When His Perfect Mask Shattered I Awoke (Anneliese) novel Chapter 754

"Our family has wronged you and your foster family. I truly am ashamed…" Penelope said.

Anneliese gently shook her head again, then looked straight at Derek.

"No, it's not your fault. We must settle the score with the right person. Where is Gerard now, Old Mr. Fullbuster? And, if you'd already discovered everything back then, why did you bury the truth about the fire?"

Under Anneliese's sharp gaze and questioning tone, a look of guilt and unease flickered across Derek's weathered face.

He swallowed uncomfortably before he finally spoke. "After setting the fire, Gerard fled the scene and holed up in a small motel in Baytree. But he was eventually found by his debtors. He was struck by a large truck while trying to escape them and died on the spot."

Gerard had tried to burn his son and grandson to death. Derek himself was no saint—there was no way he would have spared Gerard's life.

It had only taken a few subtle maneuvers to make sure Gerard perished in a "traffic accident".

Anneliese paused slightly, but honestly, she wasn't particularly surprised by the answer either.

Just the messy, sordid affair between Gerard and Elizabeth alone was enough to warrant Gerard's death—let alone the fact that Jonathan had nearly lost his life in the fire.

"Concealing the truth of the fire was indeed a selfish and improper decision of mine. But people are inherently selfish." Derek glanced at Anneliese, his eyes brimming with remorse. "In that situation, I simply had no other choice. Even if I were taken back to that moment again, I would still make the same decision."

If he had handed Gerard over to the authorities, Elizabeth's scandal would have exploded into a nationwide sensation.

It would no longer be a secret that the Fullbusters had a promiscuous daughter-in-law—one who had conspired with her lover to commit arson, nearly killing her own husband and son in the process.

Not only would the Fullbusters' reputation have been utterly ruined, turning them into a complete laughingstock, but Jonathan—who had only just survived a brush with death—would also have been thrust into the spotlight, becoming an object of gossip and ridicule for having such a mother.

Moreover, at the time, the Fullbusters were managing two ongoing major government-backed projects. With numerous rivals on their backs, they simply could not afford any mistakes.

It would have been a complete disaster if their family had been linked to an arson case during such a sensitive period.

For all these reasons, Derek could not allow the truth to be exposed. He chose instead to deal with Gerard privately and used his connections to bury the cause of the fire entirely.

A blanket of silence fell over the living room.

The blood had drained from Anneliese's face. At this moment, she wasn't sure how to digest everything she had just heard.

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