All the regret in the world was worthless now. Dorian was dead, and so was her beloved mother.

With no tears left to cry, Leonie mechanically recounted the entire ordeal to Gwyneth, confessing every single detail as if reciting a penance.

Gwyneth was utterly stunned.

"Leonie, how could you be so reckless? Men like Dorian exist in a completely different world than we do. We belong to two entirely different classes, and those lines aren't meant to be crossed. Even if you just wanted to save him out of pity, the people running his world were never going to let him go easily."

Leonie stared at Gwyneth with a hollow, vacant look.

"I know. I know all of that now. But by the time I figured it out, it was already too late."

She had absolutely nothing left. At the memorial service, Connor arrived with his men to pay his respects. Seeing Leonie, he walked toward her, his gaze heavy with complicated emotions. But Leonie flinched, taking a sharp step back as if he were a threat.

"Mr. Kaufman. Thank you for coming to pay your respects to my mother. Please, take a seat over there. Someone will assist you."

Connor froze, then silently stepped off to the side.

Gwyneth hurried over to intercept him. "Connor, please don't take it to heart. Leonie is in a dark place right now. She doesn't mean it."

All the arrogant swagger of the wealthy playboy had been drained out of Connor. His voice was low, laced with a raw rasp.

"I know. I could never blame her. I only blame myself. If I hadn't pushed her away in anger, none of this would have happened."

The defensive, fearful look in Leonie's eyes had felt like a knife twisting in his gut. The moment he found out she had been kidnapped, he had rallied his men and rushed to the scene. But he was too late.

On the road back with the police escort, he had seen the ambulance tearing past. He had been so terrified it was Leonie inside that he nearly crashed his own car.

It was only later that he discovered the casualties were Dorian and Mrs. Everhart.

He knew he shouldn't feel this way, but learning that Leonie had survived had brought him a suffocating wave of relief.

Tears clung to Gwyneth's lashes. She didn't know how to comfort Leonie, nor did she know what to say to Connor. The tragedy had struck so fast that she was still drowning in her own grief.

Hawthorne was currently en route to the High Sierras. After receiving the news today, Gwyneth had lied to him, claiming she had a routine hospital check-up and couldn't video chat. It was the only way to avoid their daily hours-long calls.

If Hawthorne knew his sister-in-law

had been killed, Gwyneth had no idea how he would react. A part of her desperately wanted him to turn around and come home. But if he rushed back in a panic and got into an accident on the treacherous mountain roads, she would never forgive herself.

So she kept the nightmare a secret. Layne was on the exact same page; out of concern for Hawthorne's mission, he hadn't even released a public obituary.

The Everharts had completely suppressed the media. Only a very tight inner circle knew that Mrs. Everhart had passed away.

Leonie was drowning in sorrow. Connor lingered at the estate for hours, waiting until the crowds thinned out before quietly approaching her.

Leonie's entire demeanor turned hostile.

"Mr. Kaufman, we have absolutely nothing to say to each other. Please leave me alone."

Connor's voice was hoarse. "I'm not here to beg for your forgiveness, and I'm not trying to win you back. I just... I just care about you."

Tears pooled in Leonie's eyes.

"Care? Your care is a little too late, don't you think?"

Right now, she harbored a deep, burning resentment toward him. If he hadn't picked that fight with her, she never would have gone to that club to blow off steam. And if she hadn't gone to the club, she never would have met Dorian.

Dorian's existence had turned her entire world upside down. He had paid for it with his life, but why did her mother have to die too?

What had her mother ever done to deserve this? Leonie wanted nothing more than to scream at Connor to get the hell out, but her ingrained aristocratic manners kept her just barely civil.

"I don't know why you're suddenly looking back at me. Maybe it's because I'm the only woman who ever rejected you, and I bruised your fragile ego in front of your buddies. Or maybe you just think I'm a

pathetic charity case right now, Whatever it is, I want you to stay as far away from me as possible. I never want to see your face again."

Her words cut deep. Connor clenched his fists. Seeing that they were completely alone, he stepped forward and pulled her forcefully into his arms. "If you need to cry, then just cry know I messed upswear to God, I never meant for any of this to happen."

"If I had just shown you an ounce of genuine care instead of trying to play hard-to- get to grab your attention, none of this would have gone down. But please, you have to keep it together. The dead aren't coming back. You have to think about surviving this."

Only now did Connor fully grasp the catastrophic ripple effect of his actions.

If he had just treated Leonie right, this bloodbath would never have occurred.

But Leonie was entirely beyond reason. She fought tooth and nail to break free from his embrace. Even now, she clung to the last shreds of her high-society upbringing, remaining painfully polite.