Chapter 406

Sean looked at Madeline in confusion.

“Why did you send my wife to the hospital, Miss Quinn?”

“That’s because…”

Madeline was just about to explain herself when sobs suddenly rang out from inside the room.

Sean’s expression changed and he immediately turned around to enter.

Taking a deep breath, Madeline entered the room as well like nothing was wrong.

Eloise had indeed woken and she was currently crying her eyes out.

Sean approached her worriedly. “What’s wrong, Ellie? What’s got you so sad?”

Only then did Eloise seem to realize Sean’s presence. She looked up at him with eyes reddened from all the crying. There was irreparable and incurable pain in her sad gaze.

“Why must the Heavens punish us like this, Sean? Why…”

Her voice trembled as tears fell like pearls from her eyes.

Confused, Sean felt his heart grow frantic.

“What are you saying, Ellie? Don’t cry. Shh, relax. Talk to me.”

Eloise gave a self-deprecating chuckle amidst her tears and looked up to meet Sean’s concerned gaze with her ashen complexion. Then, she took out the gold pendant from her pocket.

“I’ve found our daughter, Sean.”

“What? That’s great! Did you really find her?” The worry on Sean’s expression was replaced with excitement. “Where is she? Ellie, where’s our daughter?”

Sean pressed impatiently while Eloise closed her eyes in agony.

“She died.”

“Wh-What? Died?” Sean was stricken.

“We played a part in killing her…” Eloise looked up remorsefully. “Madeline Crawford was our daughter…”

“What… What did you say?”

Sean was shell-shocked when he heard Eloise’s words.

The joy he had felt moments prior shattered that very moment, its shards stabbing into his heart and grinding the muscle within.

Madeline’s heart seized painfully as she stared at the pain-stricken expressions Eloise and Sean wore from the sidelines.

“Mad-Madeline Crawford was our daughter?” Sean’s eyes widened in pain as he remembered how he had once slapped her across her face.

He had also kicked her onto the ground just to protect the fake that was Meredith.

He remembered how Madeline even seemed to be in too much pain to climb back up.

Her pitiful situation back then inexplicably surfaced in his mind.

Why did his heart hurt so much?

Sean’s legs were close to giving out.

“I finally understood why Meredith would have this gold pendant! I even watched it drop from Madeline’s clothes! So why did I believe Meredith’s words that Madeline had stolen it?

“Now I know why Rose said our daughter died three years ago. That was when Madeline left us, wasn’t it…”

Eloise began to choke on her tears as regret overwhelmed her.

“Oh, how I’ve prayed to find our daughter these 20-over years, only to scold, hit, and harm my own child to protect a wretched woman. What kind of mother am I?”

Eloise raised her trembling hands in front of her. She had never hated them as much as she did now.

She could not even remember how many slaps her hands had given Madeline for Meredith’s sake.

Suddenly, Eloise’s expression shifted. Throwing off the covers, she dashed to the balcony.

Sean ran after her in fear. “Ellie! Ellie, what are you doing?”

“Death would hurt less, Sean! When I think back to everything I’ve done to our daughter, I… Why couldn’t I have died in her place?”

Then, Eloise turned around to jump.

Madeline spun to the side and was met with Eloise who already had a leg halfway out the railings. “No!

Mom, don’t!”