Chapter 137: The One Who Left

Everyone remained silent after Liliana’s conversation about CyberFront.

The possibility that Arthur Jones had deliberately approached them had changed the atmosphere in the room. No one knew what to say. Everyone simply stared at the documents scattered across the table.

Then Leo finally broke the silence.

"I was just wondering. When you said some of your relatives left after the bankruptcy..."

He looked toward Nathan and Emily.

"Where are they now?"

Leo leaned back in his chair.

"I’m sure they already knew about your success."

Nathan exchanged a glance with Emily.

"Yeah."

"I’m pretty sure they knew."

He looked at Emily.

"Right?"

Emily nodded slowly.

"Definitely."

The room became quiet again.

Liliana looked between them.

"You never told me much about the relatives who left. I have no idea who they are."

Nathan sighed.

"There’s a reason."

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"One of the relatives who left after Sterling Corporation collapsed..."

"...was our mother."

Liliana’s expression changed.

"Aunt Caroline?"

Nathan nodded.

"Yes."

Emily looked down. "Our mother loved money."

"More than anything." Nathan continued. "Even when Uncle Edward was still alive, Dad worked constantly. He never stopped. He’d work early mornings, late nights, weekends. Everything he earned went toward the family."

Emily nodded.

"But Uncle Edward helped us too. He never let us struggle. He paid for our education. He also helped with household expenses. He made sure we had everything we needed."

Nathan smiled bitterly.

"But all of Uncle Edward’s help was managed by our mother."

Liliana frowned. "What do you mean?"

"She controlled everything."

Nathan’s expression hardened.

"The allowance, investment, properties Uncle Edward helped us acquire. She treated his generosity like an endless bank account."

Emily quietly added, "She was obsessed with maintaining the lifestyle. She flaunted her designer clothes. She would spend a lot on expensive vacations. Dad drove an old Mercedes while she owned three luxury cars."

They heard Nathan let out a sad chuckle. "Despite everything, she always wanted more."

Leo looked uncomfortable.

"And your father?"

"He tolerated it."

Nathan answered.

"He loved her. He believed eventually she’d understand that money wasn’t everything."

Emily gave a humorless laugh.

"She never did."

Liliana remained silent. She had always known that her family had suffered after the corporation collapsed. But she hadn’t realized how many family relationships had fractured.

"What happened when my parents died?"

Emily’s expression immediately changed.

"That’s the part I remember most."

She looked toward the photograph of Edward and Vanessa.

"When Uncle Edward and Aunt Vanessa died, Mom cried."

Liliana lowered her gaze.

Emily swallowed.

"But..."

"It wasn’t the kind of crying you’d expect."

Nathan quietly nodded.

"She kept asking about the company."

Emily continued.

"She wanted to know what would happen to the properties. To the investments. And the money. She kept asking whether Sterling Corporation would survive."

Liliana’s eyes widened.

"She didn’t..."

Emily shook her head.

"She barely talked about you. Even though you had just lost both parents."

Nathan’s voice became quiet.

"I remember being angry. I was young, but I understood."

Emily’s eyes filled with tears.

"You were four. You’d lost your parents. Grandma Lucia was devastated. But our mother was more worried about what Uncle Edward’s death meant financially."

The room fell silent.

Lucia closed her eyes. She had heard these words before. But hearing them again still hurt.

"I never wanted the children to know everything."

Lucia said softly.

"They deserved to remember their mother with something good."

Nathan looked toward his grandmother.

"Grandma, you protected us."

Lucia smiled sadly.

"I protected all of you."

Nathan took a deep breath before speaking again.

"When Sterling Corporation finally collapsed, everything changed. The funding stopped."

Nathan explained.

"Uncle Edward was gone. And everything he gave us was taken. There was no one left to support the lifestyle our mother had become accustomed to."

"She couldn’t accept it."

Emily nodded.

"She became angry at Dad. Sometimes at Grandma and the entire Sterling family. And eventually, she left."

Liliana’s expression softened.

"She abandoned you?"

Nathan nodded.

"Yes."

"She left us."

Emily looked down at her hands.

"She didn’t even say goodbye properly. She just packed her things. She told us she needed a better life."

Nathan’s jaw tightened.

"She chose money over us."

Nobody spoke.

Then Emily quietly said, "I hated her for it."

Nathan looked at his sister.

"I still do."

Emily nodded.

"I know people say you shouldn’t hate your parents. But, she wasn’t a good mother. Not to us."

Liliana reached across the table and gently touched Emily’s hand.

Emily smiled faintly.

"Don’t feel sorry for us. Grandma saved us."

Lucia immediately shook her head.

"I didn’t save you. You were my grandchildren. There was never a question."

Lucia remembered how the siblings suffered when Caroline left.

"After their mother left, Nathan and Emily remained with their father for some time." Lucia continued. "But Robert eventually struggled to maintain everything alone. He continued working. He never complains. He tried everything to give his children what he could."

Lucia smiled. "And when the opportunity came, I brought them back to the Sterling ancestral house.

"That’s why we’re the only family who stayed at the old house." Nathan explained.

"Grandma gave us a home. She raised us. She made sure we went to school. She never let us feel abandoned."

Emily smiled at Lucia.

"That’s why the house isn’t just an old family property to us. It’s our home."

Lucia reached for both their hands. "And it always will be."

Liliana smiled through the sadness.

"I never realized..."

Nathan looked at her.

"What?"

"That the reason you stayed there was because Grandma raised you after your mother left."

Emily nodded.

"And because of you."

Liliana blinked.

"Me?"

Nathan smiled.

"After your parents died, Grandma brought you home. You were the cousin everyone protected. You were always quiet. Just always reading. And always follow Grandma around."

Emily laughed softly.

"And you used to make us snacks."

Liliana smiled.

"I don’t remember that."

"You were four."

"Of course you don’t."

Everyone laughed quietly.

Emily continued. "When Uncle Matthew took you to Aurelia City to study, Grandma said that we should welcome you every time you come home."

"So, you were waiting for me?" Liliana asked.

Nathan nodded. "Yes. You come home every year, but you stopped coming during high school."

"Oh! And she returned five years ago, saying she got married and wanted to settle in the village." Mary exclaimed.

"I remember Grandma getting angry because Lily got married to someone we never met. We never imagined her husband is Chris." Nicolo chuckled.

Everyone laughed again.

For a brief moment, the investigation room felt less like a place filled with murder files and financial records.

It felt like a family again.

Then Victor slowly looked toward the timeline on the wall.

"There’s something important here."

Everyone turned toward him.

"Your mother left after the corporation collapsed. Which means she would have had firsthand knowledge of the family’s financial situation."

Sarah immediately understood.

"And possibly, knowledge of Arthur."

Nathan’s expression changed.

Emily looked at her brother.

"You think she knew something?"

Victor answered carefully.

"We don’t know. But if Arthur was involved in the financial fraud, your mother may have heard conversations, seen documents or known about transactions."

Matthew leaned forward.

"Then we need to find her."

Nathan and Emily exchanged a look.

After years of anger and for the first time, their mother’s disappearance might hold an answer.

Nathan slowly nodded.

"Then..."

"Let’s find her."

Emily took a deep breath.

"If she knows anything about what happened to Uncle Edward, we need to hear it."

Liliana looked toward the photograph of her parents.

Twenty years had passed. But the truth was finally beginning to emerge from the shadows.

And now...

Even the relatives who had disappeared after the fall of Sterling Corporation might hold pieces of the mystery.

Pieces that could finally explain why Edward and Vanessa never made it home.