She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 558

In the hallucination, Zelie was tearing through a field of tall reeds, her face twisted in pure terror. She sprinted toward a dilapidated shack. "I have to find her! Where is my sweetheart?!"

The shack was empty. Panicked, she ran back out into the storm. Suddenly, Loyce realized she could no longer interact with the memory. The connection had shifted; she was now merely a ghost, forced to watch the horrors of Zelie's past unfold.

Sensing the psychological rupture, Ito frowned slightly, glancing at the medical file on his lap. "Did you find your daughter? Where is she?"

"Sweetheart... sweetheart..."

Zelie stood frozen in the torrential rain. Slowly, she turned her head, her gaze sweeping past Loyce before locking onto something horrifying in the distance. Her eyes widened in absolute, soul-shattering terror. "NO!"

Loyce quickly turned to see what Zelie was staring at.

Through the heavy rain, a man named Yarden stood over a lifeless body—a young girl. Standing opposite the killer were an impeccably dressed man and woman. The rain drowned out their words, but the visual alone was enough to trigger the darkest abyss of Zelie's trauma.

Staring at the wealthy couple, Zelie let out a blood-curdling shriek and violently snapped out of the trance. Jolted awake, Loyce immediately wrapped her arms tightly around the hyperventilating woman, holding her close.

Moving swiftly, Ito pulled out a photograph and placed it in front of Zelie's erratic gaze. "Do you recognize them?"

Pure, unadulterated hatred flared in Zelie's eyes. She lunged forward, violently ripping the photo to shreds.

Understanding the root of the psychosis, Ito didn't force Loyce back under. Instead, he gently placed Zelie into a secondary trance, rewriting the narrative of the memory so she arrived in time to save her daughter, offering her fractured mind a sliver of peace.

Seeing how pale Loyce looked, Lucian stepped into the room and gently stroked her hair. "Did you see it?"

Staring at the shredded pieces of the photograph, the horrific reality of what she had just witnessed settled over her. The lifeless body, the ruthless assassin, and the wealthy couple observing the carnage.

She lowered her eyes, her voice barely a whisper. "Edgar and his wife paid Yarden to assassinate me all those years ago. But they got the wrong girl. Zelie's daughter died protecting me. And to cover their tracks and secure their payout, Edgar just buried the truth."

A dark cloud settled over her. Lucian silently pulled her into his chest, wrapping his arms securely around her.

It took a long time for Ito to fully stabilize Zelie. Even in the artificially peaceful dreamscape, she kept mumbling a sequence of numbers over and over. "929... 929... 929..."

When Ito finally brought her out of the hypnosis, his assistant administered a mild sedative. Removing his glasses, the doctor rubbed the bridge of his nose. "It's obvious now. Her mind shattered the moment she witnessed her child being murdered by her own husband. A psychological trauma of this magnitude can't be cured with therapy alone. She requires intensive holistic and neurological medication to rebuild her nervous system."

"I'll take her home with me," Loyce said quietly. "I'll manage her medical care."

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