Chapter 582: It’s time for both of us to be real

The next morning, Norma waited at the restaurant, her gaze fixed outside the long glass window. The streets were slowly coming alive as people hurried past, but her attention remained distant, her mind occupied with thoughts she could not quite silence.

A voice suddenly broke through her thoughts.

“It seems you have arrived earlier than scheduled.”

Norma turned her head as Anna pulled out the chair across from her and sat down at the table.

“Why did you want to meet me?” Anna asked, watching Norma with meaningful eyes.

Norma narrowed her gaze slightly, clearly displeased by Anna’s bluntness. She had not been like this when they first met in the lift. Back then Anna had appeared polite, almost cautious with her words. But as time passed and Norma attempted to intimidate her again and again, Anna’s behavior toward her had slowly begun to change.

At first, Norma believed it was because of Daniel. She assumed Anna wanted to use him against her, perhaps to manipulate the situation to her advantage. However, the more Norma observed her, the more she realized that assumption was wrong.

Anna was not the one using Daniel.

If anything, she seemed to be the one caught in the web of lies spun by the people she called her parents.

“Have you always been this blunt, or do you dislike me so much that you do not feel the need to show even basic respect?” Norma asked as she leaned back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other.

The hostility that usually filled her eyes was absent. Instead, there was a faint trace of amusement as she studied Anna’s expression.

Anna immediately noticed the change, and it made her raise an eyebrow.

“It depends on who I am dealing with,” Anna replied calmly. “And clearly, you are not in my good books.”

Her words carried no hesitation. Anna had never been one to hide her dislike once she made up her mind.

There was a time when she did not feel this way. Back then she believed Norma had every right to be angry with her. After all, her own family had played a part in the misery Norma endured.

But now, after seeing everything that had happened, Anna was no longer certain about Norma’s intentions.

She began to question whether Norma truly saw Daniel as a person or if he was merely a tool for her revenge.

Because if she truly loved him, she would have considered what would happen to their relationship when she secretly helped Collin behind his back.

The more Anna thought about it, the more it troubled her. Norma had been so consumed by revenge that she seemed unable to distinguish between what was right and what was wrong.

Across the table, Norma suddenly chuckled softly.

“Not that I particularly want to,” she said, “but you could at least show a little decency. After all, I have not done anything recently to upset you.”

Anna scoffed lightly.

“I am sure we are not here to discuss how much we dislike each other.”

Whether Norma hated her or not meant very little to Anna now.

That was not why she agreed to meet her.

But if Norma tried to hurt Daniel again in her pursuit of revenge, Anna would not stay silent.

Norma studied her carefully before speaking again.

“And that is exactly what makes me curious,” she said. “Why do you hate me, Anna?”

It was a question that had occupied her thoughts ever since the day Anna came to her house and confronted her.

Norma had clearly seen the anger burning in Anna’s eyes that day. But there was something else hidden beneath it. Something far deeper than simple resentment.

There had been disappointment.

A quiet disappointment that Anna had failed to conceal.

And that, more than anything else, was what continued to linger in Norma’s mind.

“I don’t hate you, Aunt Norma. But I don’t like you either.”

Anna did not bother softening her words. She spoke plainly, keeping her tone steady as she met Norma’s gaze.

Norma watched her carefully before asking, “Which is why I want to know what changed. You were not this unyielding every time I threatened you to leave my nephew.”

Anna remained silent for a moment. She had never expected Norma to care about something like this. In fact, she doubted the woman had ever been interested in anyone’s opinion of her.

Her mind briefly wandered back to the past.

The first seed of doubt had appeared the day Norma dragged Daniel’s name into the matter while exposing Hugo. That moment had unsettled Anna in a way she could not immediately explain. It made her question something she had always assumed to be true.

Anna once believed that Norma would not hesitate to sacrifice Daniel if it served her purpose.

