The Queen's Back

The first thing Mona did was open WhatsApp, where she found Emily's chat history with Jeremy. She casually scrolled through their messages.

It seemed that Emily had a habit of clearing her messages. There were only three days' worth of chat history with Jeremy and they had not even spoken on one of the days.

On the first day, Emily brought up divorce and told Jereiny to leave the Clem family, Jeremy kept apologizing, insisting that his situation with Beatrice was just a mistake.

Emily gave Jeremy a day to think it over. Either they would get divorced, or she would tell Bernard about his affair. If it came to that. Jeremy would not just lose his chance at any share of the family's assets. He would probably have a hard time even finding a decent job in Nathontown.

The last day was also the day Emily passed away in a car accident. Their conversation was brief. Jeremy and Emily had agreed to meet at a cafe to sign the divorce papers. It was on her way there that her brakes failed, leading to the accident.

Going through the messages and photos, Mona only came across evidence of Jeremy's affair. There was nothing more. Beatrice's name did not even appear in Emily's WhatsApp contacts.

There were also some other things recorded in the notes app.

This evidence only proves that Jeremy was having an affair, and Emily wanted a divorce which Jeremy opposed. Considering how Emily's brakes failed on the way to sign the divorce papers, it was reasonable to suspect that Jeremy may have tampered with them in advance.

But all of this was just Mona's speculation. There was no actual evidence.

"After all this time, there's still no useful evidence. All it shows is that my mom knew about Jeremy's affair before she died," Mona sighed and said helplessly.

It had been so many years since the accident. It was almost impossible to uncover anyExclusive © content by N(ô)ve/l/Drama.Org.

evidence.

'Don't worry. We've sent the coffee grounds from your grandfather's study for analysis. We'll have the results by tomorrow Maxwell said, trying to comfort her.

According to Bernard's usual coffee routine, the grounds were probably used right before he collapsed that day. No one knew his habit of keeping his used coffee grounds, that was how they ended up with a sample to test.

"Yes, I truly want those who've done bad things to be put behind bars, Mona responded. She could only hope for good news the next day.

"Absolutely. The law won't let any wrongdoer go unpunished, and it won't miss out on protecting the innocent," Maxwell reassured her.

The next day, a major news shook the Clem family. The truth about Bernard's poisoning was finally uncovered.

The test results confirmed that the coffee grounds were laced with the same toxin found in Bernard's system. When Bernard found out, he reported it to the police right away.

In no time, the story about Jeremy poisoning Bernard to gain control of the Clem Group was all over the news in Nathontown Jeremy's reputation was tarnished.

By the time the police arrived at Jeremy's house, he was nowhere to be found. They issued a citywide alert with a reward for information on his whereabouts, closed all highway exits, and began checking each suspicious person one by one. The

person most deeply hurt by all of this was Albert. On one side was his grandfather, on the other, his own father. Jeremy

12 Sat, Nov

was the one who gave him-life, while Bernard was both a mentre and a beloved family member.

Albert felt it was a shame Jeremy had chosen this path. He also did not expect someone so cowardly like Jeremy would dare to kill for personal gain. Upon hearing of Jeremy's escape, he was conflicted. A part of him wanted Jeremy to have a little more time on the run while the other part wanted the police catch him as soon as possible.

When Barbara found out that Bernard made a police report, she worried that Jeremy's actions might affect her. Even though she had not acknowledged him as her father, they were still biologically related.

She put on a look of shock and dropped to her knees in front of Bernard. She vowed, 'Grandpa, please believe me. I had no idea he poisoned you. Don't blame me for this, please."

Bernard was still fuming, but seeing Barbara's tear-streaked, pitiful face somehow eased most of his anger.

He had long suspected that Jeremy was the one who poisoned him. He just did not have any proof until now.

Bernard thought. What good would anger do? If I let it hurt my belaht, that would only play into Jeremy's hands

"Silly girl, what are you saying? Jeremy's mistakes have nothing to do with you. Just get up," Bernard said to Barbara. He then helped her to her feet.

Bernard believed that if Barbara had known about this, she would not have risked her own health for the clinical trials

Barbara slowly stood up and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

Seeing that Bernard truly did not have the slightest suspicion of her, Barbara finally felt completely at ease. All that mattered was she was not implicated by Jeremy's mistakes

Right now, she had not won Maxwell's heart, she still needed Bernard's protection, the Clem family's support, and her status as the heiress of the Clem family.

After Barbara left for the office, only Maxwell, Mona, Bernard, and Jane were left in the living room.

Mona shot a glance at Maxwell. She then pulled a phone from her pocket, unlocked it, and set it down on the coffee table.

The lock screen on the phone was a picture of Emily hugging Mona.

Jane and Bernard could tell at a glance that it was Emily's phone

Tears welled up in Jane's eyes. She had not dared to look at a picture of Emily Clem in a long time. But now, seeing this one with little Mona in pigtails, it felt as if everything had happened just yesterday. "Mona, is this your mother's phone?" Jane asked in a shaking voice.

Jane could not believe her eyes even though she recognized it instantly. It was the very last phone Emily used Jane had thought it was destroyed in the car accident, but here it was, with Mona

Mona nodded and said, "I found this phone near the entrance of my mom's old place. I guess I got lucky, the phone could be repaired."

"This is wonderful!" Jane exclaimed, with tears already flowing down her face.

Emily was Jane's only daughter and she poured all her motherly love into raising her. She took such good care of Emily, never expecting to face the tragedy of outliving her own child. This was the grief she would bear for the rest of her life. "Here, take a look at my mom's chat history with Jeremy, Mona said as she showed the messages to Bernard and Jane.

Bernard and Jane pored over every word, afraid of missing even single character. These messages were all that Emily had left them.

When he finished reading, Bernard angrily slapped his thigh and shouted, "Emmie's death is definitely connected to Jeremy. That man is a heartless, ungrateful beast!"

"This means that if it weren't for Jeremy, my Emmie wouldn't have gone to the café and gotten into that accident," Jane said as her voice was choked with tears.