. Not holding the funeral was out of the question.

Master Lancaster was already taking advantage of this incident to stir up publicity.

He was hyping himself up as the current head of the Lancaster family, arguing that the Lancaster Group should be under his control.

KNOCK KNOCK. A sound came from the door, followed by a dog barking.

I knew a stranger must have arrived.

’But... no one should know that Asher lives here.’

"Stella." I opened the bedroom door. It was the deaf-mute man. He used sign language and poorly articulated words to tell me Stella was back.

I looked at him in pleasant surprise and headed downstairs.

’Zeke Shaw took Stella to the vet, so she must be out of danger.’

"This dog has a strong will to live, just like her owner." Zeke Shaw was in his traffic police uniform. He must have just gotten off work and brought Stella by on his way home. "She’s a smart dog. She ought to be a K-9."

I squatted down and looked at Stella, her abdomen still wrapped in gauze. I held out my arms, and the large German shepherd happily wagged her tail and ran to me, leaping into my embrace.

In that instant, images from my childhood flooded my mind.

"Shaun, bite him!"

"Shaun, go!"

"Shaun, grab it!"

In my memories, it seemed I had done a lot of terrible things with Shaun.

But for now, I couldn’t remember the details.

The only thing I could remember was frequently using Shaun to threaten and intimidate a young Julian Fletcher.

’Remembering that... I can sort of understand why Julian Fletcher detests me, why he thinks I’m rotten to the core. But he should just purely hate me, right? So why did he put on this act of being a deeply devoted lover after I died?’

’Is he a masochist? I set my dog on him as a kid, and now he insists on playing the part of a devoted lover, lying to me that he was the one I loved.’

’The guy’s definitely got issues.’

"Is Asher okay?" Zeke Shaw asked, squatting beside me and stroking Stella’s head.

Stella seemed able to tell good people from bad; she was quite gentle with Zeke Shaw, too.

"He’s injured. There’s barely a spot on him that isn’t bruised. He’s lying down in bed," I said quietly.

"Erin Whittaker didn’t die. Ash... confessed. The killer has suddenly gone quiet lately and hasn’t made another appearance. I don’t know if this means the serial killer case is over. I hope Ash really was the mastermind. With him dead, it would all be finished," Zeke Shaw said in a low voice.

Based on how things have been, the killer does seem to have vanished without a trace, as if when Ash died, the murderer disappeared along with him.

"Also," Zeke Shaw’s voice dropped, "the police discovered that the DNA found on the third female victim from her assault matches the DNA of the first male victim."

A victim became a killer, and that killer ultimately became a victim.

The perfection of this string of serial killings was that the murderer was hidden among the victims. You could never guess who the next killer would be.

"I’ve heard of murder-swapping, where strangers kill for each other, but I’ve never heard of a serial murder case where the killers also become victims." ’This is obviously an organized, premeditated, and even disciplined chain of killings...’

"If no new victims turn up, it’s highly likely that Ash will be classified as the final killer. But I just feel... things aren’t that simple." Zeke Shaw’s intuition was as sharp as ever.

Because I also knew things weren’t that simple.

"The person who killed... Cecilia Caldwell... hasn’t been found yet," I said, looking at Zeke Shaw. "Is it possible they’re also a future victim? Take Erin Whittaker, for example. She was responsible for luring Cecilia Caldwell to the Street Alley, and then the next person in the chain made their move. She is definitely hiding secrets."

I had always felt there was more to Erin Whittaker than met the eye.

Zeke Shaw nodded. "That’s why, outside of my shifts, I’ve been staking her out."

"You need to be careful, too. The Lancaster family is a lion’s den." Zeke Shaw got to his feet and glanced upstairs. Asher was standing by the window.

He waved at Asher. Just as he was about to leave, Master Lancaster arrived.

’The man just won’t go away.’

And this time, he was with Jude Lynch.

"Silvia, now that the Lancaster patriarch is gone, you and Sebastian Lancaster..." Jude Lynch seemed terrified just saying Sebastian Lancaster’s name, but he gritted his teeth and forced the words out. "Should get a divorce."

I stared at Jude Lynch as if he were an idiot. "What? Did Noelle Lynch get bitten by a dog, and now the rabies has gotten to your brain?"

Jude Lynch’s face darkened. "You were deceived into this marriage in the first place. As your father, I have a responsibility to help you file for an annulment."