Back then she even convinced herself that Norma might have been the one responsible for Daniel’s death in their previous life. In her mind, it made sense. If Daniel ever stopped being useful to her, Norma would simply discard him without hesitation.

That had been Anna’s assumption.

But the more she thought about it now, the more that belief began to crumble.

Yes, Norma might have been furious about everything Daniel did after her death in that life. His choices had created consequences neither of them could escape. However, when Daniel mentioned something else, Anna finally began to see the situation differently.

He had told her that his aunt died on the same day he did.

Both of them had died in a car accident.

That realization had struck Anna harder than she expected.

Because the dream Daniel had that night was not only about his own death. The vision had been vague, but there was another detail hidden within it.

Norma’s accident.

It was not a coincidence. Someone else had been behind it.

The same person who wanted Daniel gone had likely eliminated Norma as well.

Anna slowly lifted her eyes and looked at the woman sitting across from her.

“People change when they no longer trust the people they are dealing with,” she said calmly.

Norma remained quiet, listening.

“You know,” Anna continued, “sometimes you have to stand on the same level as the person standing in front of you.”

Her voice was steady and clear.

There was no hostility in her tone, but there was firmness. The message behind her words was impossible to miss.

Anna was no longer looking at Norma simply as Daniel’s aunt.

In her eyes, Norma was also the woman driven by revenge.

And if Anna wanted to deal with someone like that, she could not remain the same naive person she once was.

Norma nodded in agreement, “which is why I realize it’s time for both of us to be real, Anna.”

Her words caused Anna to frown, and the longer she stared at her, the more intrigued she became.

***

[Hospital Cafeteria]

“Why don’t you go home and get some rest, Kathrine?” Ethan said gently when he noticed how exhausted she looked.

The dark circles under her eyes and the redness around them made it obvious she had spent the entire night crying in silence.

Kathrine slowly shook her head.

“I can’t leave his side, Ethan,” she said quietly. “There’s no way I can trust Roseline.”

She did not bother hiding the suspicion in her voice when she mentioned her mother.

Roseline might have raised her voice and tried to convince everyone that Hugo attempted to take his own life, but Kathrine refused to believe it. Nothing about the explanation made sense to her.

She knew her father better than anyone.

Hugo would never do something like that.

Yet the most frustrating part of the situation was that she had nothing to prove Roseline was lying. Every accusation she formed in her mind collapsed because there was no evidence to support it.

Ethan remained silent for a moment, watching her struggle with the thoughts weighing heavily on her.

Until he heard her speak again.

“Anna talked to the staff at our house,” she said. “One of the maids told her that Uncle Hugo was completely fine earlier. Apparently, everything happened after he spoke with your mother and went to his room.”

Kathrine let out a long sigh and leaned back in her chair, the tension in her shoulders becoming more visible.

“That means something must have happened during that short period of time,” she said slowly.

Her fingers tightened slightly around the cup in her hands as the realization settled deeper in her mind.

“Something definitely happened between them.”

Kathrine knew that only her father could explain what had really happened. Trusting Roseline’s version of events was not even an option for her.

A heavy silence settled between her and Ethan as both of them remained lost in their thoughts.

Suddenly, the sharp sound of her phone ringing broke the quiet.

Kathrine quickly picked it up and answered without hesitation.

“Yes, Ben. I forgot to tell you to cancel my meetings for the day.”

“I already did, ma’am,” Ben replied promptly. “But there’s something I wanted to inform you about.”

Kathrine frowned slightly. Ben was one of the most reliable assistants she had ever worked with. He rarely sounded uncertain or cautious while speaking.

“Go on,” she said.

She straightened slightly in her chair, giving the call her full attention.

“It’s about the details of Mr. George’s family that the boss asked me to look into yesterday,” Ben explained. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t hand the report to him now that he’s in the hospital. However, while going through the information, I happened to find something related to them.”

The moment those words left his mouth, Kathrine felt her mind race, causing her grip on the phone to tightened unconsciously

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