Chapter 419

Vivian's fingers trembled as she reached for her shattered phone. The screen remained stubbornly black, refusing to power on.

"That damn Nathaniel Blackwood! I should've known he'd bring me nothing but trouble!" She cursed under her breath, scanning the inky darkness around her. Not a soul in sight.

A cold dread slithered down her spine. "Hello? Is anyone there? Help!" Her voice cracked, swallowed by the eerie caws of distant crows.

Pain throbbed in her skull and leg, sharp enough to steal her breath. Even screaming felt impossible now.

"I can't die here... not like this..."

Meanwhile, at Blackwood Estate, the family sat around the grand dining table, though the air hung heavy with unspoken tension.

Eleanor Whitmore kept pressing her son. "Nathaniel, have you spoken to Vivian at all?" She'd just learned that Vivian—missing for four long years—had suddenly reappeared in Newport City.

Eleanor's feelings toward Vivian were complicated. Part of her still blamed the woman for Cassandra Delacroix's lost child, enough that she'd once hired men to hunt her down. But watching Nathaniel drown in misery those four years had chipped away at her anger.

She knew. Her son still loved Vivian. Only Vivian could bring light back into his eyes.

"Nathaniel, we support whatever decision you make." Eleanor forced a smile. "The past is the past. What matters now is your happiness."

"I have it handled." Nathaniel's tone was ice, his attention fixed on his plate.

The table fell silent.

Then Eleanor remembered. "Nathaniel, you've been visiting that cemetery too often. It's dangerous—just last week, some influencers died there after falling off the cliffs!"

"Cliffs?" Nathaniel's head snapped up.

"Yes! The fog makes navigation impossible. And that shaman—why did he have to pick such a cursed ce?"

Leonard Kingsley nodded. "An unnatural death requires a secluded burial. You shouldn't go there anymore."

"It's not like Nathaniel wants to. It's because of Cassandra—"

Nathaniel stood abruptly. "I need to leave."