She wouldn’t.
Julian let out a bitter, humorless smile.
He dropped his head. The way he stood, so tall and proud just yesterday, now looked weighed down by loneliness and loss.
Lucy watched him, tears streaming down her face as she covered her mouth to muffle her sobs.
She never thought losing Madeline would hurt Julian this much.
He really had fallen for her.
…
The next morning.
The Fortner family refused to give up. They went straight to Christian, who was already on edge as Courtney cried in front of him, her voice trembling with desperation.
“Christian, you can’t just stand by and do nothing. Helene never wanted to hurt Julian. She was just furious at Madeline. That’s why she tried to get rid of her.”
“And you agreed to the plan too. You can’t let Helene take all the blame. She’s been gone for a full day and night now, and we don’t know what she’s going through. Please, you have to help her.”
Bill looked just as anxious. “He’s right, sir. You watched Helene grow up. How can you be so cold?”
Christian rubbed at his temples, feeling the headache coming on.
He hadn’t been sleeping well with all this going on. His favorite grandson had lost his mind over a girl, and no matter what anyone said, he couldn’t get comfortable with it.
Now, with Courtney and Bill pushing him to do something, his frustration only grew.
“Alright, I heard you. I’ll talk to him. You two should go home for now.”
Courtney, hearing how dismissive he sounded, felt her anger spike. Her voice came out sharper than before.
“Christian, can you give us a real answer? Will you save Helene or not?”
Christian’s expression darkened, his brows knotting together. “Do you really think she deserves to be helped?”
The sudden authority in his tone caught Courtney off guard. She didn’t know how to answer.
“I told everyone to stand down. Why didn’t she? Julian was in that car. What if he’d gotten hurt? What if he’d jumped after Madeline and the ocean took him? What if something happened to him out there? Did she ever think about that?”
Bill gave Courtney’s arm a gentle tug before she could argue, then turned to Christian with a softer voice.
“Please, sir, calm down. I’m sure Helene told everyone not to let Julian get hurt. No one could have seen Madeline falling in, or Julian jumping in after her. You can’t put all the blame on Helene. She’s paid enough by now. She deserves a second chance.”
Christian’s face stayed hard. Helene needed to learn a lesson, and it had to be a harsh one, but he didn’t want her to die.
He knew Julian wouldn’t let her off easy. She was probably locked away somewhere, suffering.
He sighed. “I’ll talk to Julian about it.”
That was all he could promise. He wasn’t sure Julian would listen to anything he said.
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